Here’s a look at the life of actor and philanthropist Sean Connery. He is perhaps best known for playing Agent 007, James Bond, in seven films.
Personal:
Birth date: August 25, 1930
Birth place: Edinburgh, Scotland
Birth name: Thomas Sean Connery
Father: Joseph Connery, a factory hand and truck-driver
Mother: Euphemia (McLean) Connery, a laundress
Marriages: Micheline Roquebrune (May 6, 1975-present), Diane Cilento (November 30, 1962-October 4, 1973, divorced)
Children: with Diane Cilento: Jason (January 11, 1963)
Education: Dropped out of school at age 13
Military service: Royal Navy, 1947-1950
Other Facts:
Nominated for one Academy Award and won one.
Nominated for one Tony Award and won one.
Both Connery and Roger Moore played Bond in seven films.
Six actors have played the character, a British super-spy who likes his martinis “shaken, not stirred.”
Timeline:
1953 – Connery makes his stage debut in the chorus of the British touring company of the musical “South Pacific.”
1955 – He makes his film debut in an uncredited role in the British movie “Lilacs in the Spring.”
1961 – Producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli is searching for someone to play James Bond in his upcoming film and meets Connery.
1962-1967 – Sean Connery is the first James Bond, Agent 007. He plays the character in five consecutive films in the series: “Dr. No (1962),” “From Russia with Love (1963),” “Goldfinger (1964),” “Thunderball (1965)” and “You Only Live Twice (1967).”
November 1965 – Connery admits in an interview with Playboy that he doesn’t “think there is anything particularly wrong about hitting a woman–although I don’t recommend doing it in the same way that you’d hit a man. An openhanded slap is justified–if all other alternatives fail and there has been plenty of warning.”
1967 – Directs and stars in “The Bowler and The Bunnet,” a documentary about the Scottish shipbuilding industry’s decline.
1971 – Co-founds the Scottish International Education Trust, an organization that provides grants to Scottish students and supports projects that advance Scotland.
1971 – Connery stars as Bond in “Diamonds are Forever.”
1983 – Connery stars in his final Bond movie, “Never Say Never Again.”
1987 – In an interview with Barbara Walters, Connery states, “I wouldn’t change my opinion,” about what he said to Playboy in 1965, and stands by his statement that there is “nothing particularly wrong with hitting a woman.”
April 11, 1988 – Wins the Academy Awardfor Best Supporting Actor in “The Untouchables.”
1989 – 59-year-old Connery is voted People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive.”
June 7, 1998 – Wins a Tony Awardas one of three producers of the Best Play winner, “Art.”
1999 – Connery is a Kennedy Center Honoree.
July 5, 2000 – Is knighted by Queen Elizabeth IIat the Palace of Holyroodhouse, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
2004 – Co-founds, and serves as honorary chairman of the US charity, Friends of Scotland, to promote an interest in Scotland and sustain goodwill between the US and Scotland.
July 2005 – Retires from acting.
June 2006 – Receives the American Film Institute’s 34th Lifetime Achievement Award.
August 2008 – Connery’s book, “Being a Scot,” is published. It is part autobiography and part Scottish history.
2013 – Is involved in efforts to preserve the environmental resources of the Clifton Bay area of the Bahamas from over development, theCoalition to Protect Clifton Bay. He owns a home on New Providence Island which is in Clifton Bay.
March 2014 – In an op-ed in the New Statesman, Connery offers support for a referendum on Scotland’s independence from Britain, “I believe the opportunity of independence is too good to miss.”
