Happy Birthday Sean Connery!

Happy Birthday Sean Connery!  He is known as the first James Bonds, but one of his early roles was as the singing Michael McBride in the Disney fantasy film, Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959).  Next, he was Private Flanagan in the epic war film, The Longest Day (1962).  Also, that year, he appeared as James Bond in Dr. No (1962).  He continued with From Russia with Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964) which really the set the style and villains of the Bond films.  Alfred Hitchcock cast Connery as Mark Rutland in his thriller Marnie (1964).  Connery continued with Thunderball (1965), my favorite of all Bond films, You Only Live Twice (1967), and then returned for Diamonds are Forever (1971).  Next, he was Zed in the sci fi film, Zardoz (1974).  Connery was part of the formidable cast of Murder on the Orient Express (1974) directed by Sidney Lumet.  Based on the Agatha Christie classic novel, he played Colonel Abuthnot, who has an affection for Vanessa Redgrave’s Mary Debeham.  He starred in The Man Who Would Be King (1975), one of his favorite parts, based on the Rudyard Kipling novel.  Next, he starred as an older Robin Hood in Robin and Marian (1976) with Audrey Hepburn as Lady Marian.  This is one of my favorite non-Bond roles for Connery. 

Connery played Marshall William T. O’Neil in the sci fi mystery Outland (1981).  He had the cameo role as the king, Agamemnon, caught in the adventures of Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits (1981).  Connery returned one last time as an older Bond in Never Say Never Again (1983).  He had a memorable part as Ramirez, mentor of Highlander (1986).  Then, he played William of Baskerville in The Name of the Rose (1986) based on the Umberto Eco novel.  He won the Supporting Actor Academy Award for his memorable part as cop mentor Jim Malone in The Untouchables (1988). Next, he played Professor Henry Jones adventuring with his son Indy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).  Then, he played the captain, Marko Ramius, in The Hunt for Red October (1990) starting a string of movies based on Tom Clancy’s books.  In 1995, he played King Arthur caught in the love triangle between Julia Ormond’s Guinevere and Richard Gere’s Lancelot, in First Knight.  In 2000, he was knighted by Elizabeth II.  Connery played pulp hero, Allan Quatermain, in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, (2003), his last film.  Happy Birthday Sean Connery! 

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