Overview (4)

Born August 25, 1930 in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK Birth Name Thomas Sean Connery Nickname Big Tam Height 6' 2" (1.88 m)

Mini Bio (1)

Spouse (2)

Trade Mark (7)

Powerful deep voice with Scottish accent



Best known for playing James Bond



Frequently plays tough, cunning heroes



Often plays mentors in the latter half of his career



Grey beard or moustache (in later years)



Thick, dark eyebrows



Pronounces 's' as "shh"



Trivia (149)



He was offered the role of Robert Elliott by Brian De Palma in Dressed to Kill (1980) and was enthusiastic about it, but declined on account of previously acquired commitments.

In October 1997, he was ranked #14 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list.



In 1953, he entered the Mr. Universe contest, finishing third in the tall man's division.



He was voted People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1989.





He is the father of Jason Connery



He wore a toupee in his Bond movies from Goldfinger (1964) on, as he started losing his hair at 17. Before that various techniques were used to make the most of the hair he still did have. In real life however, Connery does not wear a toupee.

He has two small tattoos on his right arm. One says "Scotland forever", the other "Mum and Dad." He got them when he enlisted in the Royal Navy at the age of 16.



He took dancing lessons for 11 years. His teacher was the Swedish dancer Yat Malmgren.





He had radiation therapy for an undisclosed throat ailment in 1993. In a February 1995 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Connery said the treatment had been to remove benign tumors from his vocal chords after he found himself losing his voice while filming Rising Sun (1993).

He formerly worked as a coffin polisher.





He is the older brother of Neil Connery

He formerly worked as a milk delivery man.



He is a major contributor to the Scottish National Party (SNP). This was stopped for a while when the ruling Labour government said people living outside of the United Kingdom would not be allowed to donate money to British political parties.



In 1999, he was voted 'Sexiest Man of the Century' by People Magazine.





He said in an interview that during the filming of Never Say Never Again (1983), he was taking martial arts lessons and in the process angered the instructor who in turn broke his wrist. Connery stayed with the wrist broken for a number of years thinking it was only a minor pain... the instructor was Steven Seagal



He is the recipient of 22nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime contribution to arts and culture, presented by President Bill Clinton in Washington, D.C. on December 5, 1999.

He used to live in Marbella, Spain, near a golf course where he played daily when not filming. He left following disagreements with the local press, and now resides in the Bahamas where he plays golf much less frequently.



He has his own film production company (Fountainbridge Films). Fountainbridge is an area of Edinburgh where he was born.





He was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2000 Queen's Millennium Honors List for his services to Film Drama. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in an hour-long investiture ceremony at Edinburgh's Holyrood Palace in Scotland on July 5, 2000 accompanied by his wife, Micheline, and brother, Neil, were by his side.



He is noted to be one of writer John Gardner favorite actors in mind when he wrote the novel "Scorpius", one of his total of 16 novels about James Bond.

In 1995, he was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#7).





In 1997, his grandson, Dashiell Connery (Dashiell Quinn Connery), was born.



Gert Günther Hoffmann was his German voice for years and even though his voice was very low it fitted the charismatic and charming part of Connery perfectly. 'Gert Gunther Hoffmann' died in 1997. The following dubber's deep voice was incredibly equal to Connery's real one...Manfred Wagner died after dubbing two Sean Connery films, First Knight (1995) and The Rock (1996).

He joined the Merchant Navy as a teenager but stomach ulcers forced him to leave. He received a disability pension for a period after this.



After his service with the Merchant Navy, he worked as a nude model for Edinburgh art students.





During his time as a milkman, Connery delivered to Fettes School in Edinburgh - the same school which James Bond attended in Ian Fleming 's novels following his expulsion from Eton.

He received the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh in 1991.





He was paid a huge sum to return as James Bond for Diamonds Are Forever (1971), setting a record. It was donated to his Scottish charity.



He caused an uproar in a December 1987 interview with Barbara Walters in which he said it was OK to hit a woman if she deserved it or needed it to keep her in line. He had said similar things in a November 1965 interview with Playboy magazine.

He ranked first among the Male British movie actors in the Orange Film Survey of 10,000 voters.





Actress Mia Sara is his ex-daughter-in-law.

