Sean Connery: In His Own Words

This programme contains some strong language.

What the hell's going on?

This isn't the Chicken Palace!

You promised me a chicken bucket.

Sorry, me old timer,

but I knew you wouldn't come if you knew the truth.

Damn you, Caine, you know I hate surprises.

Cheer up, my Scottish compadre.

Have some popcorn, relax and let's have a watch.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Probably one of the best screen actors...ever.

Sean Connery's a star. He's a star actor.

He's what people want to see.

He just owned the screen and his magnetism and charisma

just shone out.

Sean Connery has a huge amount of gravitas.

I do think Sean Connery is the best.

I love the man. I love the man.

There was nobody greater at that time than Sean.

He was everything.

He's a man's man.

He's a movie star.

CHEERING

'In 1962,

'one man redefined the action hero...'

GUNSHOT

'..with a role that catapulted him to global superstar.

-'Sean Connery became...'

-Bond.

MUSIC: James Bond Theme by Monty Norman

James Bond.

He is, for me, the definitive James Bond.

He is, for me, the definitive 007.

GLASS SHATTERS

He was brilliant.

Brilliant then and still brilliant.

I've come to offer my sincere condolences.

My favourite Bond? Sean Connery. No question.

CAT MIAOWS

GUNSHOT

Sean is the one that's emblazoned in my brain.

MAN SCREAMS

Very sexy, very dangerous,

very humorous, as well.

Hi, I'm Plenty.

Well, of course you are.

Plenty O'Toole.

Named after your father, perhaps.

The only thing I didn't like about the James Bond films

was that I wasn't in them.

Remarkable.

But what does the club have to say?

I don't think there's any doubt he's the best Bond of all time.

He was a magnificent Bond. He's my Bond.

JAMES BOND THEME CONTINUES

Now, incidentally, that's not Fort Knox.

It's a film set here, Goldfinger,

in Buckinghamshire, Pinewood.

And I'm not James Bond. He's a fictitious character,

as so many are in Fleming's books.

It did change your career, didn't it, totally, James Bond?

Oh, that vodka's strong!

LAUGHTER

Um, yes it did.

Yes, it did, enormously.

I would never have recognised it at the time

and anybody who was really honest,

and that's including United Artists, Saltzman, Broccoli

and all the rest of them,

none of them anticipated the success it was going to be.

'Strange to think now,

'but Bond's first screen outing

'was by no means a sure-fire success.

'Dr No was a low-budget production,

'action heroes were never Scottish.

'And Bond creator, Ian Fleming,

'thought that casting Connery was a huge mistake.'

It had to be absolutely right.

I think the wrong casting,

that might have been the end of James Bond.

And he was very...modest.

He said, "Ach, they've tried everybody else, didn't they?"

He said, "They went to David Niven,

James Mason, Carrie Grant."

He said, "They tried all of them, but they were too dear."

He said, "So, I suppose what was left was me."

I'll just go and put some clothes on.

Oh, don't go to any trouble on my account.

Please!

Oh, forgive me.

I thought I was invited up here to admire the view.

When he first was Bond, there were a lot of people saying,

"He can't be Bond, he's not this, he's not that."

'Ian Fleming was horrified

'when told that they were thinking of Sean Connery.

He said, "Absolutely not.

"This is not my image of James Bond."

James Bond, after he was thrown out of Eton

for misbehaving with a maid,

went to Fettes in Scotland,

the poshest school in Scotland - in Edinburgh.

And Sean Connery definitely didn't go to Fettes.

He was a milkman.

Fleming had the right of who would play the part and not.

In fact, I got on extremely well with Ian.

I mean, he was a very interesting man.

He had such curiosity

and his knowledge was, oh, so wide.

Terrible snob, you know,

but he went to Eton,

you know, so...

And I think that explains quite a bit of that side of him.

But...

terrific companion.

But I think, in the main,

he wanted somebody unknown...

..that they would not overshadow the character of James Bond.

'Dr No was a worldwide hit

'and make Sean a star.

'Even the snobby Fleming was convinced,

'rewriting Bond's back story, to make him half Scottish.'

Minnows pretending they're whales.

Just like you on this island, Dr No.

It depends, Mr Bond,

on which side the glass you are.

A medium dry martini, lemon peel, shaken not stirred.

-Vodka?

-Of course.

The way that he played that part

gave that a ground for the rest of the franchise.

I think, if it had started off with anybody else,

I think it would have been very unlikely had it lasted

-as long as it has.

-He created James Bond as a character.

Other guys tried to emulate it,

but nobody could, as far as I'm concerned.

I was a boy, 1964...

..fresh off the plane from Ireland.

My mother and father took me to see Goldfinger,

Putney High Street

and I was enraptured.

Do you expect me to talk?

No, Mr Bond. I expect you to die!

He thinks he's going to lose his goolies, man.

And you think is going to lose them

and there's nothing mistaking that look in his face when he's...

Even when he says, "You expect me to talk?" He doesn't know.

'I watched a lot of Bond movies when I was growing up,

'but most Christmases.' I started watching them

when I was very young. But... Yeah, I liked Goldfinger.

That is probably my favourite one.

I didn't quite understand what I was seeing because I was

so green and so young...

..and it was very sophisticated for me,

but it was captivating.

And the cars, you know, the gadgets, that's what really engaged me.

You see the gear lever, here?

Now if you take the top off,

you will find a little red button.

-Whatever you do, don't touch it.

-And why not?

Because you release this section of the roof

and engage and then fire the passenger ejector seat.

Whoosh!

Ejector seat? You're joking!

