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Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born August 25,1930 in
Edinburgh, Scotland)  better known simply as Sean
Connery, is a Scotland|Scottish film actor who has
starred in many films and is best known as the
original cinematic James Bond.  His birth name was
Thomas Connery.  The name "Sean" was added later
as a stage name.

Connery is known for his trademark
Regional_accents_of_English_speakers#Scotland|Scot
tish accent and his good looks, repeatedly being
mentioned as one of the most attractive men alive
by magazines even after he was considerably older
than more conventional sex symbols.

==Personal life==
Connery was born in Edinburgh, Scotland to a
mixed-religion couple. His father was Catholic and
his mother was Protestant. Accordingly, neither
Tommy (Sean) nor his brother, Neil, were raised
Catholic. He joined the Royal Navy after leaving
school, and after being discharged on medical
grounds went on to a succession of jobs, including
labourer and lifeguard. He competed for Scotland
in the Mr. Universe competition in 1953, which led
to work on the stage, TV, and eventually film.

He has long advocated Scottish
independence|greater independence for Scotland,
and has supported the Scottish National Party, a
centre-left nationalist political party,
financially and through personal appearances
despite himself living in the Bahamas.  This
support is illustrated by a comment from his
official website:

"While it is generally accepted that his support
of Scotland's independence and the Scottish
National Party delayed his knighthood for many
years, his commitment to Scotland has never
wavered. Politics of the United Kingdom|Politics
in the United Kingdom often has more intrigue than
a James Bond plot. While Scotland is not yet
independent, she does have a new parliament. Sir
Sean campaigned hard for the yes vote during the
Scotland referendum, 1997|Scottish Referendum that
created the new Scottish Parliament. He believes
firmly that the Scottish Parliament will grow in
power and that Scotland will be independent within
his lifetime."
http://www.seanconnery.com/biography/knighthood/

Connery used part of the fees from his work as
James Bond to establish a charity to support
deprived children in Edinburgh as well as Scottish
Film production. These charitable works would have
earned him a Knighthood much earlier but it was
revealed in 1997 that the award had been declined
due to concern over statements that Connery made
in interviews that in certain circumstances that
physical abuse of a partner was acceptable.

Connery received the Légion d'honneur|Legion
D'Honneur in 1991.  He received Kennedy Center
Honors from the United States in 1999, presented
to him by President Bill Clinton.  He received a
Knight Bachelor|knighthood on July 5, 2000,
wearing a hunting tartan kilt of the Duart
Castle|MacLean of Duart Scottish clan|clan.  Sean
Connery received the Orden de Manuel Amador
Guerrero from Mireya Moscoso, former president of
Panama on 11 March 2003, for his talent and
versatility as an actor.

He was married to Australian-born actress Diane
Cilento from 1962 until 1973; He has been married
to French-Moroccan artist Micheline Roquebrune
Connery since 1975. With Cilento he had a son,
Jason Connery, who also became an actor. As
neither of his parents were Catholic, Jason was
not raised Catholic, and was educated at Millfield
School in Somerset, England.  

In September 2004, media reports indicated that
Connery intended to retire after he pulled out of
Josiah's Canon, which is to be released in 2005.
However, in a December 2004 interview with The
Scotsman newspaper from his home in the Bahamas,
the then-74 year-old actor denied he was retiring
and said he would like to make another movie, but
that he is taking a break from acting in order to
concentrate on writing his autobiography, but now
the book will no longer be written.  Just weeks
before his 75th birthday, over the weekend of July
30th/31st 2005, it was widely reported in the
broadcast media, and again in The
Scotsmanhttp://news.scotsman.com/entertainment.cfm
?id=1707662005 which credited the source as an
interview in an unspecified New Zealand newspaper,
that he had decided to retire from film making
following disillusionment with the "idiots now in
Hollywood".

==James Bond==

Connery is well known to audiences around the
world for his role as James Bond. He first
appeared as agent 007 in Dr. No (1962 in
film|1962) and subsequently played Bond in several
sequels. 
*From Russia With Love (1963 in film|1963)
*Goldfinger (1964 in film|1964)
*Thunderball (1965 in film|1965)
*You Only Live Twice (1967 in film|1967)
*Diamonds Are Forever (1971 in film|1971)

In 1967 Connery quit the role of Bond, which lead
to Albert R. Broccoli hiring George Lazenby to
continue the film franchise in 1969 in film|1969's
On Her Majesty's Secret Service. After the film's
release, however, Lazenby backed out of a seven
film contract. Broccoli again asked Connery to
return to the role and paid him $1.25 million plus
12.5% of the film's profits, or about $6 million
total to do so, at the time the highest salary of
any actor. Connery returned one final official
time in 1971 in film|1971's Diamonds Are Forever,
quitting the role shortly after release. 


Due to, and at the height of an ongoing legal
battle between Broccoli's EON Productions and
Kevin McClory (co-writer of Thunderball), McClory
was allowed to create a remake of Thunderball.
McClory requested Connery and in 1983 in film|1983
Connery played the role of secret agent James Bond
007 for the seventh and final time in the
unofficial film Never Say Never Again. (For the
legal battle see Thunderball#The controversy over
the novel|the controversy of Thunderball)

Over 40 years since he first played the role,
Connery is still widely regarded as the definitive
cinematic incarnation of James Bond, despite
credible interpretations of the character by the
likes of Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan, and what
many believe to be a more authentic literary
performance by Timothy Dalton.

