#Dr no Sean Connery suit

[men-men-everywhere]

Sean Connery

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

September: Bond Films

Dr. No / Joseph Wiseman as Dr. Julius No

Of course, one of the most memorable parts of Bond films are the villains, and Dr. No's look has become iconic--so much that Mike Meyers borrowed his costume virtually unchanged when he wanted to evoke a quintessential 1960s villain in the Austin Powers films.

The suit is understated, sleek, minimalist, almost devoid of color. The cut and high collar are certainly meant to suggest the "Mao suit" or Zhongshan suit, but the tunic portion lacks the pockets and buttons of that style. And then, of course, there are the ominous-looking shiny black gloves--part of Dr. No's artificial hands, of course, but they also suggest black gloves for "dirty work."

[hautemeditation]

New series: Incredibly Stylish Films

Dr No (1962) - Terence Young

I’ve decided to pair my love of film with fashion by starting a new series, where I document and review the best of fashion and style in some of my favourite films. And what better way to start than with one of the legends of classic style and sophistication on screen - James Bond. Each Bond film - and iteration of Bond himself - is known for a unique, yet timeless sense of style. And whilst I love them all differently, it’s hard to deny that Dr No (1962) remains arguably the most iconic film in the Bond series to date.

If you appreciate impeccable tailoring, juxtaposed with some utterly cool sports casual looks, then Sean Connery’s 007 delivers it all. From the classic dinner suit in Bond’s introduction scene, to a well-fitting polo shirt and rolled-up linen trousers during action scenes on the Jamaican sand, in Dr No, we’re treated to a spectrum of truly sophisticated 1960s menswear.

It would be difficult to discuss fashion in a Bond film without also mentioning the array of classic looks from the women on screen. In Dr No, again we’re treated to a spectrum of quintessential 60s style - a dramatic red evening dress from Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson), stylish workwear from Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) and of course, a sporty-chic white bikini from Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) - the first of many memorable Bond girls. Bonus points in Dr No must go to Sylvia Trench for also delivering one of the most timeless looks of all - and possibly my favourite in the film- an oversized white pyjama shirt with heeled sandals - paired with a full face of make-up and perfectly styled hair (obviously).

So whether you’re a Bond fan or not, after watching Dr No, you’re bound to understand why James Bond is regarded as one of the most stylish film characters of all time - as well as hopefully having a newly-discovered appreciation for a well-tailored dinner suit.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

So they’ve decided on you to fuck up my work.

- Ian Fleming to Sean Connery on being cast as James Bond

By the time auditions for the role of James Bond in the first 007 movie, Dr No, were held in 1961, Connery was a well-established and highly regarded serious actor, but Fleming reportedly didn’t think he was right for the part of 007.

Connery said that Patrick McGoohan, James Mason, Rex Harrison, Stewart Granger and Richard Burton (all approved by Fleming as being suitable for the role) were ruled out, for various reasons. The casting wasn’t going well and had even been advertised in stage magazines.

Eventually, Connery was taken in to see the casting directors and he got the part. However, Fleming wasn’t happy with their choice, reportedly saying privately he was nothing but an “over-developed stunt man”, describing him as “unrefined”. Connery reciprocated the feelings, calling Fleming “a real snob”, but admitting he was “interesting”.

Connery was surprised to get the part, because he had heard how Fleming felt about him. Apparently, Dana Broccoli, wife of producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, was instrumental in getting Connery the part, as she was convinced he was the right man. Fleming’s girlfriend, Blanche Blackwell, also said he had the right “charisma” for the role.

Fleming’s frustration over the direction his series was being taken was revealed when he confronted first time director Terence Young at a United Artists function in London.

Fleming squared up to the realities of an untested director guiding a half-known ex-labourer star into James Bond’s elegant world.

Mr Fleming vented: “So they’ve decided on you to fuck up my work.”

But Mr Young “was not shaken” and told him: “Let me put it this way, Ian. I don’t think anything you’ve written is immortal as yet.

Ian Fleming wrote relatively little about Bond’s style, sketching in only the briefest of descriptions while devoting pages to the overblown outfits of Bond’s foes. A little goes a long way. Terence Young took Connery to Anthony Sinclair, a tailor on London’s Conduit Street at the northern end of Savile Row. Sinclair was Young’s tailor. He specialised in what he called the “Conduit Cut,” a fitted hourglass shape to the jacket that suited fit, military men. It was deliberately at odds with the boxy fashion suits worn by most young men at the dawn of the swinging sixties. Cutting like that stood out as slightly behind the times but reassuringly expensive.

Next Young took him to Turnbull and Asser, his shirtmaker on Jermyn Street several blocks away south of Piccadilly. There, Connery was fitted with the same pale blue cotton poplin shirts and knitted navy silk ties that Young wore day in day out himself. It was Young who gave Bond his turned back “cocktail” cuffs, a sartorial detail that at the time defined a man as both well-to-do yet rather rakish.

Bond’s style was extremely precise, the spare but expensive, handmade wardrobe of a military man, not overtly fashionable but not fuddy-duddy, either. It met and exceeded accepted standards of dress while remaining deliberately unsensational. Fashion in all its preening frivolity was always reserved for Bond’s vain, egotistical nemeses like Goldfinger, Blofeld, or Largo. As a recipe for worry-free style, Connery’s Bond defined and still defines the clean-cut ideal of a wardrobe that transcends fashion and becomes eternal.

If Bond was the establishment man in town, the exotic and tropical locations around the globe were the backdrop for him to get a bit more experimental with his off-duty wardrobe. It didn’t always work. That said, Connery fares better than all succeeding Bonds as his wardrobe for the beach is still as spare and restrained as his working day clothes. Later Bonds fall prey to the gravitational pull of fashion and pay the price. Roger Moore suffers from this and unfairly, I think. It’s not his fault he got the gig in the hedonistic 1970s. But just about the only thing Connery’s Bond gets wrong is in Goldfinger, where he appears in Miami in a sky-blue terry-cloth onesie. Somehow, he gets away with it.

In the end it was a cocktail: Connery’s suave style with his own rough edges poking through that gave Bond his bite. It resonated with the socially and geographically expanding world of the 1960s; Connery was a forerunner of a whole generation of working-class British actors made good - like Michael Caine and Terence Stamp - who personified a rougher and racier sexuality on screen. In clothing terms, Connery’s Bond gave all young man an easily referenced visual encyclopedia of how to dress well without ever overdoing it.

The two didn’t meet until filming was underway. Connery’s performance won the writer over immediately. In fact, Fleming liked Connery so much that he later gave the spy a Scots heritage to mirror the actor’s own. In his novel, You Only Live Twice, published in March 1964, Fleming wrote that Bond’s father was from Glencoe.

Photo: Legendary actor Sean Connery photographed laying on a sofa while smoking a cigarette in London, United Kingdom on the 8 October 1963

[besttailorsinchiangmai]

Iconic suits from Hollywood Part 1

Impeccable clothing on male leads on screen is almost as crucial as the characters themselves. Getting it right creates a timeless presence, adding to the authenticity of our heroes. Let New Moda Custom Tailors take you on a journey of some of our favourite iconic suits from the film industry. When thinking about tailoring in the movies, James Bond immediately springs to mind. A spy defined by his impeccable taste in almost everything. His effortless style and sophistication leaps from the screen and is emulated by many. Sean Connery wear popular James Bond and in a classic scene from Dr No where he lights a cigarette at the baccarat table, he’s wearing probably one of the nicest dinner suits ever made. A perfect cinematic moment. The Glen plaid check grey suit that Cary Grant wore in the 1959 film North by North west was probably his most famous garment. The weave on the material had a hint of blue to it and Cary’s suit seems to almost change colour during the film. Hitchcock paid close attention to the wardrobe as it was said he didn’t want the film to date. When Cary’s character, Roger is in the field being chased by the crop-sprayer the suit looks to be a very light grey. However, when Roger is standing by the railway carriage in disguise, it almost looks navy.

New Moda Custom Tailors

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[modernmoviereviews]

Dr. No - A Modern Movie Review

Terence Young's 1962 film Dr. No is the first in the long running series of James Bond films. I have to admit, this is the first Bond film I have ever watched that doesn't star Daniel Craig as 007, but Sean Connery did NOT disappoint. That man exudes all the sex appeal, suaveness, and danger that I could hope for in a Bond.

Overall I have to say, the movie wasn't my favourite. As an avid Skyfall fan, I’m used to more intense fight scenes and dramatic lighting in visually rich scenes, maybe even a single complex female character. But despite the blatant sexism (did Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) have a purpose besides to be hot?) and the fact that not much really happens until the last 20 minutes of the movie, of course it was a blast. As mentioned, Sean Connery is incredible to watch, spy movies are always fun no matter the quality, and as the first of many Bond films it sets up a lot of the classic tropes. Hearing Connery say “Bond, James Bond” made me silently shriek from excitement, I couldn’t help but clarify “shaken, not stirred” when he ordered a martini, and the first mention of SPECTRE had me hyped. 

I would be lying if I said that the best part of the movie wasn’t seeing Bond be the rizzler that he is. I don’t know how smart he is (why would you drink the coffee the villain offers you??) or how much he cares about other people (rip Quarrel (John Kitzmiller), you didn't even want to be there), but I do know that this man FUCKS. Miss Taro (Zena Marshall) is a double agent who sets Bond up to die - he escapes the trap, smashes, and then sends her ass to jail. Hilarious. My man has one priority at all times and from this movie I have no reason to believe he has a sole reason for being a spy other than to get bitches. Again, the movie is quite sexist and a lot of the scenes of him with women are borderline uncomfortable, but at the end of the day it’s a movie in the 60s based on books from the 50s, I have to suspend disbelief a bit to enjoy it, okay?

There’s honestly not much else to say about this movie. It’s fun, it’s flirty, and I would do anything for Sean Connery in a suit.

-----------------------

To clarify, I have difficulties making decisions and like to leave everything up to chance, so I have an ongoing list of movies I’d like to watch and I use a random number generator to pick what’s next. So for our next movie, I rolled 151/279, which is Rodrigo Cortés’ 2012 film, Red Lights.

[spaceytrash]

favourite bond film?

Thanks for the question!

Oof that's a hard one cause I have a few I hold very dear to me for various reasons.

I think the one I would rank number 1 for me over all is probably Skyfall though. While the plot of it has some problems the characters are just so captivating just like the core story itself. I like me some good old struggling Bond especially when that Bond is Daniel Craig with a bit of scruff. But also the story itself with M and everything is just great. And the cinematography, visuals and colouring are so nice as well. One of the prettiest films I know, really. And as a bonus it gave Judy Dench's M a great and emotional ending and me Ralph Fiennes as follow up M which I think was an amazing casting choice. And it gave me confirmed bisexual!Bond imo (though for me he always was lol)

But then I also have a very soft spot for Thunderball as well, which had been my fav Bond film before my Daniel Craig obsession happened. I just love that film so much. Sean Connery in those pink swimming trunks and other great fits being just the right amount of a little bit fruity with Felix Leiter is just such a fun and great thing what can I say.

I also wanna give a shoutout to The World is not enough and Spectre because both are the reasons I got into Bond really. Cause I watched TWinE when I was obsessed with Robert Carlyle and fell in love with that story. I mean c'mon a Bond girl being more or less the villain as a twist what's not to love about that. And that got me into my first Bond phase years ago. Spectre was the Bond film I first saw in the cinemas and when Daniel Craig came out in that skeleton suit and top hat (and we got that tentacle porn intro sequence that will never not be funny) I immediately knew that from now on not only will Daniel be my fav Bond forever but I also want to see every upcoming Bond film in the cinemas (cause they just hit that much harder on the big screen tbh)

So yeah I guess tl;dr Skyfall is my fav but I have a special soft spot for Thunderball, The World is not Enough and Spectre as well

[kalosaethetics]

✧ Sean Connery premiering as Agent 007 aka James Bond in Dr. No (1962)

[esthete-god]

[patart-illustrations-stuff]

The original, the first, the BEST, Sir Thomas Sean Connery, born August 25 1930 in Fountainbridge, Edimburgh, Scotland

[scotianostra]

Happy 90th  Birthday the actor, Sean Connery, was born on 25 August, 1930 in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh.

