Saturdays with the Stars: Sean Connery

Each month of 2026 we are looking at an actor or actress who found their fame in action films, fighting bad guys & saving the day.  Last month, we talked about Errol Flynn, perhaps the quintessential Golden Age action star, something that really didn't exist in the 1940's & 1950's in the way we think of it now.  This month, we'll head into New Hollywood, and talk about the man who really invented the concept of the modern action movie star, so much so that he would not just dominate the 1960's, but would still be making action films regularly into the 1990's, when his decades of cool would still have him being name-checked as one of the "Sexiest Men Alive" well past the age that men typically got such accolades.  This month's star is Sean Connery.

Born in Edinburgh to a truck-driver and a cleaning woman in 1930, Thomas Sean Connery was hardly what you'd think of as a man who would someday become a household name at the cinema.  He had a stereotypically blue-collar, hyper-masculine childhood (he would claim that he lost his virginity to an older woman when he was 14), would join up in the navy at the age of 16, and briefly had a run as a Mr. Universe contestant in the early 1950's (sources vary on the exact date).  In his early twenties, fresh out of the Navy, Connery joined an acting troupe as a way to make money, spending much of his early years alternating between theatrical runs (including appearing with Michael Caine in a production of South Pacific) and a smattering of extra work, including Lilacs of the Spring with last month's star Errol Flynn.

Connery's early work as a leading man including turns opposite Lana Turner (during production he famously drew the ire of the mob by punching out Turner's abusive boyfriend Johnny Stomponato) and even playing the lead in a Disney film (Darby O'Gill and the Little People).  But it was in 1962 that Sean Connery became a legend.  That was the year that Dr. No came out, and James Bond was born as the textbook, greatest cinematic action hero.  In March, we're going to tackle one of the remaining Bond films that I have never seen of Connery's (he made 7 in total), as well as talk about Connery's struggles with getting out of the shadow of Bond (a legacy he would long struggle with), playing more serious roles in the 1970's and 1980's, and getting to see not just one of the only Oscar-winning performances I've never seen, but also talk about how Connery paved the way for future generations of action stars to stay relevant far after their explosive heydays.