Sean Connery Played James Bond, Ian Fleming's Secret Agent with A
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ARTICLES BOND,JAMES Sean Connery played James Bond, Ian Fleming’s secret BONDagent with a licence to kill, in seven fi lms, starting with Dr. No in 1962 and bowing out with 1983’s Never Say Never Again. Having defi ned the celluloid version of 007, The Rake asks if Connery’s legacy will ever be surpassed... BY GARETH REES 96 ARTICLES Sean Connery poses as James Bond next to his iconic Aston Martin DB5 in a scene from Goldfinger in 1964 97 ARTICLES CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT James Bond with Italian actor Adolfo Celi as eye patch wearing Emilio Largo in m the film Thunderball ; James Bond’s iconic jet-pack escape, from From Russia With Love; Tailor Anthony Sinclair fits Connery for a suit; Bond dodges assassins in From Russia With Love; Connery and Daniela Bianch in From Russia With Love; Sean Connery In in Rome promoting Never Say Never Again. 98 ARTICLES “In 1962, Dr. No, became the fi rst “offi cial” Bond fi lm, spawning a franchise that is still going strong more than 50 years later” e Cercle, Les Ambassadeurs Club, London. The back of a the seven Bond fi lms between 1973 and 1985; Timothy Dalton L man’s head, his hair combed into a perfect side parting, in two Bond fi lms, The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to his broad shoulders encased in an impeccably tailored Kill (1989); Pierce Brosnan in the four Bond fi lms between black evening jacket. A beautiful woman in a chic one- 1995 and 2002; and fi nally, the current Bond Daniel Craig, shoulderd red dress is losing a game of chemin de fer (the who has played the world’s most famous secret agent in three card game baccarat) to the faceless man, who is in control of fi lms to date, starting with 2006’s Casino Royale, and will the shoe. She does not hide her irritation. The chiseled clean- reprise the role in Spectre later this year. All of these actors shaven jaw of her opponent. The man’s hands: tanned, well created their own unique version of Ian Fleming’s charming manicured but not feminine. He fl ips over two winning cards but deadly spy, and the debate over who is ‘the best Bond’ will with an air of arrogant nonchalance. It’s not hard to imagine rage long after 007 has sipped his last martini, but one thing the look of indiff erence on his face. The woman asks the that Sean Connery has that the others don’t is that he was the house for more credit. Her request is granted. The man’s fi rst to portray James Bond on the big screen. He set the hands again, this time fl ipping open a silver cigarette case and standard. If he had failed, the others (Nelson aside) removing one of a neat row of cigarettes. “I admire your would never have had a chance to even try and rival courage, Miss…” the man says in a languid, refi ned Scottish his performances. burr. “Trench, Sylvia Trench,” replies the woman. “I admire “If you ask what were the three ingredients for Dr. No, it your luck, Mr…” The man’s face: hard but handsome, thick, was Sean Connery, Sean Connery and Sean Connery,” Dr. No’s slightly arched eyebrows, eyes down, concentrated on the director Terence Young has said. It would be hard to disagree, cigarette tightly clenched between his thin lips and the petrol but Young himself must take a large part of the credit, not just lighter in his right hand. He is wearing formal evening dress. for the distinct look of that fi rst Bond fi lm but also that of its He is comfortable in it. He was born to wear it. He looks up. leading man. It was Terrence Young who introduced Connery “Bond,” he says out of the corner of his mouth not occupied to tailor Anthony Sinclair, the man who created the clean but by his now smoking cigarette. Then, snapping the lighter classic shape that became known as the “Conduit Cut”, after shut, “James Bond.” his premises on Mayfair’s Conduit Street, and made the suits This was the fi rst time the cinema-going public had been worn by Connery’s Bond in Dr. No. It was also Terrence treated to Ian Fleming’s MI6 agent James Bond. And what an Young who turned Connery on to the crisp, timeless Turnbull introduction it was. In 1962, Dr. No, became the fi rst “offi cial” & Asser dress shirts he wore in the fi rst Bond fi lm. Bond fi lm produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R “Cubby” Young’s infl uence is no secret. Connery has acknowledged Broccoli’s Eon Productions, spawning a franchise that is still the director’s part in shaping the sartorial