Actor, born Thomas Connery on August 25, 1930, in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh,
Scotland, the son of a truck driver and charwoman. He has a brother, Neil,
born in 1938. Connery dropped out of school at age fifteen to join the British
Navy.
Connery is best known for his portrayal of the suave, sophisticated British
spy, James Bond, in the 1960s.
After Connery was discharged from British Navy due to ulcers, he worked at
a series of odd jobs, including bricklayer, lifeguard, coffin polisher and
artist's model. His avocation was bodybuilding, which helped him secure some
swimsuit modeling jobs. In 1950, he appeared in the Mr. Universe
contest, representing Scotland, and placed third.
His theater debut was in London in 1951, when he landed a part in the
chorus of South Pacific. He continued his acting career in repertory
theater. In 1954 he started acting in British TV, where he scored a success
in the BBC's Requiem for a Heavyweight. The actor moved on to films,
playing smaller roles and working up to supporting parts. Connery's first
important movie role was in Another Time, Another Place (1958), with
Lana Turner. He was also in the Titanic epic A Night To Remember
(1958). An impossibly handsome Connery starred in the fanciful Disney
production of Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). He also
appeared in Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959) and The Longest
Day (1962).
But Connery was still relatively unknown until he was cast as the
dangerously suave and virile secret agent, James Bond, in a series of films
based on the Ian Fleming adventure novels. He beat out Cary Grant, Rex
Harrison, Trevor Howard, Patrick McGoohan, and Roger Moore for the part. The
first Bond film was Dr. No (1962), followed by From Russia, With
Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965),
You Only Live Twice (1967), and Diamonds are Forever (1971).
After he wearied of playing Bond, Connery starred in a series of action
films including The Wind and the Lion (1974), The Man Who Would
Be King (1975), and The Great Train Robbery (1981). Drawing on
his past experience as Bond, he was also effective in political intrigue
films, such as The Next Man (1976), Cuba (1979), Hunt for
Red October (1990) and The Russia House (1990). In The
Offence (1973), he played a troubled police detective.
In 1981, he returned as James Bond in Never Say Never Again (1981),
but sadly, it paled in comparison to the earlier films. It was the last of
the James Bond series with Connery as the lead.
Connery won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his
portrayal of the Irish cop, Malone, in The Untouchables (1987), and
was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award and a Golden Globe
in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), playing Jones' father.
Connery produced Medicine Man in 1992, and was executive producer
and starred in Rising Sun (1993), Just Cause (1995) and
The Rock (1996). He also produced and starred in
Entrapment (1999), a film that involved him in an on-screen romance with
Catherine Zeta-Jones, a woman 40 years younger than Connery.
Connery was married for twelve years to actress Diane Cilento, between 1962 and
1973. The couple had one son, Jason, born in 1963. His current wife
is the French-Moroccan painter, Micheline Roquebrune.
In July 2000, Connery was knighted in his hometown of Edinburgh by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
Filmography
| 1957 | Time Lock | |
| 1957 | Hell Drivers | |
| 1957 | No Road Back | |
| 1958 | Another Time, Another Place | |
| 1959 | Darby O'Gill and the Little People | |
| 1959 | Tarzan's Greatest Adventure | |
| 1961 | The Frightened City | |
| 1961 | Operation Snafu | |
| 1962 | The Longest Day | |
| 1962 | Dr. No | |
| 1963 | From Russia with Love | |
| 1964 | Woman of Straw | |
| 1964 | Marnie | |
| 1964 | Goldfinger | |
| 1965 | Thunderball | |
| 1965 | The Hill | |
| 1966 | A New World | |
| 1966 | A Fine Madness | |
| 1967 | You Only Live Twice | |
| 1968 | Shalako | |
| 1970 | The Molly Maguires | |
| 1971 | Diamonds Are Forever | |
| 1971 | The Red Tent | |
| 1971 | The Anderson Tapes | |
| 1973 | Zardoz | |
| 1973 | The Offence | |
| 1974 | Murder on the Orient Express | |
| 1975 | The Terrorists | |
| 1975 | The Man Who Would Be King | |
| 1975 | The Wind and the Lion | |
| 1976 | Robin and Marian | |
| 1976 | The Next Man | |
| 1977 | A Bridge Too Far | |
| 1979 | The Great Train Robbery | |
| 1979 | Cuba | |
| 1979 | Meteor | |
| 1981 | Outland | |
| 1981 | Time Bandits | |
| 1982 | Sword of the Valiant | |
| 1982 | Wrong Is Right | |
| 1982 | Five Days One Summer | |
| 1983 | Never Say Never Again | |
| 1986 | Highlander | |
| 1986 | The Name of the Rose | |
| 1987 | The Untouchables | |
| 1988 | Memories of Me | |
| 1988 | The Presidio | |
| 1989 | Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade | |
| 1989 | Family Business | |
| 1990 | The Hunt for Red October | |
| 1990 | The Russia House | |
| 1991 | Highlander II: The Quickening | |
| 1991 | Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves | |
| 1992 | Medicine Man | |
| 1993 | Rising Sun | |
| 1994 | A Good Man in Africa | |
| 1995 | First Knight | |
| 1995 | Just Cause | |
| 1996 | Dragonheart | |
| 1996 | The Rock | |
| 1998 | Playing by Heart | |
| 1998 | The Avengers | |
| 1999 | Entrapment | |
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