He received the honorary degree of DLitt from St Andrews University in 1988.



He declared in March 2003 that he would not return home until Scotland is an independent country. He believes this can still happen during his lifetime.





His favorite Bond film is From Russia with Love (1963).



Whilst filming Playing by Heart (1998) he loved playing and even made a friendship with three and a half year old Piper Maru Anderson; daughter of an actress Gillian Anderson who played Meredith (a daughter of Sean's character).



According to a poll, conducted by British film magazine Empire, he created the worst accent in the history of cinema in the movie The Untouchables (1987).



Ian Fleming , the creator of James Bond, originally did not like him being cast as Bond for Dr. No (1962) because he felt that he was too "unrefined". The actor whom Fleming embodied Bond in Fleming's mind was Cary Grant . Fleming later changed his mind and admitted he was ideally cast in the role.



He won the role of James Bond after producer Albert R. Broccoli attended a screening of Sean in Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959). He was particularly impressed with the fistfight Sean has with a village bully at the climax of the film. Cubby later had his wife, writer Dana Broccoli , see the film and she confirmed his sex appeal.

He was voted the 24th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.





Connery received excellent notices for his starring role in Macbeth (1961) and longed to make a film of "The Scottish Play." His plans for a film in the early 1970s were terminated by the production of Roman Polanski 's Macbeth (1971).



He had a difficult time getting work after he abandoned the James Bond role a second time after Diamonds Are Forever (1971) for which he received a record salary. Director John Boorman thus was able to hire him very cheaply for his low-budget production of Zardoz (1974).

He was voted Best British Actor of all time in a poll for Sky TV [Feb 2005].





Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli , the original producers of the James Bond films, cast him because they liked how he was a big, tough-looking man who nonetheless moved gracefully ("like a cat").

Premiere Magazine ranked him as #36 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).



He had cataracts removed from both eyes in 2003.





He played James Bond in Thunderball (1965). 18 years later, he reprized the role in the film's remake, Never Say Never Again (1983). He is the only Bond actor to appear in both EON and non EON productions of Bond.



He turned down the title role in the original The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), which he later admitted was a huge mistake on his part.



In 1998, he received a Tony Award for co-producing the play "Art" by Yasmina Reza

He pulled out of a film in September 2004, sparking rumors that he was going to retire. However three months later in an interview with "The Scotsman" newspaper from his home in the Bahamas, he said he is taking a year out to write his autobiography (something he had previously vowed never to do), and hopes to make another film.



He pulled out of a seven-figure deal for a planned autobiography for the second time, in March 2005. The actor signed a deal in 2004 with ghostwriter Hunter Davies to produce an account of his life from Edinburgh milkman to international film superstar. Six months prior to his hook-up with Davies, Connery also canceled a similar deal with Scottish writer Meg Henderson, who said later: "He isn't the man I thought he was.".



Panama's President Mireya Moscoso presented him with a Manuel Amador Guerrero award, named after the country's first president. She said he was given the award for his "talent and versatility." Sir Sean was on a trip to Panama to visit various humanitarian programs conducted by the government. (10 March 2003)





Terry Gilliam did not intend to cast him as King Agamemnon in Time Bandits (1981), he simply wrote in the screenplay that when Agamemnon took off his helmet he looked "exactly like Sean Connery." To Gilliam's surprise, the script found its way into Connery's hands and Connery subsequently expressed interest in doing the film.

He was once stopped for speeding by an officer named Sergeant James Bond.



His accent was the model for the voice of Stratos in the 2002 remake of He-Man & The Masters of the Universe.



The Edinburgh Filmhouse rejected a proposal to rename itself "The Sean Connery Filmhouse" in November 2005 following complaints over Connery's status as a tax exile.





His original idol was Welsh actor Stanley Baker because he played believable tough guys in quality British movies which he produced himself.



He was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the European Film Awards in Berlin, presented to him by Jean-Jacques Annaud , who directed Connery in The Name of the Rose (1986). (3 December 2005)



He was seriously considered for the role of King Philip of Macedonia in Oliver Stone's Alexander (2004).

He underwent surgery at a New York hospital to remove a tumor from his kidney in January 2006. Connery's brother Neil said, "As far as I'm led to believe the tumor was benign. He seems to be quite upbeat about it.".



