The Oscar-winning actor Sir Sean Connery has passed away at the age of 90, his family confirmed to the BBC.
The actor originated the iconic role of James Bond in the 1962 film “Dr. No” at the age of 30, cementing his status as a screen icon in a role he would return to six more times. Nearly 60 years later, every Bond actor is still trying to recapture the magic Connery effortlessly put into his performance, managing to be both a tough and towering presence, that nevertheless had enough sex appeal to enchant millions of viewers.
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Despite the incredible popularity of the Bond franchise, Connery refused to be a one-note actor, with a decades-long career spanning multiple genres, including working with auteurs like Sidney Lumet, John Huston and appearances in fantasy adventure cult classics as “Zardos” in 1974, “Time Bandits” in 1981, and “Highlander” in 1986. But Connery found great success in playing though characters that were a bit rough around the edges and had a dry sense of humor. Not only as James Bond, but in roles like the no-nonsense Malone in Brian De Palma‘s “The Untouchables,” which gave Sean Connery an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, or as Professor Henry Jones Sr. in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
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Connery also starred in some of the best thriller-dramas of the ’80s and ’90s, like “The Rock,” “The Hunt for Red October,” and “The Name of the Rose.” Still, the huge success of the Bond films never fully let the actor go. Despite his retirement from the franchise after “You Only Live Twice” in 1967, Sean Connery returned for three more Bond films, with his last being the aptly titled “Never Say Never Again” in 1983.
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The actor’s last feature film role was as Allan Quatermain in the disappointing “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” after which he retired, saying in 2007 “retirement is just too damned much fun.” The BBC reports that Connery died overnight, surrounded by his family in the Bahamas.
