Celebrity Nooz: Sean Connery

Sean Connery (Actor) - James Bond

Updated: 3/12/15

Name: Sean Connery

Birth Name: Thomas Sean Connery

Born: August 25, 1930, Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Claim To Fame: Connery is best known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983.

Family Life: He was married to actress Diane Cilento in 1962 but they later divorced in 1973. They had a son, Jason Connery, who was born in 1963. In 1975, he married Micheline Roquebrune. In 1997, his son Jason and his ex-wife, actress Mia Sara had a son, Dashiell Quinn Connery.

Info: Growing up, Connery had a variety of jobs, including milkman, lorry driver, a laborer, artist's model for the Edinburgh College of Art, coffin polisher and bodybuilder.

He joined the Royal Navy, but was discharged because of medical problems. He had to decide between becoming a professional footballer or actor, and chose the latter.

His first major movie role was No Road Back (1957), and he followed this with many TV movies including Anna Christie (1957), Macbeth (1961) and Anna Karenina (1961).

Some of his early films include Hell Drivers (1957), Another Time, Another Place (1958), Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), The Frightened City (1961).

In 1962, he broke through when he starred as secret agent James Bond in Dr. No (1962). He played James Bond in six more films: From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Never Say Never Again (1983).

He was nominated for an Oscar for best actor in a supporting role for his performance in 1987's The Untouchables. Other later films include Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Rising Sun (1993), The Rock (1996), Finding Forrester (2000), and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003).

Trivia: Was knighted by Elizabeth II in July 2000, and received the Kennedy Center Honors in the US.

In 1989, he was proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine.

Has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot" and "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure."

Was generally referred to in his youth as Tommy.

Took dancing lessons for 11 years. His teacher was the Swedish dancer Yat Malmgren.

Donated his salary from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) to charity.

Older brother of Neil Connery.

A bronze bust sculpture of Connery was placed in the capital city of Estonia in 2010.

Where Are They Now: In 2006, Connery received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award and he confirmed he was retiring from acting.

Connery did return to voice acting, and played the title character in the animated short Sir Billi the Vet. He also recorded voiceovers for a video game version of the Bond film From Russia with Love. In 2010, he reprised his role in an expanded 80-minute version of Sir Billi, serving also as executive producer.

He last appeared in public in 2012 at the US Open Tennis Tournament to support tennis player and fellow Scotsman Andy Murray.

Write To Sean Connery:
Sean Connery
c/o Fountainbridge Films, Twentieth Century Fox
10201 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035

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