The one James Bond scene that left Sean Connery petrified: “I was very, very nervous”
If there were only one actor to represent the brilliance of the James Bond movie franchise, then Sean Connery would likely be top of the list of options. After all, many consider the Scottish actor to be the best to ever play 007, a man who dominated the Eon Productions of the 1960s, setting a precedent for the future.
Of course, Connery would give admirable acting efforts outside of his Bond roles, but it was his suave and sophisticated turns as the iconic British spy that first set him on his way to stardom. Interestingly, though, even the hyper-masculinised Connery could still experience moments of fear throughout his time as Bond, as he discovered on a handful of occasions.
It’s well-known that Connery had to mix himself a couple of stiff drinks in order to complete the first scene in Dr. No, the first Bond movie, but even after he had established himself in the role, Connery suffered from a series of fearful escapades, although, given the nature of some of the scenes, he ought to be forgiven for his anxiety.
One such moment arrived in the fourth Bond movie, 1965’s Thunderball, based on Ian Fleming’s 1961 novel of the same name. Directed by Terrence Young, Thunderball tells of Bond’s mission in the Bahamas to find two atomic bombs stolen by the organisation SPECTRE and Emilio Largo, who is holding the world ransom for £100million.
Thunderball features a swimming pool scene in which Connery is faced with a number of deadly sharks owned by Largo, dubbed by Bond as “charming”. As Bond breaks into Largo’s compound at night, he finds himself in the pool, caught underneath a retractable cover with a henchman, and the sharks circle around.
Bond naturally makes it out of the scene alive, but when Connery first read the scene in the script, he immediately said that it was “not bloody likely” that he would be taking part in it. Still, with extra safety measures put in place, including using dead sharks on wires and reinforced plexiglass, the Scottish actor took the scene on.
As the scene was filmed, one of the supposedly dead sharks suddenly found a new lease of life, wormed its way through the plexiglass and started thrashing about. Connery naturally felt petrified and barely made it out of the pool alive as the shark chased him down to the edge and safety.
Years later, in his comeback and final appearance as Bond in Never Say Never Again, Connery was faced with another difficult underwater shark scene, once telling Johnny Carson that he had been somewhat fearful of filming it, noting, “The underwater stuff, I’m not very good at it and was very, very nervous about going under.”
Still, Connery got wet once more, even though he admitted that there was a “certain note of panic in my eyes”, noticeable in the film’s final cut. For whatever reason, Connery was given the challenge of shark-based stunts on a handful of occasions, and even though he was certainly afraid, he took them on for the good of the movies.
Even the most courageous actors can still get scared of given scenes, especially when there are deadly sharks swimming about. Connery was certainly one of the best Bonds of all time, and given his aquatic heroics, he might just be one of the most brave.
