Sean Connery was
born in
Edinburgh,
Scotland, and grew up in a two room
flat. As a child, to earn
extra money for his family he worked delivering
milk in the mornings and
papers in the evenings. He continued working
odd jobs, from lifeguarding to coffin polishing. After three years in the navy, he played football (soccer) semi-professionally. But it was his hobby of weightlifting that pushed him into the
spotlight. Connery represented Scotland in the Mr. Universe pageant and shortly thereafter began to model. He eventually caught the acting bug and entered the theater, later touring with
South Pacific.
Connery first hit the big screen in Lilacs in the Spring, in 1954. His American film debut came in 1959 in Tarzan's Greatest Adventure and he next starred Darby O' Gill and the Little People, also released in 1959. Connery's bit part in the World War II epic The Longest Day - a role that could have been lost among the film's star-studded cast - instead helped lead him to eventual superstardom.
Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli were looking to cast the role of Ian Fleming's renowned British secret service agent, James Bond. Saltzman may have recognized Connery's refined disposition, but it was Broccoli who glanced out the window and noticed Connery slinking down a street in London, like a panther. It was then that he knew he had found Bond. And though Ian Fleming's image of his famed creation may not resemble Sean Connery, to the World Sean Connery soon would be James Bond.
Saltzman and Broccoli cast Connery as Agent 007 in a modestly budgeted British picture called Dr. No, inaugurating one of the longest-running series in film history. Connery starred as Bond in From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again. His salary from Diamonds Are Forever went to kick-start the Scottish International Education Trust, which helps many young Scottish students fund their education. The trust also funds a drama chair at Glasgow's Strathclyde University.
Connery later starred in Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie, as well as such films as Woman Of Straw, The Hill, A Fine Madness, Shalako, The Molly Maguires, The Anderson Tapes, The Red Tent, Murder On The Orient Express, The Wind And The Lion, The Man Who Would Be King, Robin And Marian, A Bridge Too Far, Outland, Zardoz, Five Days one Summer, Meteor, The Name Of The Rose, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, The Russia House, The Hunt For Red October, Medicine Man, Rising Sun, Just Cause, First Knight and The Avengers.
He headlined opposite Nicolas Cage in the 1996 Summer blockbuster hit The Rock, and provided the voice and personality for the animated dragon in Dragonheart. Connery also led an all star cast in Playing by Heart, working alongside Gena Rowlands, Angelina Jolie, Gillian Anderson and Dennis Quaid. He then produced the Twentieth Century Fox thriller Entrapment, in which he starred opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones. next came Finding Forrester, directed by Gus Van Sant and which co-starred newcomer Rob Brown.
In addition to receiving both the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and the Golden Globe Award in 1987 for his performance in The Untouchables, Connery has been honored with many other accolades. They include the Legion d'Honneur and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (the highest honors given in France), and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Best actor award for The Name Of The Rose.. In 1990, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award – a special BAFTA silver mask presented by H.R.H. Princess Anne – to a British actor or actress who has made an outstanding contribution to world cinema.
In 1995, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association presented Connery with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for outstanding contribution to the entertainment field, at the Golden Globe Awards. In 1997, Connery was honored with a gala tribute by the Film Society of Lincoln Center for his career, and in 1998, BAFTA honored him with its highest award, The British Academy Fellowship. In 1999 Connery was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient and in 2000 he was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the Queen's New Year's Honors List. Connery's proudest moment, and in his mind, his greatest honor, came when he received the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh in 1991.