He was delighted to be honored with the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, which he will receive on June 8 2006 in Los Angeles, as he was honored despite his reputation as a harsh critic of the movie industry. "It means a tremendous amount, especially because of some of the things I have said about Hollywood.".



He announced his retirement in an interview in New York City during the Tartan Week 2006 celebrations. "I have retired for good," he said.





He was presented with the Marrakech International Film Festival Award in Morocco by his friend and Just Cause (1995) co-star Laurence Fishburne . (8 December 2004).

He once appeared in a BBC advertisement stating he was anti-gun, and in 1999 he called on the Scottish parliament to ban all handguns in the country. When he found out that members of the National Rifle Association in America had blacklisted him as a star to boycott, Connery said he was more than happy to be on their list.



He started smoking when he was nine years old.



His performance as James Bond in the 007 films is ranked #5 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.





He was the original voice of Tack the Cobbler, the hero of Richard Williams 's animated cult masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler (1993). In the original version (from the work print and the resulting "Recobbled" fan-restoration), Tack was mute until the very end, when he spoke in Sean Connery's voice.



Of his career choices in the '90s (pretty much his last decade in film), The Rock (1996) and Entrapment (1999) are the films he liked the most. On the other hand, The Avengers (1998) was a film he regretted doing at all.

He pulled out of an interview for the Edinburgh Festival of Politics in August 2006 after George Reid, the presiding officer of the Scottish Parliament, vowed to ask him why he once told a magazine that some women want a "smack". Sir Sean, the Scottish National Party's most famous supporter, said it was "unacceptable" and it would have compromised the interview.



His father Joseph Connery died of throat cancer at the age of sixty-nine in August 1972.





He received a lifetime achievement award at the opening night of the Festa del Cinema, Rome's inaugural film festival. Connery was presented with the Marco Aurelio award in recognition of "his numerous cinematic endeavours over the years". (13 October 2006).



In December 2002, he was voted "The Male Celebrity With The Sexiest Voice" in a survey carried out by a mobile phone company. Kylie Minogue topped the female category.



The extraordinary success of Goldfinger (1964), which was released in December 1964, and of 1965's Thunderball (1965) propelled Connery to the top of Quigley Publications' annual Top Ten Money Making Stars poll in 1965. He remains the only British male star to be the #1 box office star in America.



He measured at exactly 6' 2.4" back in his body-building days, he is still the tallest actor to have played James Bond to date, George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton both being exactly 6' 2".



He turned down Richard Chamberlain 's role in Shogun (1980) because he would not act on television.

In June 2008, he injured his shoulder in a fall while playing golf.



He received a Bafta Scotland Lifetime Achievement Award at the Cineworld complex in Edinburgh, Scotland. (25 August 2006).



He hinted in an interview that he may return to live in Scotland for the first time in more than fifty years. He reaffirmed his belief that the country can achieve full independence within his lifetime. (February 2008).





If Never Say Never Again (1983) can be included as an official 007 installment, then Connery ties with Roger Moore for the most portrayals of James Bond - a total of 7 each. Otherwise Moore holds the record.

He was awarded made a Knight Bachelor in the 2000 Queen's Millennium New Years Honours List for his services to the Film Industry.



Of the six actors who have played James Bond, he is the only one who, like Bond, served in the Royal Navy.





He is one of four Scottish actors to have received an Academy Award nomination. The others in chronological order are Deborah Kerr Mary Ure and Tom Conti . As of 2011 he is the only one to have won an Academy Award (for his performance in The Untouchables (1987)).

He once worked as a bricklayer.



He won the Variety Club of Great Britain film Actor Award for 1965 for his performances in The Hill and Goldfinger.



He won the Variety Club of Great Britain Special Award in 1963 for his portrayal of James Bond in Dr No and From Russia With Love.





Connery and Albert R. Broccoli were on bad terms after he left the series. He declined to attend Broccoli's funeral.

His father was of half Irish and half Scottish descent, and his mother was of Scottish ancestry.



He scheduled the release of his autobiography, "Being a Scot", on his birthday of August 25, 2008 in his hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland.



He and his wife are living in the Bahamas. [May 2008]





Although he played Dustin Hoffman 's father in Family Business (1989), he is only seven years his senior.