I never joke about my work, 007.

'Cheer up, Hugh.

'Where would Bond have been without your wonderful inventions?

'Probably dead.

'Who can forget Little Nellie?

'The pocket air supply?

'Grappling braces?

'The jet pack?

'And, of course, the most inconspicuous

'seagull-based camouflage

'ever committed to film?'

The cat carried it off. He carries off those suits,

he carries off those ladies.

You know, yeah.

Some guys can do that and some guys can't.

James Bond is the man that knows.

And Sean Connery had to personify that -

the man we all wanted to be,

credibly sure of himself, knows how to dress,

he knows how to get off with women.

All those things that us men crave to do.

And Sean Connery embodied that,

he personified that.

'Bond is THE legendary Lothario

'seducing women left, right and centre.

'Sean was sexy, Bond was sexy.

'And he knew it.'

Men want to be him.

And women want to be wooed by him...

..putting it politely!

Iconic, charming...

..good-looking bastard,

with a twinkle in his eye.

He just...

had an indecent amount of sex appeal.

'No-one knows more about Sean's sex appeal

'than a bona fide Bond girl...

-'..or two.'

-I had to fish Sean out of the water'

because he was being chased by the sharks.

'He had a real mischievous, kind of,'

naughty, sexual...

And that was what Bond, for me, was all about.

He really was that.

Tell London I've made contact with the girl.

Well, it's not what I'd call contact.

These were taken during a break in the filming.

-I just discovered them, actually. I'd forgotten I had them.

-Fabulous.

-What is he wearing?

-He's wearing dungarees.

I mean, that is ridiculous! I've never seen him look like that.

This is, you know, Mr Macho Man in dungarees.

SHE GIGGLES

That is too funny.

EXPLOSION

What's that?

Mr Bond?

Proof that we made the right decision.

About what, darling?

Your place or mine.

'I actually saved Sean from death twice.'

Once from the sharks

and once because he came back to my room to make love to me.

-Well done, darling.

-I know, I should get a medal for that, shouldn't I?

'For Bond, lovers also came in handy as human shields,

'helping him dispatch his foes with brutal efficiency.'

'And always leaving him with the last word.'

Positively shocking.

I look for humour in most of the parts that I play,

because I always think it's the most revealing factor

of any situation or any character.

'But Connery also gave everyone's favourite quipping super-spy

'a scary, cynical edge.'

Do you mind if my friend sits this one out?

She's just dead.

Connery brought balls to it.

I don't think he's the cat that you want to have a fight with, really.

He has a presence and you feel it.

You feel it in real life, you feel it at the bar with him,

and it comes from confidence in himself.

Connery had that edge of real violence.

You thought, "This guy's a charmer,

"but he could just as easily turn round and kill you."

GUN CLICKS

It's a Smith & Wesson.

And you've had your six.

GUNSHOT

'In Dr No, Connery killed a guy for no reason.

'He's no threat, he's no danger, but he just shoots the guy.'

You thought, "My God, that's never happened before."

Thunderball was a very, very nasty, violent film.

You know, including a scene where he's snogging the woman on the beach

and he casually turns around to fire a harpoon at someone

and pin them to a tree.

Ugh!

I think he got the point.

That's very hard to pull off without looking like,

-well, a complete

-BLEEP.

Sorry, I can't think of a better word!

EXPLOSION

GLASS SMASHING AND SCREAMS

I still love seeing him there as he was then,

and knowing him as he is now, and he's the same man.

It's the same voice.

All of us grow older,

but Sean is still, for me...

He was the utter James Bond to the finest degree,

and I'm sure Fleming would have been well pleased with him.

'Thomas Sean Connery couldn't have come from more humble beginnings.

'Born in a working-class area of Edinburgh in 1930,

'there weren't many opportunities around for young Sean

'and the Navy beckoned.'

There's a photograph of him when he was a cadet, a sea cadet -

he's not very substantial looking.

He's rather whey-faced. But the eyes, you look at the eyes -

they're like a man's eyes in a wee boy's face, you know?

And I think he had that determination.

I couldn't wait to go to the war. That's how smart I was.

LAUGHTER

And then I did go

and had no real future in it.

'When he returned home, he began weightlifting, to impress the girls,

'and entered the Mr Universe competition in London

'in the early 1950s, coming a respectable third.'

# There is nothing like a dame... #

'While in town, he auditioned for a part

'in the chorus line of South Pacific,

'which was to prove a defining moment in young Sean's life.'

Most Scottish actors start in the north and then come south.

Why did you come straight down to London?

Well, I doubt very much if anyone in Scotland would have employed me.

They employed me, certainly, for other jobs, but not as an actor.

You know, I hadn't any real experience.

'I didn't know really what I wanted to do,

'but I was having a great time travelling on a motorbike'

-all over the UK in a theatre show.

-Yes.

And an American, Robert Henderson, was in the play.

Suddenly he said, "Why, don't you want to be an actor?"

And I said, "Well, I...

"Me, an actor?"

'Connery pursued this new-found direction

'with characteristic tenacity. He quickly graduated

'from small theatre roles to TV parts,

such as the BBC adaptation of Anna Karenina.'

You don't know the power you have, Anna Karenina.

You think I wanted this?

Please go.

'His big break came when Jack Palance pulled out

'of a TV production of Requiem For A Heavyweight.

'Connery stepped in at the last minute,

'convincing in the role of a tough-guy bruiser.'

He gave a terrific performance and it was a kind of national sensation.

It wasn't recorded. It was live.

