Sean Connery
Sean Connery, the rugged, sardonically assured Scotsman who won an Academy Award and portrayed James Bond seven times, proving to the world that nobody could do it better, died Oct. 31 at 90.
“A sad day for all who knew and loved my dad and a sad loss for all people around the world who enjoyed the wonderful gift he had as an actor,” his son Jason told the BBC.
A man with the Midas touch when it came to Agent 007, Connery laid down the Bond blueprint by starring in the first five United Artists movies to feature Ian Fleming’s British superspy: Dr. No (1962), From Russia With Love (1963) — said to be the actor’s personal favorite — Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965) and You Only Live Twice (1967). That fulfilled his original contract. Connery always resisted becoming a one-note actor and starred in a wide array of films, often playing a no-nonsense, man of action — like the tough, Irish cop who mentors Kevin Costner’s Eliot Ness in The Untouchables (1987), directed by Brian De Palma. That role earned him his Oscar.