Few actors are as closely identified with a single character as Sean Connery was with James Bond. The Scottish actor, who died in 2020 at 90, would have celebrated his 96th birthday on Aug. 25.
Connery didn’t simply play Bond. He helped define what the character would become on the big screen, bringing a combination of danger, sophistication, humor and physicality to Ian Fleming’s secret agent that would influence every actor who followed.
Born Aug. 25, 1930, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Connery grew up in a working-class family and left school as a teenager. Before becoming an international movie star, he worked a series of jobs (including as a milkman and a coffin polisher) and served in the Royal Navy.
Acting eventually offered him a different path.
Connery began appearing in small theatrical productions and television roles during the 1950s, gradually building a reputation as a promising young actor. But his life changed dramatically when he was cast as James Bond in 1962’s Dr. No.
Sean Connery Becomes James Bond
When Dr. No arrived in theaters, audiences were introduced to a version of Bond who was stylish but dangerous, effortlessly charming but capable of startling violence.
Connery returned as 007 in From Russia with Love in 1963, followed by Goldfinger in 1964. The latter became a cultural phenomenon, helping turn Bond into one of cinema’s biggest franchises.
Connery continued with Thunderball in 1965 and You Only Live Twice in 1967. Although he had become synonymous with the role, the relentless attention surrounding Bond began to wear on him.
He temporarily stepped away from the character after You Only Live Twice, only to return for Diamonds Are Forever in 1971.
But Connery was determined not to let Bond define his entire career.
Beyond 007
After leaving Bond behind, Connery demonstrated that his talents extended far beyond the spy franchise.
He appeared in films including The Man Who Would Be King, A Bridge Too Far and The Name of the Rose. In 1983, he returned to the Bond world one final time in Never Say Never Again, an independently produced film outside the official Eon Productions series.
Then came one of the most acclaimed performances of his career.
In 1987’s The Untouchables, Connery played Irish-American police officer Jim Malone opposite Kevin Costner. His performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Connery followed that success with roles in major films including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October and The Rock. In each, he brought the same commanding screen presence that had made him an international star decades earlier.
A Legacy Bigger Than James Bond
Although generations of actors have portrayed 007, Connery’s interpretation remains the benchmark against which many Bond performances are measured.
His Bond was polished without being soft, funny without becoming a caricature and intimidating without losing his charisma. That balance helped transform Fleming’s literary character into a cinematic icon.
Connery officially retired from acting in the early 2000s, although he occasionally lent his voice to projects afterward. He spent his later years largely away from the spotlight.
He died in the Bahamas on Oct. 31, 2020, at age 90.
More than six decades after he first introduced movie audiences to James Bond, Connery’s influence on popular culture remains unmistakable. The character has changed with the times, but the image of 007 in a tuxedo, delivering a dry quip before confronting danger, still owes an enormous debt to the Scottish actor who made the role his own.
On what would have been Sean Connery’s 96th birthday, his legacy is not simply that he was the first cinematic James Bond.
It is that he made audiences believe there could only ever be one.
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