Sean Connery, circa 1963
It’s a day early but here’s wishing a happy 83rd birthday to Sean Connery (b. Aug. 25, 1930), the first screen James Bond.
Sir Sean is only seen occasionally in public these days. While his Bond work is a prominent part of his resume, he’s often noted for his non-007 work as well. If you do a SEARCH FOR HIS NAME ON IMDB.COM, it lists him as “(Actor, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989))”.
Even in the world of Bond fandom, there has been a shift. The $1.11 billion box office take of Skyfall has been cited as having the top 007 box office even adjusted for inflation, displacing Connery’s Thunderball. Many fans say the 21st century Bond films of Daniel Craig are much more sophisticated than previous films, the first Connery movies included.
Also, Barbara Broccoli, co-boss of Eon Productions is on record as saying Daniel Craig, the current 007, is the best James Bond ever. (Click HERE, HERE and HERE.)
To be clear, nobody says “Sean Who?” But Connery and his six films for the Eon Productions series aren’t necessarily held with the same reverence as even 10 years ago. Occasionally, you’ll see some younger fans tell older ones who still hold Connery as the No. 1 007 that they need to let it go.
It’s easy to forget, however, how Connery’s Bond early movies — Dr. No through Thunderball, released annually — were a phenomenon. By the mid-1960s, in the days before home video, his 007 adventures seemed to run non-stop in theaters, whether they be new releases or double feature re-releases. Connery, aided and abetted by talented crew members, made a huge impact on popular culture.
So happy birthday, Sir Sean. The blog has posted the following before. It’s Connery’s appearance in the fall of 1965 on the CBS prime-time game show What’s My Line?
By this point, Connery was tiring of Bond and working for producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Thus, Connery talks more about his other projects at the time, including The Hill, which was about to open. But during this mystery guest sequence (where blindfolded panelists try to guess the celebrity’s identity) there’s also banter about how the Bond films were constantly in theaters.
Filed under: James Bond Films | Tagged: Albert R. Broccoli, Barbara Broccoli, Daniel Craig, Dr. No, Harry Saltzman, James Bond Films, Sean Connery, Sean Connery on What's My Line?, Sean Connery's 83rd birthday, Skyfall, Terence Young, Thunderball, What's My Line? |
The Spy Command 
Sean Connery is still the best Bond, Daniel Craig is second
Sean Connery is still the best Bond,
Daniel Craig isn’t a Bond if u know what I mean
I would still vote for Connery, but I can understand why younger viewers would not see the early Bond films as holding up to present day films with Daniel Craig. I am just glad I was around to see them all.
For lack a better way to say it not only did Connery create the film version of Bond that enabled the franchise to last but is bar none the best of them all.
That column writer’s retarded, putting it bluntly: read the Fleming novels, Sean could’ve literally walked off the literary pages, he’s so much the one and ONLY Bond…as for that ‘billion dollar bond’ BS…those artificially inflated figures prove just to what abysmal depths the Bond standard has plunged…not to put too fine a point on it…not only is Daniel Craig blond, short and, I’m sorry, pretty butt-ugly, he’s completely charm-LESS, un-charismatic and outright dull as Bond, trash talk that opinion as you may…and that bunchy muscled chimpanzee physique is way over-rated as well…as for that last tedious outing, Skyfall…it lost me once it featured CGI Japanese komodo dragons in Shanghai, China no less!…Come ON, folks, let’s get REAL here…as fun as Roger Moore was, he simply replicated his Saint shtick as Bond, Timothy Dalton played an impressive dramatic character, he just wasn’t Bond…as for pansy Pierce, let’s not even go there, shall we?!…and I’ve got even MOORE news: unsung and under-appreciated George Lazenby was the best Bond besides Connery and should’ve stayed in the part had he any sense at’all…but naturally nobody does it better than Sean, nobody has, nobody will, nobody can, nobody could, no matter how many ‘billions’ any successive flick might make…the Bond standard has fallen far too low ever to get resurrected again…unless of course some future Bond actor happens to turn out to be Connery re-incarnated…and that, my dear friends, is pretty much that!