So you had, like, an hour and a half where, if you made a balls-up,

the balls-up went national. You know, everybody saw it.

'Hollywood came a-calling, and Connery landed roles as diverse

'as Disney's Darby O'Gill And The Little People,

'starring alongside some lecherous leprechauns...'

Kiss her. Kiss her!

Go on, kiss her!

'..Lana Turner's love interest, in Another Time, Another Place...'

I love you more

than I've ever loved anything in life.

'..and Alfred Hitchcock's leading man in Marnie.'

Marnie?

Your daughter needs help, Mrs Edgar. You've got to tell her the truth.

She has no memory of what happened that night.

And she needs to remember everything.

You must help her.

'Then, of course, came Bond.'

Arrrgh!

'Not bad for a former milkman from Edinburgh.'

I think Sean, to this day,

is the same man as he was in Fountainbridge in Edinburgh.

He's got the same voice.

He's got the same dress sense -

he's never going to win the best-dressed man in the world.

And you know, he wouldn't go to somebody to get fancy clothes made.

"What would I want to do that for? What do you need that for?"

In that way, he hasn't changed at all.

It grounds you. You know, working-class background

like Connery's, like mine, it keeps your feet on the ground.

'In 1967, Connery returned to his working-class roots,

'coming back to Scotland to highlight the plight

'of Govan's shipyard workers in a documentary for STV,

'The Bowler And The Bunnet. It remains the only film

'he has ever directed.'

Harland and Wolff, one of the proud names

in Clyde shipbuilding, is a graveyard.

And there are others -

Henderson, Simons and Lobnitz

Blythswood, Hamilton, Inglis, Denny's of Dumbarton.

These shipyards have gone under with millions of pounds worth of orders,

and with some of the best workers in the world.

There are some things you can't cure with deflation.

The idea was to break down the barrier

between labour and management,

and it was way, way ahead of its time

in the toughest place.

'Sean himself wasn't averse to standing up to management

'if he felt he was getting a raw deal.'

You have a tremendous reputation

of being a hard man over a pound note.

LAUGHTER

Well, you don't have to stretch it to a pound.

LAUGHTER

No. No, I've played golf with you. I've played golf with you, yeah.

It could be 50p, I know that. Yeah.

No, I just... I like fairness.

And it's not just the money,

it is the principle, too.

but it is the money, as well.

-LAUGHTER

-Yes.

But you've sued nearly all the major studios.

Yeah, the only one I haven't sued is Paramount.

LAUGHTER

And I've worked most for them, strangely.

I think I've done five films with them. The last six movies,

I think five have been with Paramount.

His agents in Hollywood - he was getting the better of them,

even at that point. Because agents take...

The money comes in, they take 10%, and then when they deign to,

they send you your 90%.

He was the first actor to get the money to come to HIM,

and then he would deign to give them their 10%.

And so Scots to the bone, this man!

'He may have gained a reputation with Hollywood's money men

'for being a tight-fisted stereotypical Scot, but back home,

'just after filming Diamonds Are Forever,

'he showed a different side when he created

'the Scottish International Education Trust in 1971.'

'I'd been asked to do another Bond film,'

and I turned them down. I was fed up with it.

And then I thought, well, my goodness,

it would be a good idea for the sake of 14 weeks' work or something,

and so I decided I would do Diamonds Are Forever,

and I told them I'd do it on condition that the 1 million fee

would go direct to the Trust and that would be it.

That's how we launched it.

Sean wanted to give something back to Scotland,

but he wanted it to go to individuals who had ambitions,

and might not have been able to fulfil that ambition in Scotland.

It would really be smart of the commerce industry,

arts and whatever else, to invest in the youth,

because after all, that's the future.

And if you can't get them into it, where are you?

And if any country needs the youth, it's this country,

and I mean, Scotland.

Many of them succeeded,

hugely successfully.

And therefore developed as young Scots

representing our country well.

Their roots are still here, they're now all over the world,

delivering whatever art or skills that they have.

I think he genuinely does want to help the Scottish people.

I think he cares deeply about Scotland.

He never makes any noise about it. He doesn't do that.

I love the fact that he keeps things to himself.

He's a very proud man and decent,

and if you're going to do some thing like charitable work, just do it.

Don't preach about it. Don't say, "I'm a wonderful person."

And that's great.

I have no desire to have £100 million,

£50 million, at all.

I know exactly what it is to be without money,

and I know exactly what money is to me.

And I know that, and I know

a large percentage of myself, and I know which way I'm going.

'Bond had made Connery a star, but he was keen to flex

'his acting muscles along with his real ones.

'In 1965, Sean began a fruitful collaboration

'with the legendary director Sidney Lumet,

'starting with The Hill, a cult classic about blind obedience

'and punishment, set in a British Army prison in North Africa.'

-Roberts.

-Sir.

Your commanding officer gave you an order.

He ordered you to fight.

So you knocked his teeth out. Is that right?

Sir.

Is that all you've got to say?

Sir, it's all I want to say.

The Hill is probably my favourite performance by Sean.

I liked The Hill.

Well, I think The Hill was the first thing I saw

that he did once Bond was out of the way, and it was phenomenal.

It was terrifying. He was just wonderful in it.

He develops a very strong character, you know,

and it doesn't become a cliche.

He wants me.

And he wants you, cos you're the wrong colour.

The rest of you he doesn't find all that interesting, yet.

But he'll have you just the same.

The RSM likes making toy soldiers, Williams like breaking them.

Now you all work out what you're going to do about it.

It's the principle. It's probably how

I got invalided out of the Navy with ulcers.

