[00:00.00]How to Act 007—Sean Connery
[00:03.85]"My name is Bond—James Bond."
[00:09.65]Sean Connery informed the world's movie-goers in 1962.
[00:13.94]In seven Bond films over a span of 21 years, the tall,
[00:18.31]dark Scot came to embody the suave secret agent
[00:22.24] whose code name was known around the globe: 007.
[00:26.08]But it didn't go very smooth to be a successful star.
[00:29.35] The exception was Robert Henderson,
[00:31.65] a 47-year-old Yank who was directing South Pacific. One day,
[00:36.25] Henderson had a long talk with the muscle man
[00:39.05] whose determination seemed irrepressible.
[00:41.78]Connery told Henderson he hoped to become a professional soccer player.
[00:45.49]"Well look," said Henderson. "With soccer, at 28 or 30. it's all over.
[00:50.85] Then what do you do? Wouldn't you rather be an actor?" "How?"
[00:55.77]asked Connery, "I left school at 13."
[00:58.95]Henderson nodded. "You've practically no education.
[01:02.56]But you have an imagination and a mind.
[01:05.51]I will give you a list of ten books that you should read."
[01:08.68]The "ten" books that Henderson had mentioned were more like 200,
[01:12.95] including the complete works of Shakespeare,
[01:15.68]Thomas Wolfe and Oscar Wilde. But Connery tackled them every day,
[01:20.49]applying all the energy and tenacity he got from his parents.
[01:24.10]He would go to the library in the morning and stay till curtain time.
[01:28.15]Late at night, he would sit up with his tape recorder,
[01:31.10]hearing a voice that certainly wasn't Polish
[01:33.50]and was sounding a little less Scottish.
[01:36.24]Acting, he decided after a year of this,
[01:38.87]was going to be his career. And for his new life,
[01:42.37] Connery had chosen a new first name.
[01:45.54]Play it Connery did, and splendidly—five times in all in the 60s
[01:51.22] from Dr. No, from Russia with Love,
[01:53.82] Goldfinger and Thunderball to You Only Live Twice.
[01:58.09]His debonair charm and magnetic good looks on screen captivated audiences
[02:03.33]around the globe. Small boys from Chicago to Rome could tell you exactly
[02:08.04] what 007 said when Goldfinger threatened him with a laser:
[02:12.08]"Do you expect me to talk?"
[02:13.94]"No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die."
[02:16.67]But 007 did not die. The Bond pictures'
[02:20.50]success permitted Connery to move his wife, their son, Jason,
[02:24.55]and his stepdaughter into a town house overlooking London's Acton Park.
[02:29.14]He was also able to buy his parents a more comfortable home
[02:32.31]and persuade his father to retire.
[02:35.05] He also set up Scottish International Educational Trust with $1 million
[02:40.30]to help underprivileged Scots go to college. |