He played Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez in Highlander (1986) and Highlander II: The Quickening (1991). Other than James Bond, this is the only character that he has played in more than one film.



He was the visual inspiration for the original illustrations of the super-villain Vartox (created in 1974), one of the Superman's foes. Connery was 44 years old at the time. Vartox was modeled after Connery's appearance in Zardoz (1974).



Time Bandits (1981) originally called for Connery to return during the climax as King Agamemnon leading a group of Greek soldiers in the fight against Evil and being killed, but the scene could not be worked around Connery's schedule. A compromise was devised to provide closure in the film between Connery and the boy hero Kevin played by Craig Warnock



In the 1960 television adaptation of Colombe, Connery's character Julien believes his brother Paul ( Richard Pasco ) is having an affair with his wife Colombe ( Dorothy Tutin ), and kisses Pasco on the mouth to find out what makes him such a good kisser. Even though, this was a non-sexual kiss, it is still believed to be one of the first male-on-male kisses on television.



Although he was 60 years old when he played Richard the Lionheart in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), the King was only 41 when he was killed on April 6, 1199.



His son Jason Connery almost signed the Bollywood film Namastey London (2007). He was to play a major role but Producer Vipul Shah and Jason could not come to agreement terms.



He was almost killed filming the helicopter chase scene in From Russia with Love (1963) when the inexperienced helicopter pilot flew in too close and almost decapitated him.



He was offered the role of Professor Waldman in Frankenstein (1994) but he turned it down. His Time Bandits (1981) co-star John Cleese was eventually cast.

In Italy, fans called him 'Mr. Kisskiss Bangbang'.





He played Major General Roy Urquhart in A Bridge Too Far (1977). The real Urquhart served as a military consultant on the film. Although he had been friends with David Niven since 1920, Urquhart had no interest in films. As such, he had no idea who Connery was or why his daughters were so excited that he was playing him in the film.



He was offered the role of Dr Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), but turned it down because he thought it was too violent.



The role of Mufasa in The Lion King (1994) was written with him in mind.

He was voted #8 in an online poll for Channel 4's 100 Greatest Movie Stars in 2003 (UK).





He regards the character he played in The Man Who Would Be King (1975) as his favorite movie role.



He is the godfather of Dimitri Hamlin



His longstanding marriage to Micheline has survived a well-documented love affair with the late singer/songwriter Lynsey de Paul



Contrary to some reports, Connery did not appear in A Night to Remember (1958). The character he supposedly played was in fact played by Larry Taylor



He gave Nicola Sturgeon advice on how to project her voice.

Named a Commandeur des Artes et des Lettres by the French government.





Has appeared in only one Best Picture Oscar nominee: The Longest Day (1962), and has never appeared in any Best Picture winning film.

He was invited to appear at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July 2014, and was said at the time to have pulled out because of an eye operation.



He was a competitive bodybuilder in his youth.



He once seriously considered becoming a professional football player before he started acting.



He turned down the lead in "Jurassic Park.".



When gangster Johnny Stamponato showed up on the set of "Another Time, Another Place" to threaten his one-time girlfriend Lana Turner, Connery got into an altercation with the underworld tough guy, who was forced to leave. Not long afterward Stamponato was. stabbed to death by the actress's daughter Cheryl in what became a sensational case.





In 2018, it was reported that an Ancient Greek mathematical formula had calculated that Connery was still the most handsome actor to have played James Bond in the long-running film series, with incumbent Bond Daniel Craig calculated to be the least handsome according to the formula.

Of his mother's Clan Maclean.



If you don't count the James Bond movies scored by John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith is the composer who scored most Sean Connery movies through the years. Goldsmith scored 7 of Connery's movies, starting with Ransom in 1975 and ending with First Knight in 1995. The other 5 is The Wind and the Lion, The (First) Great Train Robbery, Outland, The Russia House and Medicine Man. In Medicine Man Connery did even honoring Goldsmith by adding a pony-tail to his character. Goldsmith was well known for having a pony-tail.



At on point Sean said 'I am not ashamed of the Bond films. Quality is not only to be found at the Old Vic and portraying Bond is just as serious as playing Zorro.'.





