Sean Connery once revealed the “ultimate compliment” he received for his acting
It’s been over 60 years since Sean Connery first introduced himself as “Bond, James Bond” and, in the eyes of some, he’s still the best actor to ever fill the iconic role.
Across six movies (seven if you count the unofficial Never Say Never Again), the suave Scot established many of the tropes and trademarks we now readily associate with MI6’s finest. His outings might have been a bit silly for some, but without him, there would be no 007 as we know him today.
It’s not just the world of martinis and dubious behaviour towards women in which Connery excelled. He enjoyed a very successful post-Bond career. As it stands, he is the only ‘Bond’ actor to win an Oscar, securing the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ prize for his role in The Untouchables. He stepped away from acting in 2007 and enjoyed a well-earned retirement until his death in 2020 at the age of 90. Well, with the exception of one bizarre animated film, but that’s a story for another time.
There are some who would question Connery’s ability as an actual ‘actor’. There’s definitely some truth to the idea that he only had one mode when on screen, which wasn’t a million miles away from his own personality. When he introduces himself as “Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez” in Highlander in his distinctive Scottish drawl, nobody for one second buys that he is meant to be Egyptian. However, he did once receive a compliment about his acting from one of the greatest film directors of all time.
In a piece for The Times in 2008, Connery wrote about the influence Scotland had exerted over Hollywood since its very beginning. He focused on the work of Scottish director Alexander Mackendrick, best known for the likes of Whisky Galore!, The Ladykillers, and Sweet Smell of Success, a particular favourite of Martin Scorsese. Connery drew particular inspiration from a collection of his writings called On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director.
He referenced a part of the book in which Mackendrick was talking about the silent era of moviemaking, particularly how directors didn’t need to rely on dialogue to capture human emotions. “The camera can, uniquely, photograph thought,” he wrote. “Actions and images speak faster and more to the senses than speech does.” Connery then segued into talking about his own relationship with dialogue. “Unlike most actors, who resist directors cutting their lines, I have spent my whole career filleting mine,” he revealed. “Steven Spielberg paid me the ultimate compliment on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade by adopting nine out of ten of my ideas that traded dialogue for added visual interaction.”
The Last Crusade, in which Connery plays the titular character’s father, Prof. Henry Jones Sr., is the most enjoyable film in the entire series. Connery shares a fantastic relationship with his on-screen son, Harrison Ford, emphasised by a brilliantly physical performance. The Jones boys’ near-slapstick chemistry elevates an already captivating adventure to an all-time blockbuster.
Cinema has come a long way since the silent days, but there are still many lessons modern filmmakers can learn from that time. Connery, who was born not long after the change to ‘talkies’, knew this very well, and made a very good living off the back of it.
