1:12
- culture
- October 31, 2020
Sean Connery dies at 90
"Of course the films will go on, but who'll play me?" he once said of Bond.
1:12
\"It was more fun in the earlier ones,\" Connery told Walters, admitting those films would be his key to success in Hollywood. But Connery also said \"the demand was enormous for publicity and exposure.\"
From \"Dr. No,\" he went on to make \"From Russia with Love,\" \"Goldfinger,\" \"Thunderball,\" \"You Only Live Twice\" and \"Diamonds Are Forever.\" After half a dozen Bond movies, he walked away in the early 1970s. In between \"You Only Live Twice\" and \"Diamonds Are Forever,\" Connery vacated the title of Bond to George Lazenby, only to come back for $10,000 a week and the promise to produce more films with the studio, he said in a 1971 Guardian interview.
\"Sir Sean Connery will be remembered as Bond and so much more,\" Daniel Craig, the current Bond, said in a statement. \"He defined an era and a style. The wit and charm he portrayed on screen could be measured in mega watts; he helped create the modern blockbuster.\"
\"Of course the films will go on, but who'll play me? I just don't know and can't guess,\" he told the British newspaper.
That 1971 interview was very telling on why Connery walked away. \"Usually I hate interviews because I end up boring myself listening to me talking all the time,\" Connery said on the amount of press a Bond film warrants.
But even though he walked away again, he wasn't really done with Bond until \"Never Say Never Again\" in 1983. After his seventh Bond movie, he was finally finished.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/REX-sean-connery-james-bond-jt-170116_4x3t_384.jpg\")
\"The films were difficult and got more and more difficult for me to make, because they were never well-planned,\" he told Walters back in 1987. He added about the exposure, \"The only comparison would be The Beatles, but there were four of them to kick it around.\"
Outside the Bond franchise, Connery appeared in \"Marnie,\" \"The Man Who Would Be King\" and \"Robin and Marian.\"
In 1987, Connery starred in Brian De Palma's \"The Untouchables\" opposite Kevin Costner. The role earned him his first and only Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor.
\"Patience truly is a virtue,\" Connery joked about having last attended the Oscars 30 years prior to 1988.
After \"The Untouchables,\" Connery may have been in his late 50s, but he didn't slow down one bit. He went on to star in \"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,\" \"The Hunt for Red October\" and \"First Knight.\"
In 2008, after much speculation that Connery might reprise his role as Indiana Jones' father in \"Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,\" he posted on his website: \"If anything could have pulled me out of retirement, it would have been an Indiana Jones film. ... But in the end, retirement is just too damned much fun.\"
His last film was \"The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen\" in 2003.
Off screen, Connery was knighted in 2000 by Queen Elizabeth II.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/AL-sean-connery-knighthood-jt-170116_4x3t_384.jpg\")
\"It’s one of the proudest days of my life,” Connery said after receiving the honor, according to ABC News. “It means a great deal for it to happen in Scotland.”
Connery was married twice in his life, first to actress Diane Cilento from 1962 to 1973, then to Micheline Roquebrune from 1975 on. Connery is survived by his son Jason, who was born in 1963.
\"It was a privilege to have known Sean. When I last spoke to him it was clear even then that his health was failing - but the voice, the spirit and the passion that we all loved so well were still there,\" Sturgeon, of Scotland, wrote Saturday. \"I will miss him. Scotland will miss him. The world will miss him.\"
\"Wherever he is,\" current Bond, Craig, said, \"I hope there is a golf course.\"
","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/Entertainment/Culture/sean-connery-iconic-james-bond-actor-dies-90/story?id=44815289","legacySlug":"/culture/story/sean-connery-iconic-james-bond-actor-dies-90-44815289","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"15:25","publishDate":"10-31-2020","updatedTime":"13:55","updatedDate":"11-01-2020","socialImage":{"alt":"Sir Sean Connery attends the 2013 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Sept. 9, 2013 in New York City.","credit":"Uri Schanker/Getty Images","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/GTY-sean-connery-2-jt-170116_v4x3_16x9_992.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"10/31/2020 15:25:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":44815289,"headline":"Sean Connery dies at 90","mediaAssetTitle":"rothman_connery_obit_170116","description":"\"Of course the films will go on, but who'll play me?\" he once said of Bond. ","duration":"1:12","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/10/201031_gma_macfarlane_815_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["131830882","130993584","129878263"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"video","date":"April 8, 2026","headline":"Ceasefire analysis, unanswered questions ahead","section":"News","slug":"/video/131830882","id":"131830882","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: Ceasefire analysis, unanswered questions ahead","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: Ceasefire analysis, unanswered questions ahead","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260408_gma_krl1_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}},{"contentType":"video","date":"March 12, 2026","headline":"Winter whiplash plunges temperatures along the East Coast","section":"News","slug":"/video/130993584","id":"130993584","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: Winter whiplash plunges temperatures along the East Coast","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: Winter whiplash plunges temperatures along the East Coast","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260312_gma_zee_storm2_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}},{"contentType":"video","date":"February 5, 2026","headline":"Measles outbreak in Florida","section":"News","slug":"/video/129878263","id":"129878263","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: Measles outbreak in Florida","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260205_gma_battah1_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: Measles outbreak in Florida","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260205_gma_battah1_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260205_gma_battah1_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260205_gma_battah1_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260205_gma_battah1_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260205_gma_battah1_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260205_gma_battah1_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260205_gma_battah1_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260205_gma_battah1_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260205_gma_battah1_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Sean Connery dies at 90","description":"\"Of course the films will go on, but who'll play me?\" he once said of Bond. ","duration":"1:12","uploadDate":"10-31-2020","publication":"10-31-2020","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/10/201031_gma_macfarlane_815_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/10/201031_gma_macfarlane_815_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/sean-connery-iconic-james-bond-actor-dies-90-44815289"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554815","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131543053","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131432442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131121474","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131247079","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131228784","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131178806","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131142257","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131046664","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131048076","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131033212","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"130999943","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"130971027","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"130962159","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"130896721","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:culture:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"culture","title":"Sean Connery dies at 90","pubTime":"11:25","pubDate":"10-31-2020","modTime":"08:55","modDate":"11-01-2020","taxonomyTags":"none","id":44815289,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Sean Connery dies at 90","mediaAssetTitle":"rothman_connery_obit_170116","videoId":44815289,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/culture/story/sean-connery-iconic-james-bond-actor-dies-90-44815289"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/44815289","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/44815289","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};