Nobody would have predicted such amazing things for Sir Sean Connery after what was a humble beginning.
Thomas Sean Connery was born to a working class family in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh on the 25th of August, 1930. His father Joseph was a factory worker and lorry driver, and mother Effie a cleaning woman, with the family having to live in a top-floor, two-bedroom flat which had an outside toilet. Conditions were so cramped that when Sean was born he apparently slept in the bottom drawer of the wardrobe.
As the oldest of two boys (brother Neil born eight years later), he spent much of his youth working at menial job just to get by from day to day. It was no surprise therefore that he left school at the early age of 14 and went to work full-time, famously delivering milk and quickly rising to run his own cart.
Eager to explore the wider world, he enlisted in the Royal Navy at the age of 16, though it never worked out as expected - with a distinct lack of travel - and after only three years of service a long bout with a stomach ulcer shortened his “naval career”.
He returned to Edinburgh, settling into a life of hard grind including as a a bricklayer, lifeguard and coffin polisher - plus doing some odd jobs at King’s Theatre - though he soon developed a hobby that was about to take him on a path to Hollywood (and ensures that he has at least one thing in common with Arnold Schwarzenegger). Sean has started bodybuilding.
The pastime culminated in a bid for the 1950 Mr Universe title, where he came third in the junior class. By chance one of his rivals mentioned some auditions being held for South Pacific at the Theatre Royal, and after scoring a role he was on his way towards a full-time acting career, studying hard to become a better acting and using the same dedication he’d put into the bodybuilding.
It was of course the role of James Bond that catapulted Sean to international fame. He had an onscreen presence that Steven Spielberg as like “capturing lightning in a bottle”. However, he wasn’t an overnight success story. From his first work in modelling, bit theatrical parts and chorus appearances, it was about eight years before he was cast opposite Lana Turner in 1958’s Another Time, Another Place.
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After that it was another it would be another four years until his appearance in Dr No in 1962, when he played 007 for the first time. He starred in another five Bond movies in the 60s, before going on to make a hugely diverse range of films, broadening his range with roles in the likes of John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King in 1975, medieval romance Robin and Marian a year after, and 1981 sci-fi thriller Outland, often more than happy to be part of an ensemble cast rather than hogging the limelight.
Making a brief return as an older Bond in Never Say Never Again in 1983, he then embraced the MTV generation with a memorable supporting role as Ramirez in Highlander (1986) and finding had his acting skills acknowledged with an Oscar, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor with his acclaimed performance as a hard-nosed Irish born cop in The Untouchables (1987).
Though he still starred in more blockbusters in the 90s, including The Rock and Entrapment, his career started to slow as he became more interested in politics, and finally decided to retire from acting after a none-too-pleasing experience with The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003.
A fervent supporter of the SNP, he has made continual visits back to his home country, though resides in the Bahamas where he lives with second wife Micheline Roquebrune, who he married in 1975 two years after divorcing Diane Cilento. He has one son, actor Jason Connery, from that first marriage.
