Sean Connery
"Shocking...Positively Shocking"
Sean Connery is probably the most admired and personally revered actor to ever portray Ian Fleming's superagent James Bond. Connery was chosen to play the role of 007 in 1962 to head up the first Bond film ever, Doctor No.
Connery was up against Cary Grant, Roger Moore, Patrick McGoohan, Trevor Howard and Rex Harrison for the initial role of James Bond but rumour has it that Albert R. Broccoli's wife, Dana, saw his in one of the auditions and exclaimed, "Take that one...he's gorgeous!" Cubby Broccoli did just that and it catapulted Connery into a famed Hollywood career that few actors can match.
Connery is arguably the best actor ever to play James Bond and can be credited with jumpstarting the most valuable motion picture series in the history of film.
When Connery was cast as James Bond in 1962, Ian Fleming said that he didn't exactly fit the description that he had imagined for James Bond in all of his novels. It was later revealed that Fleming said that Roger Moore was more to the description of his conception of the British secret agent.
After playing James Bond for five films, Connery had announced he was turning down the chance to play 007 any more in 1967. You Only Live Twice was supposed to be Connery's last outing as 007 so the producers tried to make it the most action packed of the series in order to take him out with a bang. True to his word, the next film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, starred George Lazenby as James Bond 007.
After the boxoffice disappointment of Lazenby's film, Albert Broccoli went to get Connery back in the Bond saddle and in 1971, Sean Connery once again picked up his Walther PPK to play James Bond in Diamonds are Forever.
However, after Diamonds are Forever, Connery once again announced he was done with James Bond. The producers were not able to lure him back to do the next 007 film; even for an extravagant amount of money, which they offered him to do Live and Let Die. So came and end to the Connery Era.
Sean Connery is one of the most highly respected and talented actors in Hollywood today and he has recieved several achievement awards. In 1997 he was honored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City and recieved a special lifelong acheivement award at the Venice Film Festival in 1998. Perhaps the most prestigous of the awards came in 1987 when he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables
