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(Thomas Connery 1930– ). Scottish actor.
Like other young men, Connery had to learn the importance
of diligence; thus, there are no signs of smoldering intensity in his
youthful performances as a villain in Tarzan's Greatest Adventure
and as the male ingenue in Darby O'Gill and the Little People,
and he initially appeared comfortable in the fantasy world of James Bond.
But Connery and the films moved in different directions: while Connery
grew more intrigued by the cold, efficient killer in Bond, the films placed
more and more emphasis on womanizing, bad puns, and spectacular special
effects. He paradoxically abandoned the role just when a script emerged
that was tailored to his desire to darken the character, so that what
might have been the most interesting Bond Film, On Her Majesty's Secret
Service (1969), became, thanks to George Lazenby, the worst. For some
rare relaxation, he twice returned to the role in Diamonds Are Forever
and Never Say Never Again, adding little to his reputation but
demonstrating again that he was the definitive James Bond.
After leaving the Bond films, Connery gradually developed
his screen persona as a hard-working, responsible man who grows impatient
with silliness (well displayed, for example, in his otherwise uninvolving
Amazonian adventure, Medicine Man). It is therefore strange to
find him starring in three of the silliest science fiction films ever
made: Zardoz, where he seems to vainly struggle, on and off the
screen, to make sense out of Boorman's script; Meteor, where intercut
scenes of a gigantic rock in space approaching the Earth fail to enhance
Ronald Neame's inept efforts to generate suspense on Earth; and Outland,
where the despair in Connery's eyes stems not from his character's inability
to find desperately needed help but from his own inability to make a science
fiction remake of High Noon credible.
As if determined to avoid making the same mistake four
times, Connery has since focused his energies primarily on realistic films,
some of them medieval epics or spy thrillers on the fringes of fantasy
or science fiction. However, he has accepted small but strategic roles
in several fantasy and science fiction films, lending his considerable
dignity to the occasion while leaving the major burden of the plot to
other actors. Highlander, for example, surely would never have
generated a sequel and a television series had Connery not been on hand
to give the film and its sequel an aura of substance. One should also
mention his effective cameo as Agamemnon in Time Bandits and his
role as Harrison FORD's father in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,
an energetic and engaging performance suggesting that, if he had been
approached a little earlier, Sir Sean Connery could have also been the
definitive Indiana Jones.
As Connery enters his seventies, one wonders how long
he can continue to play action heroes and romantic leads; yet in light
of his previous accomplishments, it seems dangerous to underestimate his
endurance. Undoubtedly, as long as he is offered roles, he will continue
to accept them, and audiences will continue to appreciate them; even obvious
missteps like his participation in hapless flops like First Knight
and The Avengers have not diminished his popularity. Why it took
the British government so long to bestow a knighthood upon this hard-working
and deserving actor will forever remain a mystery. |
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