Sean Connery passed away in his sleep in the Bahamas last night at the age of 90. His death was reported by family; his son Jason noted the legendary actor had been "ill for some time."
Connery, best known for his portrayal of British agent 007 James Bond in films like Dr. No, Goldfinger, and Never Say Never Again (which he did after saying he would "never" do another Bond film), also won an Oscar for his role in The Untouchables in 1988, played Indiana Jones' (actor Harrison Ford's) father in 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and acted in numerous other movies including The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Dragonheart, The Rock, and Finding Forrester, just to name a few. His movie career began with a minor role in 1957's No Road Back, a British gangster film.He retired from acting in 2006.
Along with his portrayal on Bond, Connery was known for his distinctive Scottish brogue; his voice has been parodied by other actors and comedians, most notably Darrell Hammond when he played "Sean Connery" on skits of Celebrity Jeopardy on Saturday Night Live, where his character would ruthlessly troll Alex Trebek, played by Will Ferrell. Connery was fiercely proud of his Scottish roots and was involved politically with Scottish independence movement, even noting that he would move back to Scotland from the Bahamas - where he had retired to - if the Scots won independence from the United Kingdom. Despite that tension, the Queen of England knighted him in 2000 for his services to the film industry, officially making him "Sir Sean Connery."
Born on August 25, 1930 in Edinburgh, Scotland, Connery as voted as "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure" in a 2011 EuroMillions survey. In People magazine, he was voted the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1989 and the "Sexiest Man of the Century" in 1999.
He will be missed greatly, but we have the movies. Let's see his introduction as James Bond in this legendary scene from 1962's Dr. No - when he was only 32 years old - where he first uttered the iconic "Bond... James Bond."
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