Thomas Sean Connery was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on the 25th of August 1930. After a brief stint in the Royal Navy he worked numerous menial jobs before getting involved in the King's Theatre in Edinburugh. It was here he became fascinated with acting and set off to become a professional actor.
After working numerous parts in TV and smaller movies, Connery landed a leading role in the Disney film "Darby O'Gill and The Little People". From here his star truely began to rise. After working a few more smaller movies and some TV work between 1959 and 1961. Connery exploded onto the world stage in 1962. First in a role in the World War II epic "The Longest Day" and then the role which truely catapulted Connery to the A list; James Bond 007 in "Dr. No".
As James Bond, Connery became an instant pop-culture sensation as well as a fashion icon and sex symbol of the 60's. In the following nine year he would resume this role in "From Russia With Love" (1963), "Goldfinger" (1964), "Thunderball" (1965), "You Only Live Twice" (1967) and "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971). It's perhaps the greatest testament to his acting ability that to this day after six other men have "officially" stepped into the dinner suit to portray James Bond on the silver screen that Seán Connery is still considered the best by many and second best by everyone else.
After "Diamonds Are Forever", Connery stepped aside as James Bond and went on to feature in several other films throughout the 70's. Two of note are the Agatha Christie crime thriller "Murder On The Orient Express" and the World War II epic (that's two now) "A Bridge Too Far". In 1983 Connery would again resume the role of James Bond in the unofficial remake of Thunderball for the 80's "Never Say Never Again". He would then go on to play a supporting role in "Highlander" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" as well as starring in "The Untouchables", for which he won his first and only Oscar (first nomination too) for Best Supporting Actor.
The 90's would also prove sucessful for Connery as he started the decade playing the characte of Soviet Submarine Captain Marko Ramius in the adaptation of the Tom Clancy novel "The Hunt For Red October" (my personal favourite Connery role). He would go on to resume his role from Highlander (briefly) in the sequel "Highlander II: The Quickening" as well as a cameo appearance in "Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves". He would later revisit this Medieval setting in "First Knight". The biggest role of Connery's 90's carreer came in 1996 however playing the role of John Patrick Mason in Michael Bay's action movie "The Rock". After this he would star alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones in "Entrapment" before his final acting performance in "The League Of Extraordinary Genlemen" in 2003.
He officially retired from acting in 2005 but has done some voice acting work. This month a spokesman also confirmed that Connery has retired from making public appearances. Outside of acting he has been named numerous times as "The Greatest Living Scott", been proclaimed "Sexiest Man alive" by People magazine in 1989 as well as "Sexiest Man Of The Century" in 1999. Seán Connery was also Knighted in July 2000.
For his outstanding contribution to pop-culture for the last 50 years, as well as having one of the most awsome accents known to man, I am proud to induct Sir Seán Connery as the second member of the Johnpire Hall Of Fame.
