He was the original James Bond who gave the franchise the name that it has today.
Editor's note: This article was originally published on July 20, 2022. It has since been updated.
Legendary actor and one of the greatest James Bond ever—Sir Sean Connery—passed away at the age of 90 on October 31. The world went into a state of shock when they read the words, "he died peacefully in his sleep." People weren't ready for yet another huge loss in 2020. Connery's publicist revealed that his death was confirmed by his wife, Micheline Roquebrune, and his two sons, Jason and Stephan, who said that "he died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by family." She added, "There will be a private ceremony followed by a memorial yet to be planned once the virus has ended," reported BBC. Born Thomas Sean Connery on August 25, 1930, the actor grew up in Edinburgh's Fountainbridge area. He left school at 13 and began his first job as a milkman. With no qualifications, he also polished coffins and laid bricks before he joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16. He had nothing but love for his wife Micheline Roquebrune. “Micheline is an amazing woman. She is the love of my life," he said.
However, he was discharged from service just three years later after he suffered a stomach ulcer. In 1957, he got his first leading role in a BBC reworking of Requiem for a Heavyweight, Blood Money. After a few stints, it was his career-defining role in the James Bond series as the sexy, classy secret agent in Dr. No that catapulted his career to glory.
"He was and shall always be remembered as the original James Bond whose indelible entrance into cinema history began when he announced those unforgettable words — 'The name’s Bond… James Bond,'" wrote producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions in a statement.
The actor's son Jason Connery, 57, told BBC, "We are all working at understanding this huge event as it only happened so recently, even though my dad has been unwell for some time." He added, "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." Connery shared Jason with late Australian actor Diane Cilento, his first wife. Tributes flooded for the wonderful actor from all around the world.
When the two met back in 1970 at a golf tournament in Morocco, after the actor's divorce from his first wife, they began an intense and passionate romance. In the beginning, the couple had some communication problems since Roquebrune only spoke fluent French and Spanish. However, she claimed that language was never a hindrance because they had "body language." Along with that came the distance physical distance as Roquebrune and Connery were living in different places. This added to the romance and yearning for each other, leading them to start a new chapter of their lives in the Bahamas.
After the Scottish superstar retired from his acting career in 2006, he was barely seen out of his gated Lyford Cay community. In 2011, he retired from public life and gave his agent strict instructions to reject all the offers that came his way. In one of the last family photos of the original James Bond, the actor was pictured with a playful smile as he's looking away from the camera and pointing up, surrounded by his son Jason and his Irish musician partner Fiona Ufton, 53.
Roquebrune, remembering her husband, said, "He was gorgeous and we had a wonderful life together. He was a model of a man. It is going to be very hard without him, I know that. But it could not last forever and he went peacefully." We would like to leave you with the voice of the man who personified class no matter what he did; here, he is seen singing Underneath the Mango Tree as savvy as ever.
References:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-13087132
https://www.eon.co.uk/sir-sean-connery-1930-2020/
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-54761824
Source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) Frazer Harrison, (R) Martin McNeil
