When Hollywood Legends were asked about Sean Connery

When Hollywood Legends were asked about Sean Connery –

After the war when everything was pretty dreary and drab, the excitement of places like tropical islands, adventure, romance had a great appeal. And the same applies to the film. Had it come out a year later or a year earlier, it might not have been as successful. The man who created James Bond didn’t want Sean Connery.

 Ian Fleming had a list, David Niven, Rex Harrison, Cary Grant, educated [music] men, refined men, men who looked like they’d been to the right schools. Then the producers brought him a former milkman from Edinburgh who’d spent more time bodybuilding than acting and Fleming’s verdict was blunt. He wanted Commander Bond, he said, not an overgrown stuntman.

 Then he watched Dr. No. And by the time Fleming wrote his next novel, he’d given James Bond a Scottish father. He rewrote the character to match the actor. That’s how completely Connery took him. This is your third James Bond picture. I’m sure that as far as picture goes, I’m concerned they could see more and more, but how do you feel about this yourself? Oh, I think it’s splendid.

 I think it’s uh very good entertainment. They obviously like it and one every year, 14 months is a sort of um good healthy issue. A James Bond really conjures up a picture of blondes, bullets, and booze. Do you find that people expect you to be like this in real life? Um I don’t meet a great deal of people really. I’ve been so busy.

 I’m on my fourth film in 1 year. So the chances of meeting people are pretty remote. And uh all I have to do is go to theater or going out to restaurant eat or something or driving somewhere. Um I leave at half seven in the morning, get back at seven at night. The chances of boozing with blondes and bullets are pretty remote.

>> Six more men have carried the role since. 60 years of arguments and pubs and comment sections and podcasts, and it has never once been close. Even Roger Moore, who played Bond more times than anyone, spent his whole life saying Connery was the best there’d ever been. And here’s what almost nobody manages.

He created the most recognizable character in film history. And then, he refused to be swallowed by it. He walked away in 1967. Came back. Walked away again. Won an Oscar playing a Chicago beat cop. Played Indiana Jones’s father and stole the film from Harrison Ford. Commanded a Soviet submarine with a Scottish accent and dared anyone to complain.

 Most actors who create something that iconic spend the rest of their lives trapped inside it. Connery did the opposite. He built the cage, walked out of it, and somehow became more famous as himself than as the character. Fleming called him a roughneck who wasn’t his idea of Bond at all. Connery, for his part, called Fleming a snob.

Both of them were probably right. And it didn’t matter because the moment that first film hit the screen, the argument was over [music] permanently. So, how good was Sean Connery really? Let’s ask the people who stood next to him. Sean Connery, let me tell you a Sean Connery story. Uh-oh. He was up for The Untouchables.

>> Sean Connery in The Untouchables. I was up that year for, I think it was Cry Freedom. Denzel Washington in Cry Freedom. He comes out to present an award and got a 3-minute standing ovation. Uh. For presenting an award. Wow. I went to get the coats. I was going to get the coats cuz I know I ain’t winning tonight.

So so so now we’re leaving. I’m leaving without the Oscar, right? But as I’m leaving, I see the back of where they’re doing the they’re getting the the the meal ready, the food ready for the for the Governor’s Ball. I see a big tray. I’m like, I’m leaving here with something. You know what I mean? I’m from around the way. I’m leaving with something.

Then my mother told me to get the flower arrangement. [laughter] True story. He actually got pissed off at me because I didn’t know how many head of cattle that I owned, right? He says, “You sure you [laughter and applause] sure you raise cattle, you know?” Like, “Oh, yeah.” So, “How many head of cattle have you got?” [laughter] Uh I don’t I don’t know.

 He said, “Well, surely you must know.” You know, he’s he’s like He was He was really upset with me. But the But the best thing about the dinner is that we were at the house of Andy Vajna, who was Hungarian, and his new wife was making goulash. Now, if you haven’t heard Sean Connery utter the word goulash, [laughter] you’ve you’ve missed you’ve missed a great treat.

>> He always called me Mr. Nash. “Mr. Nash, can I talk to you?” And I was like, Sure, every time he’d say that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We became friends, and I actually didn’t think Sean was the kind of guy that was going to like me. I don’t know why, but he he did. He was good to me. And um I learned a lot because my eyes were open.

 I wish I was a better actor when I did The Untouchables, but I was where I was at. I go to the set every day even if I wasn’t working. I like the what’s happening. I met Sean Connery once, once only. I was interviewing him about a film he’d made. We all have a drink or two at the press reception, drink or two afterwards.

 He was a very nice interview, of course. And then, at the end of the interview, sometime after, somebody on my team said, “You know, Ken does does an impression of you.” And it wasn’t a great impression, I have to say. But I I used to And at the time I sort of looked a bit like him, cuz I had a beard and I had some hair, as did he at the time.