Christened Thomas Sean Connery, named Thomas after his grandfather, his mother "Effie" was a cleaner ad his faither was a factory worked and lorry driver, so he really is a "local boy made good". Connery has said that he was called Sean, his middle name, long before becoming an actor, explaining that when he was young he had an Irish friend named Séamus and that those who knew them both had decided to call Connery by his middle name whenever both were present.He was also called "Big Tam" around Fountainbridge.

Prior to being bitten by the acting bug, Connery lived a rugged blue collar life as a labourer, a lifeguard, a cab driver and a bodybuilder. Never one to shy away from a scrap, Connery is said to have won many more fights than he lost.

Once committing to a life on the boards, Connery popped up in westerns, as a villain in a Tarzan movie and even a Walt Disney family film, 'Darby O'Gill and the Little People'. Everything changed for the Scot when he was cast (against author Ian Fleming's wishes) as the agent with a license to kill, James Bond, 007 in 'Dr. No'. Fleming initially thought that Connery was too brutish and unrefined. However, after seeing Bond come to life in 'Dr. No', Fleming came around, to the extent that he wrote a Scottish lineage in Bond's background.

Connery essayed the suited hero in five more 'official' Bond adventures, retiring the role for good with the unofficial Bond film, 'Never Say Never Again', in 1983.

Finding his creative footing after Bond took awhile. While always an actor with great range, Connery struggled against being typecast in a role that the world wasn't ready to see him walk away from. Even so, he continued working as a leading man with varying degrees of success. Despite a spotty run of films, he's always watchable and starred in some unjustly overlooked gems, such as the exciting 'The Great Train Robbery' (which features Connery running across the top of several train cabins at 60 mph with no stuntman!), Casablanca-esque 'Cuba' and my favourite of his post Bond films, the immortal 'The Man Who Would Be King', with best friend Michael Caine.

In 1987, everything changed with Connery's Oscar winning performance as Mike Malone in 'The Untouchables'. As a tough, Irish mentor to Kevin Costner's green Elliot Ness, Connery owned every scene he was in. He was funny, scary and relentless in his quest to clean up the streets of Chicago and teach younger agents how to survive in the wild, wild Midwest. I disagree with Sickboy in the Irvine Welsh book Trainspotting who slates The Untouchables and the Oscar by saying, " (That) means fuck all. It's a sympathy vote.

He went on to star in number of hit films, including 'The Rock', 'The Hunt for Red October' and of course as the father of another iconic screen hero in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'.

A wee fact I picked up when researching this post was that Sean donated his entire million dollar fee from 'Diamonds Are Forever' to the Scottish Education Trust.

Connery was married to actress Diane Cilento from 1962 to 1973. They had a son, actor Jason Connery.

He has been married Moroccan-French painter Micheline Roquebrune since 1975 and retired from filmmaking in 2003, although he didn't officially confirm his retirement until he received the American Film Institute's lifetime achievement award in 2006

As well as his Oscar Big Tam has a number of other accolades, having been polled icon

films"The Greatest Living Scot" and "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". In 1989, he was proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine, and in 1999, he was voted "Sexiest Man of the Century".

FountaiIf you want more info and pics of Sean Connery, go check out his website here

https://www.seanconnery.com/

[cressida-jayoungr]

One Dress a Day Challenge

September: Bond Films

Dr. No / Sean Connery as James Bond

I simply have to start the month of Bond with the suit he wears on his very first appearance: a "dinner suit" (tuxedo) by Anthony Sinclair. As the site Bondsuits.com puts it: "It set an unbelievable standard for evening wear that never has been achieved again. The look has a 1930s timelessness to it, with the daring update of no waistcoat or cummerbund. The dinner jacket has the creative detail of gauntlet (turnback) cuffs, while the bow tie is an unusual narrow diamond-point variant. It’s an interesting look that stands the test of time."