But there is no questioning,

otherwise it doesn't work.

A military force, naval, whatever, doesn't work

unless the chain of command is absolute,

so that if somebody says something who is above you,

you have to do it. Then you can contest it afterwards.

Of course, when it's life or death, it's a bit difficult afterwards

if you're all dead. But that's why they make such decisive personnel.

Well, this character had a problem with that, and didn't do it,

and then slogged the officer, and then ended up in chokey,

which is the prison where the whole film really takes place.

I was a good toy clockwork soldier, just like you are.

You throw an order at me and I could pick it up

like a dog picks up a bone.

-On your feet, and you listen!

-No, you listen!

Three bloody years in the desert,

three bloody years fighting and underpaid gunmen, that's all we are!

Treason! You're talking treason!

You get a sense of his struggle, his pain,

his character out of that.

I mean, it could be just - you know, with another actor,

just be running through the plot, but it wasn't.

It became, in essence, a character piece.

It's like a Kafka short story...

GASPING

..where people are forced to do this brutal, pointless activity

until they break down, until they die.

You know, the system really doesn't care.

The system is, in fact, set up to destroy them.

Help me.

'The partnership continued in 1972 with The Offence,

'a bleak film which takes an unflinching look at paedophilia

'and police brutality. It's hard to imagine Connery

'being any less like Bond than he is here.'

-HE SOBS

-Help me.

Help your bloody self, will you!

The Offence is very interesting, cos you've got these two guys

just smashing each other to pieces, and you're constantly shifting

as to which is the good guy and which is the bad guy.

And we're all sort of drawn into this.

He said it was so wonderful to get something that had

so many different layers and so many different notes in it.

He said it was subject matter that had to be looked at.

It had to be investigated, and he says, "And we did."

I think it's one of his best roles, and nobody knows too much about it.

What you get from Sean

is enormous confidence emanating from him,

and masculinity.

It's really tremendous masculinity.

I could use other words, but I won't use them.

But I think you understand what I mean.

-Where'd you think you're going?

-Maybe she'll talk.

Surely she's in no state...

Once they get her into hospital, you won't get near her.

Two of my favourite films are actually The Hill

and also The Offence, which is a fantastic, fantastic film

that he did with another brilliant Scottish actor, Ian Bannen.

And these films show Sean Connery's range as an actor.

Before you shout, think.

Who is there?

Who's going to come, huh?

Who's going to help?

Your wife, after we tell her what you've done?

The Offence shows us the corrosive effects of witnessing atrocity

and violence and sleaze, and it shows Connery exploding, really.

Full of a rage at the world, a rage at the dirtiness of the world.

I wanted what he could give me.

Sitting there,

letting me hit him.

I wanted that.

He knew.

He was saying,

like, welcome home.

Both those films had no fear.

It went right to the heart of whatever was going on.

And you know that's coming from Sean.

He's had to dress up and pretend to be an Englishman

for several years, and now he's got a chance

to be absolutely true to what's going on inside of him.

And both of those films were so powerful.

'Connery's collaborations with Lumet were often critical successes,

'but didn't bring in the big bucks.'

I've always... I have a certain philosophy about films,

and that is that there are the two success factors -

there's the A stage and the B stage.

The A stage is the film that I read -

and I give an instance, say, of something like The Hill

or The Offence or something like that - I read it,

and I think it's terrific, and then I set out to make the film.

I see the film when it's completed and I think, "That's a success."

The B stage is when the film is given over to the powers that be

of distribution and the public's acknowledgement,

acceptance or non-acceptance.

Then, it can be a drastic failure,

but it can never undo the fact

that it's an A success in my philosophy.

It didn't matter which part he played. He was there.

He dominated the screen.

I still have great memories of The Man Who Would Be King.

'Based on a Rudyard Kipling short story,

'this classic movie follows the travails of best pals

Daniel Dravot and Peachy Carnehan, as ex-soldiers

searching for wealth and glory in deepest, darkest Kafiristan.

It's just a wonderful film all round.

A fantastic script, fantastic direction, great acting.

Beautifully shot, everything.

I mean, I think it's a superb script

from many levels.

It's very pleasurable dialogue,

and satisfying to people who like words.

And there's humour.

And there's the scale, size -

you know, couple of thousand army things.

And there's action,

and in many different locations,

throughout this country, in particular.

CROWD SHOUTING

-Cut.

-WHISTLE BLOWS

Him and Michael Caine - the relationship was just

so wonderful between the two of them.

In this picture, there is a minimum of direction

of Sean Connery and Michael Caine.

They are the roles.

The two parts are, I think, almost one person, actually.

There is a tremendous relationship in the movie between Dravot,

which is Sean Connery, and Carnehan, which is myself.

Danny, we've had this rare streak of luck. Let's quit winners, for once.

Cut and run while the running's good.

You call it luck.

I call it destiny.

Ha, ha!

Pardon me, while I fall down laughing.

HE LAUGHS

The two of them are just... They're a marriage, you know what I mean?

They're fantastic, those two together.

And two nicer people you couldn't meet.

That's what I'll always remember Sean Connery for.

Two fine actors just telling a story.

Nobody's trying to put on an accent.

You know, Sean is Sean and Michael is Michael.

-HE LAUGHS

-You know?

I enjoy actors who are fun to be with.

Michael Caine, we have a great laugh and a rapport,

and we used to be rolling on the floor, literally, in Morocco.

We'll take one of your cigars apiece,

and you shall watch us light up.

They played it perfectly.

That's what really makes that story work,

is you really have to believe that they're...

