2020 just couldn’t take a break could it, can’t let us enjoy a limited Halloween and have a little pause before the shitstorm election. I know Sean was 90ish yet I didn’t know he had been ill recently. I’m glad he passed peacefully and when he was damn, good and ready.
I practically grew up with Sean’s movies. For a long time, his Bond movies were standard fare on Sundays via ABC but I got a better look at them when HBO in 1980 had an arrangement to show them in order of release. After being the first actor to make the James Bond movies successful, he was a staple of great Sci-Fi and Fantasy movies: Time Bandits, Outland, Meteor! and Highlander readily come to mind. I finally saw Zardoz this year. The obit in Variety was full of crap saying this flick was a misstep. Sure you can tell that director John Boorman was trying to make Sean resemble Burt Reynolds yet you can never disguise a sexy Scotsman. Beyond my favorite genres, his appearances in mediocre (Entrapment, the (UK) Avengers) or inaccurate (The Untouchables) or implausible (The Hunt for Red October) Action movies made them worth sitting through. I always found it funny how they never really did a good job covering up his brogue when he was supposed to be a native-Russian speaker (October), an immortal Spaniard (Highlander, then again, they had a French guy playing a Scot) or a Chicago Irishman (Untouchables). My only regret is The Simpsons never had any success getting him after several parodies of his version of Bond (“You Only Move Twice” is the funniest).
Thanks for everything Mr. Connery. You had a helluva’ life and even if you were in a crap film, you always brought your A game. I hope you enjoyed my youngest cat sharing your name as his shelter designation until I found something more appropriate. May you get your wish of an independent Scotland soon.