He was the first James Bond actor to reach his 90th birthday. Eight days before that he became the longest living actor, surpassing Barry Nelson , already being the oldest living actor following the death of Roger Moore in 2017.

Personal Quotes (70)

I was called Sean long before I was an actor, I had an Irish buddy when I was 12 named Seamus -- pronounced Shay-mus. So they nicknamed us Seamus and Shawn and it stuck.



I never disliked Bond, as some have thought. Creating a character like that does take a certain craft. It's simply natural to seek other roles.





More than anything else, I'd like to be an old man with a good face, like [ Alfred Hitchcock ] or [ Pablo Picasso ].

I've honestly not been too aware of my age until I went to the doctor for a full check-up. He said I had the heart of a young man - "but you're not young, you're 40".



Some age, others mature.





[on turning down the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings] I had never read [ J.R.R. Tolkien ], and I didn't understand the script when they sent it to me. Bobbits? Hobbits?

I'm an actor - it's not brain surgery. If I do my job right, people won't ask for their money back.



I have always hated that damn James Bond. I'd like to kill him.



I've never kept a record of anything. I gave away everything: all the posters, the memorabilia that would have been helpful - and financially rewarding.



[on whether he would ever escape being identified as James Bond] It's with me 'til I go in the box.



I care about Bond and what happens to him. You cannot be connected with a character for this long and not have an interest. All the Bond films had their good points.



[3/03, about the impending US invasion of Iraq] I don't know who could be in favor of it, but it can't be stopped. It is inevitable.



I'm fed up with the idiots, the ever-widening gap between people who know how to make movies and those who green-light them. I don't say they're all idiots - I'm just saying there's a lot of them. It would almost need a Mafia-like offer I couldn't refuse to do another movie.



I said I never would [do an autobiography] and then I thought about it and I said, "I'm going to do it". Then I started. Yeah, and it cost me a stonking amount of money not to do it - because I'd already put the wheels in motion. He [Davies] started to run with the ball with all this stuff. I realized I was going to be spending the best part of my life, and probably the rest of my life, trying to correct these inaccuracies and I can't be bothered.





[on Daniel Craig as the new James Bond] Craig's a great choice, really interesting - different. He's a good actor. It's a completely new departure.



I thought Pierce Brosnan was a good choice. I liked GoldenEye (1995). Timothy Dalton never got a handle on the role. He took it seriously in the wrong way. The person who plays Bond has to be dangerous. If there isn't a sense of threat, you can't be cool.



I think the fact that one's hair disappeared early made it easier. I never had a "transition problem". I've always played older. I played Harrison Ford 's father and Dustin Hoffman 's father. And this year, I'm going to be 65. I'm hardly going to get into a weight program and do "Tarzan". I could have the best body sculpting in the world, but I'm never going to be James Bond again.



What happened was that I had polyps on my vocal cords for about six years. I had them lasered off each time. But then I had a little twinge of a problem while I was doing Rising Sun (1993). I couldn't get the timbre of my voice right. I couldn't get the variation and enunciation as comfortable as I wanted. So I went back to the doctor and he suggested radiation. I went for six weeks and didn't have any side effects or problems. Then I made the announcement that I had done radiation treatment. The publicists said not to do it, that it would set off an explosion. But I thought, "If you do radiation and it's a success, why not speak about it?"



[on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)] It was a nightmare. The director should never have been given $185 million.

[3/06] I have retired for good. It's been a bit rough since Christmas but I'm perfectly OK and I feel well. In fact, I'm working on a history book.





[on why he resigned the role of James Bond while filming You Only Live Twice (1967)] One of the reasons I stopped doing it was because I got really fed up with the space stuff and special effects. I just found it getting more and more influential in the movies.

[during his speech after receiving the AFI Life Achievement award] Though my feet are tired, my heart is not.



I had no grand plan. Everyone talks about how they knew the Bond films were going to be a success, but it simply isn't true.





[on turning down the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)] Yeah, well, I never understood it. I read the book. I read the script. I saw the movie. I still don't understand it.

It is said that a total ban on handguns, including .22s, would take away innocent pleasure from thousands of people. Is that more or less pleasure than watching your child grow up?



[on being one of the biggest movie stars in the world] Well, that's only because of your price. And my current price? Well, ha, that's nobody's business but mine.