You know, they're, sort of, sucked into the whole idea

of ruling somebody.

Connery's character is identified as a God,

which is then a part that he has to play,

and being Sean Connery, he doesn't find that too much trouble.

CHEERING AND SHOUTING

You feel like if the real God arrived at the end of the picture,

Connery would still be in with a chance of winning the argument.

What about the contract?

The contract only lasted until such time as we was kings,

and King I've been, these months past.

The first king here since Alexander.

The first to wear his crown in 2,200 and...

-14.

-..14 years. Him.

And now me.

They call me his son - and I am.

In spirit, anyway.

He starts off as the, kind of, Tommy,

whatever it is, you know, the soldier.

And by the end, he becomes this, kind of, megalomaniac,

thinking he's the king of this place,

this man who's been sent...

This God, basically, who's come down from on high,

with the arrow and stuff like that, carrying it around.

The performance is just absolutely impeccable,

and it's a film that I've watched a lot

and a performance that I've actually watched a lot.

Peachey.

I'm heartily ashamed for getting you killed,

instead of going home rich like you deserve to,

on account of me being so bleeding high and bloody mighty.

Can you forgive me?

That I can,

and that I do, Danny.

Free and full

and without let or hindrance.

Everything's all right, then.

'Connery went on to be the man who would be king again and again.

'All that power must have gone to his head.'

He's played a lot of kings in his time.

You know, even just turning up briefly - it's like,

you need a king, and he's got to make his mark in one scene

for Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves -

it's got to be Sean Connery, hasn't it?

I will not allow this wedding to proceed.

-My lord!

-Unless...

..I am allowed to give the bride away.

-LAUGHTER

-You look radiant, cousin.

GUNFIRE

'Sean also strutted his regal stuff

'in Terry Gilliam's surreal sci-fi fantasy, Time Bandits.'

Arrrgh!

HE BELLOWS

Arrrgh!

When Mike Palin and I wrote Time Bandits,

we wrote this line in there, cos there was a fight

between a Minotaur and a Greek warrior,

and it said, "When the Greek warrior removes his helmet,

"it reveals that he's none other than Sean Connery OR

"an actor of equal, but cheaper, stature."

It was our little joke.

In our wildest imaginations, we were never going to get Sean Connery.

Sean turned out to be a bit of a Python fan

and he was keen to do it and it was just extraordinary.

Well, the gods must have given you a name.

Oh, yeah. Kevin.

Kevin?

Well, Kevin - here, it's yours.

My wife did the make-up on it and she had put Sean in this

beautiful wig, this brown wig, darkened his beard,

so he looked like he was, you know, in his late 30s or something.

And I remember the first night we decided to meet for dinner

at this hotel that we were all staying at

and I'm sitting there waiting and this sort of bald,

white-haired guy comes in there,

and I didn't recognise that this was the Sean Connery

that was in our movie.

Cos in the movie, he looked so young and virile

-and all that, and suddenly, old baldie comes in.

-HE LAUGHS

CROWD CHEERS

He is a surrogate father to the kid in the film

and I actually think he was thinking about his own, maybe,

absent fatherhood, a lot of times.

And he wanted to play a father in a film.

Finally, he played that other great king of legend, Arthur,

leading the Round Table, in First Knight.

You can tell he's enjoying himself, because for once,

he's the person with the least stupid hair in the film.

There's Richard Gere wearing what appears to be Rod Hull's hair,

poncing around in a tunic.

You know, I'd love to see a series of mugshots of Connery.

That bald dome appearing and disappearing,

being revealed in its full shiny glory.

Halt!

Hats off!

But hiding, you know, shyly underneath something else.

Underneath a hat, sometimes,

or underneath a rather interesting toupee in Diamonds Are Forever.

And moving with the times until the snow has fallen,

winter has come to Sean Connery's head

and it's dusted lightly with snow in The Name Of The Rose.

Then, in The Hunt For Red October, a glacier moves forward,

with this great, white quiff,

like a kind of Arctic hillside.

What is that on his head in The Rock?

I think you'd need to be very highly qualified to name that object.

I was asked a question and I had think about it the other day -

"Why do you wear a wig? Why are you not wearing a wig now?"

Or something. Well, first of all, it's a personal choice -

I don't like wearing a hairpiece.

I don't like sticking a false beard on.

I would rather grow a beard. Unfortunately, I can't grow hair.

'Never a vain man, Sean cared not a jot about wearing wigs,

'or indeed donning a questionable costume, if the need arose.

'Check out this fashion faux pas from '80s classic, Highlander.'

Greetings.

I am Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez,

Chief Metallurgist to King Charles V of Spain.

And I'm at your service.

He's like old Dick Whittington, isn't he, somehow, in that film?

Or as if somebody had turned Antonio Banderas's Puss In Boots

into a middle-aged man.

-You look like a woman, you stupid haggis.

-Haggis?

What is haggis?

Sheep's stomach, stuffed with meat and barley.

And what do you do with it?

You eat it!

How revolting!

Some actors, I think, impose a self-limitation

by being uncomfortable

in a toga or a monk's habit, or whatever.

And I think that you have to make the leap, you have to make a...

-..of yourself to do it.

-LAUGHTER

-And that's the most important stage to learn as an actor.

-Is it?

Yes, to make an absolute...

of yourself. Or a...

-..of yourself.

-LAUGHTER

-I know you're censored here.

-Not at all, we're not.

You're free, you go for it, Sean. There's no problem at all here.

-All right, well, being a

-BLEEP.

