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MOTION
PICTURE March 1969
Why
Sean Connery, the
OLD James Bond,
insists…
HANDS
OFF!
Was
it true that Sean
Connery plotted to
kill James Bond?
When the smoke
settled on the
Fleming landscape
did producers
Saltzman and
Broccoli stand
holding the gun?
Since there has
been a mysterious
lack of a corpse,
is it merely a
case of mistaken
identity?
Sean
Connery was last
seen traveling
incognito with a
Pancho Villa
disguise of a
drooping moustache
and long hair. Or
is this the real
Sean? Has he at
last overthrown
the cardboard
cutout of Agent
007 that plagued
him wherever he
went? It seems
that it's been a
tough row to hoe,
but breaking out
of Bondage is his
main intent and
has been for some
time.
Before
Connery had
finished his
initial contract
with James Bond,
Inc. for five
films to be done
every 14 months,
the original
Fleming director,
Terence Young, was
claiming the press
was crucifying
Sean for being
tired of the Bond
label. Columns on
either side of the
Atlantic caused a
storm of protest
about the most
idolized folk-hero
of the decade
deserting his
alter ego. But
super-agent
Connery stated in
no uncertain terms
that he had been
quite unhappy with
his role.
He
was always coy
with the press,
which he deplores.
"Particularly,"
he said, "the
critical
personality
profiles that run
in magazines and
newspapers. The
actors utter these
inanities, then go
to some movie set
and pose for
pictures in some
mock-up kitchen.
The article will
then read: 'Here's
Sean Connery, a
real homebody,
frying eggs in his
own kitchen.'
" He never
found it necessary
with the vast
amount of coverage
he received to
have a press
agent. He felt the
news media
"had lost its
potency by
catering to such
hypocrisies. The
personal publicity
business had lost
all sense of
balance." He
could well afford
to snub his nose
at the fan craze
that accompanied
him around the
globe. He even had
to seek refuge
from constant
assault and
battery by women
seeking Mr. Bond's
autograph and a
candid snapshot.
It is difficult to
blame a man for
tiring of the
endless questions
on how to kill
people and having
90 out of 100
interviews start
with "How
does it feel to be
James Bond?"
Trying
to keep a separate
identity at the
center of the Bond
phenomenon was
like struggling
against a
whirlpool. The
figure of this
secret agent
became a magnet
for the world's
fantasies of
excitement,
danger, sex,
glamour and money.
The Bond image
overpowered the
world and
everything was
swept into its
path, including a
lot of garbage.
The outpouring of
James Bond
products, both
real and
counterfeit, still
continues-and it
horrifies Connery.
"The whole
thing has become a
Frankenstein's
monster. The
merchandising, the
promotion, the
pirating is
appalling rubbish!
The trash turns my
stomach. It's a
repulsive, tawdry
invasion of the
market
place." And
we haven't even
seen the end of
this bottomless
inventory of items
such as Dr.
No sweaters, Goldfinger
panties,
raincoats, money
clips, deodorants,
belts and row upon
row of toy dolls
and guns of every
make and
description, all
carrying their
allusion to Agent
007.
However,
Connery was
insistent that the
abhorrence he felt
with the Bond
gimmickry had
nothing to do with
the fact that he
had seen none of
the proceeds from
their sales. His
contract
originally called
for 8 1/2 percent
royalty from sale
of merchandise but
the whole thing
was highly
disorganized. Most
products used his
face without
permission.
English copyright
laws are very lax.
All
this does not
explain why the
man who made
millions on Bond
left the Bond set
in such a huff.
Maybe it was truly
a case of mistaken
identity. An old
friend, Ted Allan,
who wrote the play
Connery tried
producing in one
of his many
post-Bond
ventures, said of
Sean, "he is
so unlike the Bond
character that
it's hilarious.
He's a poet, you
know. He writes
very good poetry.
And he has just
written a
ballet."
James Bond is a
flamboyant
Englishman who
never read a book
or listened to
music. Sean
Connery is a quiet
Scotsman who told
Oriana Fallaci,
"I know the
image people have
of me-a fellow
devoid of
intellectual
capacity, boorish,
aggressive. But
truly I am a
simple man with
few faults and few
virtues. Among the
latter you can
count a sense of
humor, a sense of
the ridiculous, a
sense of the true
value of money, a
sense of morality
and a sense of
truth." He
constantly harps
back to his roles
as Shakespeare's
Macbeth and Iago,
which he played in
Stratford; not to
mention
Pirandello,
Euripides and many
heavy television
roles.
Certainly
the millions he
made on Bond has
allowed him the
freedom to create
as he wants, from
doing a painting
for the book
jacket of his wife
Diane Cilento's
first novel to
acting in The
Hill, a movie
which was an A-l
success in
Connery's own
book.
It
was in October,
1966, when Connery
made his official
announcement that
he and Bond were
indeed parting
ways and they
would have to
learn to live
without each
other. Then he
stated that he was
35 and he promised
himself he would
spend the next 35
years doing only
things that
excited him.
His
last release, Shalako,
and the next to
come, The
Molly Maguires,
make him feel that
he is doing just
these exciting,
creative things
that he always
wanted to.
"I'm 37 and I
realize I'm half
way there. So I
intend to get the
most out of life.
I won't put up
with bores any
longer, or have
people living off
my back. And
having made the
jump from employee
to employer, I now
intend to help a
few mates."
For
this he has the
much-needed time
he complained he
lacked in his Bond
days. He said
before he quit,
"I didn't
mind the Bond
pictures so
much," even
though he
expressed a
certain amount of
ambivalence.
"They're like
comic strips. The
producers
constantly have to
come up with
bigger and bigger
gimmicks."
But the one thing
that bugged him
was the lack of
free time.
"The Bond
films came around
so often. I was
held up on Marnie
with Hitchcock for
five months, then
had to go
immediately into From
Russia With Love.
I went from The
Hill directly
into Thunderball
without a break.
In one film I had
to race off to
Switzerland to
shoot before the
snow melted and
the tourists
arrived. Why
should I have
raced from one
picture to the
next without
enjoying life?
Those Bond films
were not easy. One
had me in the
ocean or in the
tank day after
day. We shot night
after night,
working from six
in the evening
until six in the
morning. Then I
wouldn't be able
to sleep in the
terrible Caribbean
heat. Instead I
would get up and
play golf.
Meanwhile the
publicity
department kept
coming at me with
requests for
interviews and got
upset when I
didn’t have the
time to do them,
let alone sleep or
eat.
It was all
too much!”
-BY
DIANE REDFIELD
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