In March 2005, it was
http://www.commanderbond.net/Public/Stories/2706-1
.shtml announced that Connery would return to his
most famous role one more time, providing the
voice of James Bond for an upcoming video game
adaptation of From Russia With Love.

==Post-James Bond Career==
Although his most famous role was that of James
Bond, Sean Connery has also maintained a highly
successful career since, much more so than the
other actors who assumed the role. As part of the
agreement to appear in Diamonds are Forever
Connery was given a carte blanche to produce two
films at United Artists but felt that the only
film made under this deal, The Offence, was buried
by the studio. Apart from The Man Who Would Be
King, most of Connery's successes in the next
decade were as part of ensemble casts, in films
like Murder on the Orient Express and A Bridge Too
Far. After the experience with Never Say Never
Again and the following court case Connery became
unhappy with the major studios and for two years
did not make any films. Following the European
production The Name of the Rose Connery's interest
in more credible material was revived. His
performance as a hard-nosed cop in The
Untouchables (1987) earned him an Academy Award
for Best Supporting Actor. Subsequent box-office
hits such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
(1989) and The Hunt for Red October (1990) secured
his place as a bankable leading man. He later
received a Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic
contribution to world cinema. In more recent
years, Connery's filmography has included its fair
share of box office and critical disappointments
such as The Avengers (film)|The Avengers (1998),
and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003),
but he also received rave reviews for films such
as Finding Forrester (2000).

==Filmography==
*Let's Make Up (1955) (unconfirmed role)
*No Road Back (1957)
*Hell Drivers (1957)
*Action of the Tiger (1957)
*Time Lock (1957)
*Another Time, Another Place (1958)
*Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959)
*Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)
*On the Fiddle (1961)
*The Frightened City (1961)
*The Longest Day (1962)
*Dr. No (1962)
*From Russia With Love (1963)
*Marnie (1964)
*Woman of Straw (1964)
*Goldfinger (1964)
*The Hill (movie)|The Hill (1965)
*Thunderball (1965)
*A New World (1966) (Cameo)
*A Fine Madness (1966)
*You Only Live Twice (1967)
*Shalako (1968)
*The Bowler and the Bonnet (1969) (documentary)
(also director)
*The Molly Maguires (1970)
*The Red Tent (1971)
*The Anderson Tapes (1971)
*Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
*Espana Campo de Golf (1972) (short subject)
*The Offence (1973)
*Zardoz (1974)
*Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
*Ransom (1975 movie)|Ransom (1975)
*The Dream Factory (1975) (documentary)
*The Wind and the Lion (1975)
*The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
*Robin and Marian (1976)
*The Next Man (1976)
*A Bridge Too Far (1977)
*The Great Train Robbery (1979)
*Meteor (movie)|Meteor (1979)
*Cuba (movie)|Cuba (1979)
*Outland (1981)
*Time Bandits (1981)
*Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight (1982)
*G'ole! (1982) (documentary) (narrator)
*Five Days One Summer (1982)
*Wrong Is Right (1982)
*Never Say Never Again (1983)
*Highlander (film)|Highlander (1986)
*The Name of the Rose (1986)
*The Names of the Rose (1987) (documentary)
*The Untouchables (1987)
*The Presidio (1988)
*Memories of Me (1988) (Cameo)
*Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
*Family Business (1989)
*The Hunt for Red October (1990)
*The Russia House (1990)
*Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
*Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)
*Medicine Man (film)|Medicine Man (1992) (also
executive producer)
*Rising Sun (1993) (also executive producer)
*A Good Man in Africa (1994)
*Just Cause (1995)
*First Knight (1995)
*Dragonheart (1996) (voice only)
*The Rock (movie)|The Rock (1996) (also executive
producer)
*Sean Connery, an Intimate Portrait (1997)
(documentary)
*The Avengers (film)|The Avengers (1998)
*Junket Whore (1998) (documentary)
*Playing by Heart (1998)
*Entrapment (movie)|Entrapment (1999) (also
producer)
*Finding Forrester (2000) (also producer)
*The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
(also executive producer)

==Trivia==
*Sean Connery, as a youth, had a job delivering
milk to Fettes College, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
This was James Bond's second school.

*In the cartoon series Sonic Underground, Sean
Connery is the voice of Athair, great-grandfather
of Knuckles the Echidna.

*Darrell Hammond plays Sean Connery in the
Celebrity Jeopardy sketches on Saturday Night
Live. In these sketches, Connery is the contestant
on all but 2 episodes, where he verbally insults
host Alex Trebek (played by Will Ferrell), and
answers no questions right. The sketches aired
twice a season on SNL from 1996-2002, and returned
once more in 2005.

==External links==
*http://www.seanconnery.com/ His official website
*imdb name|id=0000125|name=Sean Connery
*BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/573476.stm
1999 Biography
*http://www.conneryfan.org/  Ellen's Sean Connery
Page
*http://www.thegoldenyears.org/connery2.html 
Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Sean Connery