LAUGHTER

-'Well, Connery certainly doesn't mind making a

-BLEEP

-of himself

'in John Boorman's acid nightmare Zardoz. To this day,

'film scholars are still scratching their heads over this one.'

'That's got to be the most extreme costume choice ever.'

It's a sort of wellington boots and tiny leather jockstrap thing,

with a huge kind of mask on the top.

A face in the window.

GUNSHOT

We don't talk about Zardoz, cos come on -

I mean, you take this extraordinary guy and you put him in a nappy.

It's like, OK, it's fine when you're 75, 80 years old.

That's fair enough. But not at the age he was at.

I worship Sean Connery. I'll see anything he's in.

But Zardoz, I remember sitting in the cinema and going, "Oh, Sean.

"What are you doing in this, with that mankini thing on you?"

And it was really pretty ludicrous.

THEY SHOUT

And he got away with it. I don't quite know how.

There's almost a, sort of, wilfulness in Sean Connery

to not do the obvious

and to take on roles that other people perhaps wouldn't do.

And you know, you could see that he was always pulling against

being that James Bond figure

and a lot of those came with interesting costume choices.

It's a testament to Sir Sean's legendary pulling power

that even a mankini and ponytail combo couldn't dull his sex appeal.

You've been voted the sexiest man of the century, for God's sake.

Well, they have great taste.

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

I don't take that seriously.

Well, it's very rare, actually, Sean -

we have a show where all four of us are sex symbols.

-LAUGHTER

-Wouldn't you say?

How was it at Eton?

LAUGHTER

Men, we're sort of in awe of him.

Women are just jelly-kneed around him.

The voice, everything is there -

how could you not fall for a guy like that?

He knows he has it and knows when to turn it on,

and when the camera says "action," you turn it on.

For me, what's sexy about him is,

he couldn't give a monkey's about his hair or...

Not a vain guy.

He didn't need vanity. He had it all.

Vanity is the thing we hold on to when we're lacking.

-He wasn't lacking anything.

-HE LAUGHS

He was like a giant magnet.

The women loved him and the men envied him.

He just has so much charisma.

He's a proper fella.

Big Sean's a proper geezer. He is a man.

He has a way of looking at you - I can only talk as a man -

where it's almost like a challenge.

And if you're a woman, I imagine it's a bit exciting,

because it's almost like a sexual challenge.

His effect on women was just extraordinary.

Maybe it's just people with vaginas,

but I wouldn't even define it as that, I think.

It's people with vaginas and some people who don't have vaginas

who would find him sexy.

I'd fuck him.

Oh, my God, yes. Yes.

'However, mere mortals should take solace in the fact

'that even the sexiest man in the world

'is still at a loss to understand the fairer sex.'

I am not, I think, particularly skilled

in understanding women.

I don't know how many men are.

I find...

And, it's more often than not the case, that most of the...

The moment the women is in any way attractive,

then it has a sexual connotation which I suppose...

And when you have...

I find lots of men attractive, I like them,

-and my preference is really for the company of men.

-Mm-hm.

But I don't have any sexual attraction to them, I don't think.

'When most actors lose their hair or sprout even the smallest wrinkle,

'they tend to slink off into the Hollywood half-light.

'Not this fate for sex bomb Connery, though.

'With age came gravitas.'

My dear Adso, we must not allow ourselves to be influenced

by irrational rumours of the antichrist, hm?

Let us instead exercise our brains

and try to solve this tantalising conundrum.

'Roles in films like The Name Of The Rose,

'The Russia House, and The Untouchables

saw Connery begin one of the most creative

and productive stages of his career.

What are you prepared to do?

Everything within the law.

And then what are you prepared to do?

There's that incredible scene and very famous scene,

where he sits in church with Kevin Costner's character

and lectures him on "the Chicago way",

which basically means killing anybody who gets in your way.

Want to get Capone?

Here's how you get him.

He pulls a knife, you pull a gun.

He sends one of yours to the hospital,

you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way.

And that's how you get Capone.

It's an absolutely uncompromising attitude to state power.

If you think that right is on your side,

absolutely anything justifies the means.

Nobody really understood

how you were going to deal with such

venom as the Capone regime.

He understood how it would be done,

but he wasn't in a position ever to do it.

Federal officers!

Get your hands in the air! Nobody move!

This is a raid!

What are you doing here?

All this stuff is impounded.

-You're all under arrest.

-Hey, this isn't right!

Hey, this is no good!

You got a warrant?

Sure, here's my warrant.

Ugh!

The graph, as it were, for him

was a guy who suddenly got a chance very late,

near retirement,

to be a main feature player

in turning it around.

And so he got more and more up and up as the movie went on.

He's going to take it to Capone, but he really pays the price for it.

-HE CHUCKLES

-Isn't that just like a wop?

Brings a knife to a gunfight.

He's always been willing to put himself

in dangerous situations on film as a character.

Get out of here, you dago bastard!

Go on, get your ass out of here!

GUNFIRE

And those are the films where he's really,

really been the most successful.

'Connery was finally recognised by the Academy in 1988,

'when he won the Oscar for best supporting actor

'for his role in The Untouchables.'

I don't think the Oscars are any great marker, you know,

for anybody's career, but I think it was fitting

that Sean was given that.

And wasn't just given it out of a lucky bag -

you know, he got it fair and square.

It was a great performance in The Untouchables,

and I'm sure he's very proud of that.

Gods sake, I'd have given him an Oscar for James Bond.

You know, from those films of the '60s,

what other films are going to have that lasting appeal

and what other actor is going to come in and just take over the world

in the way that he did? That's what he should have got the Oscar for.

