Sean Connery played many parts over his six-decade career.
A Berber warrior (who happened to speak with a Gallic burr) in 1975’sThe Wind and the Lion.
An aging art thief in 1999’sEntrapment(who ends up stealing Catherine Zeta-Jones' heart).
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Rushmore of the 1960s was the guy named Bond, James Bond.
He played 007 in six official films, starting with 1962’sDr.
Noand ending with 1971’sDiamonds Are Forever.
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But nobody since has done it better, at least according to the one doing it now.
“Sean Connery nailed it from the beginning,” Daniel Craig told EW in 2006.
“Bond’s single-mindedness.
And he always knew how to wear a suit.
He pulled it all off with such glamour.
And that’s really the essence of the character.
Always has been.”
But from his first moment on screen inDr.
Much of the sophistication he brought to the role came from the tutelage ofDr.
Nodirector Terrence Young, who famously instructed Connery on the joys of fine dining and custom tailoring.
But Connery understood the essence of the character right from the start.
“He has to be graceful and move well.
He has to be a dangerous person.
He has to have a certain measure of charm.
And he has to make it all look effortless.”
“I just didn’t think it was anything special,” he told EW).
Connery’s choices after Bond weren’t always winners.
As Zed in the 1974 apocalyptic sci-fi movieZardoz, he traded the tux for a space-age cod piece.
Connery, it’s worth noting, had died once before.
In 1993, a false obituary was published in Japan.
“She phoned up our house in a panic.
My wife told her, ‘Dead?
He’s just out playing golf.'”