 But I was, you know, I was a good bit younger. Anyway, um we met we met again again, and he said, “They tell me you’re doing an impression of me.” I said, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I don’t do that.” I said, “They also tell me you think you look like me.” And I said, “Well, well, maybe maybe on a very good day.” And Sean said, “And me on a bad day.

” Which I thought was rude, but it made me laugh. people like doing Hunt for Red October with Sean Connery. We go to a party and uh the producer of the movie Hunt for Red October has a party at his home in Beverly Hills. And Sean’s there with his wife. And Sean’s wife, Micheline Connery, is this tiny little French woman.

 She’s She’s about 2 ft high. And she’s really small. And uh and she is like this lion tamer, you know, she’s like She’s like Sean’s manager and and handler, you know. And we’re at this party, and Sean’s standing there and he just He’s like the most beautiful guy you’ve ever seen in your whole life.

 You just You just can’t believe how good-looking he is. And uh and the waiters are walking by with like canapés and champagne. And the guy walks by and Sean goes to reach for a glass of champagne, and his wife goes, “Whack! No, no, no, Sean!” “I do not want you to drink the champagne!” “No, no, no!” And he’s like a little boy.

 He’s like [laughter] Then the waiter walks by with a big tray of pastries and everything. [clears throat] And Sean goes to reach, and she goes, “Wacko, no, no, no, Sean. I do not want you to eat the pastories.” And I’m thinking [clears throat] this guy’s like he’s James Bond. And his wife’s treating him like he’s a little boy going to like uh ready to get ready for the wrestling match tomorrow, you know what I mean? And I’ll never forget this as long as I live.

 He turns to me and goes, “It’s not going to be very much of a party, is it?” I thought In a motion picture called Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Now, if my arithmetic is correct, Sean Connery, in order to be your father, would have had to father you at the age of 12. But you know Sean. [laughter] Oh [laughter] god. He could have done it.

>> All right. These people called me and uh and they said, “Listen, there’s this radio contest. They’re going to give $10,000 or this trip to the Bahamas, which is worth $10,000, to the most famous person who calls in.” Mhm. And uh and I said, “Well, I don’t want to do that.” And they said, “No, no, no.

We’d like to do it.” They these they ran an uh uh uh a auto painting shop. They said, “We’d like to do it on behalf of our auto painting shop, but if you did it, we were going to donate everything to the children’s hospital.” Oh, that’s so then then it’s fine. The most famous person they had by the Friday, which was the deadline, was Loni Anderson.

There you know, so Loni Anderson had called in, the the the weather guy. Yeah. Uh with with 10 minutes to go on the deadline, I called the auto body people. I said, “Listen, I’ll I’ll make the call.” That’s great. Good for you. called them up and you know, I did the interview for 5 minutes and I and I hung up feeling good about myself.

 And I saw the people later that night and I you know, “Hey, all right, we did it.” And they said, “No. Uh we lost.” And uh and I said, “Loni Anderson beat me?” And it turned out that with about a minute to go on the deadline, Sean Connery had called. [laughter] There was an old an old an old sort of committee member called Mick Murphy.

And Mick used to always say to me when we were playing when I was playing with the Rose he says one thing Pie, he says, you’ve been a regular in Bonnyrigg Rose’s team. And he says that big actor guy and I’m like big actor guy. He says the big guy from Fountain Bridge. And it suddenly dawned on me who he was talking about.

 He was talking about Sean Connery. And he says you were a regular in Bonnyrigg Rose’s team, he says. Connery in and out, in and out. Uh well liked with the players though. He says he was really well liked with the players. And I often used to wonder that in myself, you know, um when Sean Connery, you know, moved on to other things and living in the Bahamas or Bermuda, lying at the poolside, wondering what might have been.

Had he got a game for Bonnyrigg Rose? You have to be able to do a Sean Connery. Well, I can’t can’t can’t quite get the lisp. Sean is the was the ultimate alpha male. Was he a joy to be around or was he difficult? Was he intense? Shh. You’re watching your words. I am.

 I am. I think he and Michael Caine were the great English British stars of of their generation. But Connery was an extraordinary man. But one always sensed that there was a toughness there that never actually relaxed, really. Wow. He was the the true alpha. The uh the uh I think the strongest alpha that I’ve ever met, really. Intimidating.

No, just 100% male. And what was Sean Connery like because you became very close with him and he’s still with us of course but Well, Sean was amazing because I met Sean when we were very young and I was at a party on the Saturday night and he came to the party after the show you know at about 11:00 and I was there with two girls and the reason for that was because in those days they used to say bring a bottle and a bird a bottle of wine and a bird which is a girl.

[laughter] I know it’s very non you know but I’m a big feminist so it doesn’t matter. And and I but and I couldn’t afford a bottle of wine I couldn’t I didn’t have enough money for it so I bought two birds. [laughter] And Sean came in and looked around the room and he saw me and I immediately became his new best friend and he hadn’t even spoken to him.

And he was over and and that’s how we became friends. Amazing.