[on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)] I am resting from acting - you might say I'm retired. It would take something really considerable to bring me back. Nothing has been discussed but I hear it's back on.

There's one major difference between James Bond and me. He is able to sort out problems!



I never trashed a hotel room or did drugs. I understand if you get caught in a fight, but to take it out on a room that implies some psychiatric disorder. The way I was brought up made me think about the person who has to clean up afterwards.



I did smoke pot a few times but nothing else. I would never inject. I'm too fond of the drink. At times I can go two weeks or more without it, but then I'm quite enthusiastic to get back to the taste again.



Dealing with this financial stuff was too much for me. It was back to education and I had to learn to understand it all myself.





Peter Mandelson , two times thrown out, is now representing Britain in Europe. In the olden times, they would have hung him up by his feet. The decisions in the UK are made by President Tony Blair and a couple of his cooks in the kitchen.

I am happy to say that I sued Allied Artists for cosmetic bookkeeping and they're bankrupt.



It reads as though one had made great dramatic decisions, but in fact one didn't. I certainly had the drive from the beginning, but the targets and ambitions were much, much less.



One of the things that strikes me is that no matter how difficult or underprivileged the situation you were living in as a child, it wasn't considered difficult. I don't think as children, you are aware of it. You have nothing to compare it to.



"The time came for me to retire because of my rather unfortunate last movie . . . The cost to me in terms of frustration and avoiding going to jail for murder cannot have continued.



Whenever I've tangled with a beautiful spy, have you noticed what invariably happens? Even if I know the girl is a nasty and dangerous little snake, I've still had to kiss her first and kill her later.



[in 2004] The Scottish media all say, "Oh yeah, he's a tax exile". I have paid more tax than the government put together in that Parliament. I still pay full tax when I work in England and the same when I work in America.



[on his knighthood being blocked by the Labour government for the second time in 1998] It's purely political. I have never made any secret of my association, affiliation with the Scottish National Party. I don't like the turn it's taken now when they drag up something, which is something from the past about my violence towards women which I have attempted to answer in so many ways. It might have been a stupid comment of mine to say to smack a woman or slap a woman, I think I said, and it was picked up much later by an unmentionable in America who really worked a flanker and presented a show as though I had actually admitted that it was okay to punch women. In fact, in the near future there will be some kind of revelation about quite a lot of that anyway, which I'm not going to go into now.





I get asked the question so often, I thought it best to make an announcement. I thought long and hard about it and if anything could have pulled me out of retirement it would have been an Indiana Jones film. I love working with Steven [ Steven Spielberg ] and George [ George Lucas ], and it goes without saying that it is an honor to have Harrison [ Harrison Ford ] as my son. But in the end, retirement is just too damned much fun. I, do however, have one bit of advice for Junior: Demand that the critters be digital, the cliffs be low, and for goodness sake keep that whip by your side at all times in case you need to escape from the stunt coordinator! This is a remarkable cast, and I can only say, "Break a leg, everyone". I'll see you on May 22, 2008, at the theater!



[on A View to a Kill (1985)] Bond should be played by an actor 35, 33 years old. I'm too old. Roger's too old, too!



A silent gesture can convey more in a flash than a minute of spoken dialogue. Unlike most actors, who resist directors cutting their lines, I have spent my whole career filleting mine. There are few directors who have not seen my cuts as improvements. Steven Spielberg paid me the ultimate compliment on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) by adopting nine out of ten of my ideas that traded dialogue for added visual interaction.



Anyone contemplating a film career could do no better than read Alexander Mackendrick 's book "On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director."

Perhaps I'm not a good actor, but I would be even worse at doing anything else.



I realised that a top-class footballer could be over the hill by the age of 30, and I was already 23. I decided to become an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves.





It's funny, but the film buffs at UCLA are constantly dissecting Marnie (1964) these days to see how it was done. When it was first released, there was a lot of criticism of Alfred Hitchcock because he used a studio set for the dockside scene. But the backdrop looked just like the port of Bristol - if not Baltimore, where it's supposed to be at. I adored and enjoyed Hitchcock tremendously. He never lost his patience or composure on the set.