Any one of the early ones.

There are about two or three characters

that you anchor the film to

and his character, his police officer,

is one of those characters.

Without his anchoring, without the gravitas of that character,

in the writing and in his performance,

you don't have the backbone to hold that film together.

Absolutely deserved it.

The Untouchables, you know, where he plays an Irish cop,

and as far as I remember, his only concession to being Irish

is when he says...

Oh, Jaysus.

-HE LAUGHS

-That's it.

The rest of it is just Sean Connery.

I said that you're a lying member of a no-good race.

It's much better than you, you stinking Irish pig.

Oh, I like him.

Yeah, I like him, too.

You just joined the Treasury Department, son.

'Connery never felt the need to change that iconic voice of his

'for any role, be it futuristic space sheriff...'

I'd like it really soon,

or I just might kick your nasty arse all over this room.

'..Russian submarine captain...'

Once more, we play our dangerous game.

A game of chess against our old adversary,

the American Navy.

'..or Egyptian immortal.'

Let yourself feel the stag.

-What are we doing here?!

-HE LAUGHS

I mean, this was beyond outrageousness.

This is ridiculous.

You've got a French-Swiss guy pretending to be Scottish,

and the ultimate Scotsman pretending to be an Egyptian.

I don't know whose idea this was. And somehow, you go along with it.

If you're going to hire Sean Connery,

you want Sean Connery to turn up.

I mean, that's the great thing about stars is, every great star,

they are themselves. "OK, I'm a Russian submarine commander,

"but I'm also Sean Connery, so I'm going to be

"a Scottish Russian submarine commander."

ROUSING SINGING

Let them sing.

I somewhat do the same myself and I've taken a leaf out of his book.

Don't do accents.

-Just...

-HE LAUGHS

Just be yourself.

I'm sure, from time to time,

it must have been a frustration for directors.

Wanting him to be more than he was

or more the character.

But Sean wanted to play that character,

but he wouldn't have put on a fancy accent to do it.

And it worked.

-IMITATING SEAN CONNERY:

-The voice, it boomed out like that,

and he's just... No, I can't do it.

-That was Irish, I think.

-HE LAUGHS

-IMITATING SEAN CONNERY:

-"Splendid, Moneypenny."

"Give them a big Swiss kiss.

"It's the same as a French kiss, only you yodel."

It'sh like thish, isn't it?

"The name's Bond. James Bond."

"Girlfriend? You?"

Yeah, he... Yeah.

HE LAUGHS

-I can't

-BLEEP

-do that. No, I can't do that, man.

-HE LAUGHS

-No, I can't do that.

No, you're not going to embarrass me that way.

-Oh, you've already got it, don't you?

-HE LAUGHS

I can't do the Sean Connery accent. No, I can't do that.

Not even going to attempt it, either, no.

-I can't.

-HE LAUGHS

No, I don't do an impression of Sean. I can't do Sean Connery.

Only Sean Connery can do Sean Connery.

My character of Swiss Toni

was meant to be an impersonation of Sean Connery,

because Sean Connery is the guy, you know, the ultimate guy,

which is what Swiss Toni wishes he was.

Putting up a tent is very much like making love to a beautiful woman.

LAUGHTER

Unzip the door, put up your pole

and slip into the old bag.

LAUGHTER

I could never want to lose the sound,

the music, of what Scottish speaking is.

And of course, what you've never done in movies is change your voice.

-That's right.

-In every part you played...

Because the emotion should be the same, internationally.

-That's what I believe.

-Right.

A Russian is the same as a Scottish

is the same as an Irish or a Pole.

-Even the English.

-LAUGHTER

Every single time he speaks in a film,

it's like the tag line for the film.

You know, so if it's, "So is it tea or coffee?"

You go, "Oh, mate, it's going to be the film with,

'So is it tea or coffee?'"

Welcome to The Rock.

His voice is absolutely iconic and it brings all the legacy

of who he is and what you feel about him the second you hear it.

The sensation you're feeling

is the Quickening.

It's such a great instrument.

It's almost like part of his armour.

Like, "How are you today?"

I wouldn't dare try and do his voice, but it's kind of like,

when he's talking to you, he's actually talking to you.

I want a suite,

a shower, a shave

and the feel of a suit.

I loved his voice. I mean, it was, sort of, like...

-It fitted his body.

-Yeah.

I mean, it came from...

You know, it was, sort of, like, "Hear me roar."

-THEY LAUGH

-Really.

WHY?!

To me, the fact that he was mostly always Scottish

didn't really bother me, because if you look at American actors,

American actors are always American,

and yet no-one ever says about them

that they can only do American.

He's from Scotland. It doesn't matter.

I think it was very brave of Sean Connery to do that,

to use his Scottish accent and not go down that road of, you know,

you have to be English or speak American. He was Scots.

His voice, his accent, was so fantastic. Why would you lose it?

There was nothing wrong with Indiana Jones having a Scottish father.

It's perfectly OK. That's the great thing about America

is that it's a melting pot and so you could have him be anything.

Junior!

Yes, sir.

It is you, Junior!

George Lucas has a great input,

especially on these movies,

because he is top banana.

I was not crazy to have Sean.

Steve was the one that pushed for Sean very hard.

People said, "Oh, you're making a movie?

"Is this Indiana Jones meets James Bond?"

And I said, "No, nothing of the sort.

"This is Indiana Jones meets the strongest father alive."

Who else could possibly play Indiana Jones's father,

except someone with the charisma

and the, kind of, you know, strong presence as Sean Connery has shown.