style of the fi rst going strong more than 50 years later. If that scene, and those major celluloid Bond. “Terrence Young really took me in that followed it, hadn’t been so powerful, Bond might never hand and sort of knocked me into shape with his tailor and have become the phenomenon it is today. Turnbull & Asser shirts and all the gear,” the actor has said. One actor, Barry Nelson, played James Bond on screen Young even made Connery sleep in his fi nely made clothes to before Sean Connery appeared in Dr. No, starring as teach him how hard-wearing they were, vital for clothes worn American agent Jimmy Bond in a US television adaptation of by a man who gets into a few more brawls than your average Casino Royale in 1954. Since Dr. No, six other men have British gent. The fi nal style signifi er of Connery’s James Bond embodied 007: celebrated English actor David Niven in the was his Rolex Submariner 6538, which he reportedly 1967 spoof Casino Royale; Australian model George Lazenby borrowed from co-producer Cubby Broccoli due to budgetary in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969); Roger Moore in restraints and the Swiss brand’s refusal to supply a 99 ARTICLES “The fi nal style signifi er of Connery’s Bond was his Rolex Submariner, which he reportedly borrowed from a co-producer Cubby Broccoli” complimentary timepiece. Legend has it that when James Chapman in his book Licence to Thrill. Whilst Honor George Lazenby auditioned to replace Connery in Blackman, who played Pussy Galore in Connery’s third Bond 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service he wore a Rolex fi lm, 1964’s Goldfi nger, said it with less pretension: “He is, Submariner and a suit made for Connery that the Scottish I think, without doubt, the sexiest man I’ve ever met. He has a star hadn’t picked up from the tailor’s. That’s how quickly natural authority, charisma, he’s very unique.” Connery, with a little help from his friends, cemented the That “authority” and “charisma” is on show in the scene at Bond style. the baccarat table in Dr. No, but it is the believable promise of Connery wasn’t responsible for the fi rst brutality Connery exuded that made Bond’s dress sense, but he was the man who him the perfect fi t for the hardened wore the clothes with such confi dence. He killer James Bond. can also take full credit for the other vital Another scene in Dr. No, which Bond characteristics: charm and brutality. pushed the boundaries of “good taste” United Artists, according to Cubby Broccoli, for the time, demonstrates this had been concerned that it would be hard to perfectly. Having bedded Dr. No’s sexy sell Dr. No to American audiences with a spy Miss Taro and then, without “Limey truck driver hesitation, had her arrested, Connery’s playing the lead”, but it Bond, clad in one of his impeccable was Connery’s rough Anthony Sinclair suits, no jacket, sits in centre that ensured that her darkened apartment, the eerily the dapper Bond never upbeat and sensual ‘Under the Mango became ridiculous. James Tree’ on the turntable, calmly playing solitaire as he waits for Bond is, beneath the the assassin he knows will have been sent to kill him. He elegant veneer, a cold- hears the assassin — who turns out to be Dr. No’s henchman blooded killer. Sean Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) — approach, watches as Connery, a former the would-be executioner fi res six shots into the pillows he milkman, coffi n polisher has earlier wrapped in the bed sheets to replicate two and bodybuilder from a entwined bodies, and then forces him to discard his weapon. working-class Edinburgh After a brief, predominantly one-sided, conversation, during family, is the only actor to which Bond coolly lights a cigarette, cruelly prolonging the play Bond, with the inevitable, Dent grabs and pulls the trigger of his empty gun. exception of Daniel Craig, “It’s a Smith & Wesson. You’ve had your six,” says Bond, who looks like he could coldly, before fi ring one sickeningly silenced shot into Dent’s kill with his bare hands. chest and another one into his back. He then unscrews his That unique attribute, silencer and blows lightly down its barrel. All of this without combined with the winking self-assurance of a natural ladies’ getting up from his chair or even uncrossing his legs. If he man, meant that Connery was a rare fi nd indeed. feels anything, it doesn’t show on what is at that moment “Although trailers for the early fi lms described Bond as ‘the undoubtedly the face of a seasoned professional killer.