It would appear I'm an inspiration for older men. Do I think I'm sexy? I've been told I am. I know that I find certain people attractive and they find me attractive and are presumptuous enough to think that's sexy. I can't answer for all those fat guys out there in their sixties. Are they more virile? Well, it's years since I went to bed with a sixtyish balding man. Look, I'm dealing with maturity alright. I'm much more interest in keeping enthusiastic than anything else.





The idea of the hair was the iron grew sort of crew cut but something kinda put me off that. I would have looked sort of like Ernest Hemingway with the beard and short hair and it would have looked American. So I went Rod Stewart but shorter. They had another wig but that made me look like Sting . I really couldn't deal with it. Well, I could deal with it. I changed it. - On The Hunt for Red October (1990).



I was going upstairs when I heard my own voice coming from one of the rooms. My grandchildren were watching Goldfinger (1964). So, I sat down with them and watched it for a bit. It was interesting. There was a certain elegance, a certain assurance to it that was quite comforting. There was a leisureliness that made you not want to rush to the next scene. Of course, I also saw things that could have been improved.



Timothy Dalton has Shakespearean training but he underestimated the role. The character has to be graceful and move well and have a certain measure of charm as well as be dangerous. Pierce Brosnan is a good actor - he added some new elements to it.

I've always been told I was either too tall or too short, too Scottish or too Irish, too young, too old.





[on his Marnie (1964) leading lady Tippi Hedren ] She's underrated in a business where most actors are overrated.



Robin and Marian (1976) was supposed to be called "The Death of Robin Hood", but Americans don't like heroes who die or anything that might not smack of being a victory.

I've honestly not been too aware of my age until I went to the doctor for a full check-up. He said I had the heart of a young man, "but you're not young, you're 40! [Evening Standard, 1971]



I enjoy the excitement of working on a well-crewed and exciting picture. It's like a microcosm of society that really works. Because nothing works anywhere else.





[1973, on 'James Bond' producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli ] They're not exactly enamoured of each other. Probably they're both sitting on $50 million and looking across the desk at each other and thinking, 'That bugger's got half of what should be all mine'.

Let me straighten you out on this. The problem in interviews of this sort is to get across the fact, without breaking your arse, that one is NOT Bond, that one was functioning reasonably before Bond and that one is going to function reasonably after Bond. There are a lot of things I did before Bond - like playing the classics on stage - that don't seem to get publicized. So you see, this Bond image is a problem in a way and a bit of a bore, but one has to live with it. [David Zinman: Saturday Afternoon at the Bijou, 1973]



I have no shortage of material or offers, it's just a case of what you select to do. But I think it's realistic that my chances of playing Romeo are now over.





(On George Lazenby ) I have known George for many years and arrogance is not in his character. Alas I cannot say the same for Cubby Broccoli.

Show me a man who is content and I'll show you a lobotomy scar.



[on being voted the Sexiest Man of the Century] Well what can I say, people have good taste. No, I'm only kidding. I really don't take things like that seriously.





[on the death of Roger Moore ] I was very sad to hear of Roger's passing. We had an unusually long relationship, by Hollywood standards, that was filled with jokes and laughter. I will miss him.

I've always supported the UK film industry, and even if it's not a UK film I've been doing, I've done my best to bring as many films as possible here instead of filming in America or elsewhere.



[on his salary in the Bond films] I know what it is to be without money, and know exactly what money is to me. I dislike intensely injustice, and Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli were frightfully greedy people.



Maybe it's because they were UK films but the Bond films never really got the full credit they deserved for the production side of things. The sets and the scope - they really changed cinema, and I don't think many people fully appreciated that aspect of them at the time. I think it was more about the action, gadgets and women.



[on receiving his knighthood from the Queen] It was one of the greatest days of my life.



[on fame as Bond] I've never been so pressurized in my life. It's an invasion of one's privacy, and you get a lot of head cases.



I had been put up for a knighthood by Michael Forsyth and Virginia Bottomley, and Galbraith and Dewar said 'no way'. Why? Because one had too much publicity associated with the nationalists. I supported the Yes-Yes vote, and it was a fantastic result, but I had already been blackballed from the knighthood.



I'm an easy target because of my political opinions. But I defy anyone in Scotland to find one detail where I knowingly ever did anything that was to the detriment of Scotland. It gets up my nose.



Salary (20)