That's one of those where he actually had the right instinct,

and you know, it turned out spectacular.

The epic proportions of it, the fun of it...

It's got a lot of style, I think,

and I like the idea of

being the older guy, having done a lot of it

in the earlier days with the Bond films.

11 o'clock!

Dad, 11 o'clock!

What happens at 11 o'clock?

12, 11, 10!

11 o'clock, fire!

GUNFIRE

He was always very much the active father, shall we say.

You know, there were always

scenes in those films where he was given

physical stuff to do and action stuff to do,

and could do it very well. Even if it's just opening an umbrella.

HE CLUCKS

BIRDS SQUAWK

-GUNFIRE

-Arrrrgh!

CRASH

Steven was the only one of all the directors I've worked with,

and I've worked with many, who actually recognised

one's busybody input, you know, on a film.

The amount of... I, sort of, put myself about too much, I think,

in all the different departments.

But I always think for good cause and reason.

And he recognised it rather early,

before we even got to shooting.

-You made sure he recognised it.

-Yes, that's right.

Drew his attention to it. No, but he really was.

He was fantastic to work with and as I say, recognising, which is...

It's not a common habit

with directors.

I've talked to some other directors, "He's really difficult."

But I think it's really the quality of the director

that brings out the quality in Sean.

Working with him was quite amazing,

because we hadn't really spent any time in advance -

I think we had one meeting, and just talked about things.

And he had some really interesting ideas that at the time I dismissed,

-but actually saved my ass later on.

-HE LAUGHS

I like...enthusiasm.

I loathe stupidity and incompetence.

He doesn't take to people that are full of BS at all.

You know, if you're interesting, he'll be interested.

If you're just, sort of, chattering away,

he's not that interested and he can be a little, um, direct about it.

The great pleasure, I think,

is a unit of real pros who know what they're doing

or know what they're trying to do. You know, they can make cock-ups

and what have you, because enthusiasm breeds that.

But that's totally acceptable in my book.

And I think that's the real pleasure,

if you've worked with a real good unit of actors

and actresses, with good crew.

And it's terrific.

-Elsa!

-That's far enough.

Put down the gun, Dr Jones. Put down the gun or the Fraulein dies.

-But she's one of them!

-Indy, please!

-She's a Nazi.

-What?!

-Trust me.

-Indy, no!

-I will kill her.

-Go ahead.

-No! Don't shoot!

Don't worry, he won't.

He's not just a stuffy old dad.

One of the key plot points in it

is they have both slept with the same Nazi agent.

And so, you've got to have someone who can pull off that you think,

yeah, you know, he's still got to be sexy at that age,

even with a grey beard and a funny little tweed hat.

How did you know she was a Nazi?

She talks in her sleep.

Well, he's James Bond. He would have slept with everybody, of course.

Sean was much funnier than I expected he would be.

He was great as an old man

and the chemistry between the two of them was fantastic.

'The pair sold the father-son dynamic,

'despite Connery being only 12 years older than Ford.'

I thought I'd lost you, boy!

I thought you had, too, Sir.

'Testament to his skill, appeal and star power,

'Connery kept working solidly through the next decade.

'He was an action hero up until his very last role

'in The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen,

'before finally deciding to retire from the movie business in 2003.'

Sit down, you buffoon!

He had that great skill of knowing when to stop,

knowing when to retire,

and he's never gone back.

And he even doesn't, for example,

take on filming like this documentary.

He just doesn't want to do it any more.

And that's fine with me.

I think you can see his legacy in all the Scottish stars

that are around just now.

I don't think they would have got the opportunity to be who they are,

to be Scottish and be leading men, if it wasn't for him.

He was a trailblazer, really, for Scots actors.

There's no doubt about that.

He's an icon for us Scots.

Not just actors, but all Scots, I think.

People look up to him and go, "Sean Connery.

"Amazing man. You know, an amazing career."

Before Connery, Scottish actors tended to be cast

as wee, kind of, pawky Scots,

you know, wee character actors in supporting roles.

And then, after Connery,

we began to get the bigger roles,

because he had made the Scots accent popular.

He had made it very sexy.

I think he's been Scotland's greatest superstar.

I can think of anybody who's been bigger or is bigger

than Sean Connery, on a global basis.

For anyone, anyone, to have that kind of longevity is astonishing.

You know, to go from the '50s through to now -

he's in his seventh decade.

That's astonishing for anybody,

regardless of whether he's Scottish or not.

It's incredible and the fact that he is Scottish

is something that we should be proud of, for sure.

Bond.

James Bond.

I think he's probably the last Hollywood star.

I think he'll be remembered as one of the great actors of our time.

He pulls a knife, you pull a gun.

He sends one of yours to the hospital,

you send one of his to the morgue.

That's the Chicago way.

He was a very good actor. A very fine actor.

I mean, he played to his own strengths, he knew who he was.

Greetings!

It's the X factor.

If you knew what that was, you'd be a rich man.

-Tell us, Sean.

-HE LAUGHS

Give me a ping, Vasili.

One ping only, please.

He's one of the all-time greats.

For me, Sean Connery's a friend.

I know he's a superstar out there, but when we're together,

there's no element of that.

He's missed, cos he's not working.

He should get off his ass and do another film.

-Who knows which way the wind blows?

-LAUGHTER

-Sean Connery, thank you very much indeed.

-Thank you.

APPLAUSE

That was very nice.

Thank you, Caine.

It was my pleasure, my friend.

Happy birthday to you.

Thanks.

Now, I've not forgotten.

You owe me a chicken bucket, Caine!