We see later that he (very correctly) wears the tuxedo with a velvet-collared evening overcoat and a black Homburg hat.

Bondsuits also has a full, detailed writeup of the suit's individual components here:

[futuristicconnoisseurgoatee]

Reasons Why Baccarat Is a Better Casino Game Than Blackjack

Blackjack and baccarat share a ton for all intents and purpose: two cards managed haphazardly, even cash payouts on most winning hands, and various decks stuffed into the seller's shoe. They're additionally the two most mainstream table games on the planet, 썬시티카지노 essentially as indicated by the Nevada Gaming Control Board's month to month club win insights.

Yet, blackjack fans and baccarat fans are frequently similar to canines and felines, differing eagerly about which game is really the awesome. Underneath, you'll discover nine reasons why baccarat is a preferable genuine cash betting game over blackjack.

Betting Shouldn't Feel Like Taking the SATs

At the point when I head out to the gambling club, I'm doing as such to vent and have a ton of fun.

Of course, I need to leave a victor, however I likewise know the score with regards to the house's intrinsic benefit. Along these lines, winning is consistently a reward, however any cash I lose is seen as a diversion cost, actually like purchasing passes to a film or snatching another computer game. However long I had a good time, I unquestionably wouldn't fret dropping a couple of bucks en route.

Living it up is the situation when betting, which is the principle motivation behind why I'll make history bat for baccarat over blackjack.

At the point when I'm at the blackjack table, I will in general worry while attempting to review the right play 비바카지노 dependent on essential procedure—and all things considered.

Investigate any normal blackjack essential technique diagram briefly. Between the "hard" and "delicate" aggregates, alongside matched hands that might possibly be parted, you'll see an insane shading coded framework containing 250 exceptional choice focuses.

Obviously, a large number of these are easy decisions—why indeed, I'd prefer to hit on this 6 absolute vendor, a debt of gratitude is in order for the assistance—so you don't actually need to retain 250 unique plays. Regardless, when you face a difficult situation like a hard 14 against the seller's 5 up card, it pays to realize that standing is marginally more productive than hitting dependent on anticipated worth.

Stop and think for a minute however, I don't go to the gambling club to really focus and address mathematical problems. Once more, I'm only there to have fun and blend it up at the card table, so baccarat's straightforwardness is more engaging than blackjack's intricacy.

High-Limit Baccarat Rooms Make You Feel Like James Bond

You understand what's truly fun, basically for an exemplary film buff such as myself? Cleaning up like a pro and walking around as far as possible betting room like old "007" himself.

James Bond is perhaps the most famous characters at any point made, a smooth and refined super-spy who sports a permit to kill. He generally gets the young lady, he can apparently avoid disasters, and he generally appears to have the right instrument for the work because of his trusty officer "Q."

James Bond Playing Baccarat

Goodness, and he's quite a baccarat player, as well. In the absolute first Bond flick Dr. No (1962), crowds are acquainted with Bond as he nonchalantly wagers heaps of cash at the chemin de fer tables. That is the French archetype to present day baccarat, yet the game is basically something very similar with the exception of players alternating banking the activity—and kid is Bond an exacting regular.

Played consummately by the late, extraordinary Sean Connery, the spy sits opposite a wonderful brunette. Promptly, he gives a characteristic 8 to win the direct, then, at that point a characteristic 9 to scoop the second. At the point when the lady unquestionably flips over a 8, Bond basically shrugs and glimmers one more regular 9.

I'm no James Bond, however getting into a pleasant suit and stacking chips subsequent to making a characteristic is the following best thing.

The House Edge Is Very Low Compared to Other Games

In my associate's introduction on blackjack incomparability, he brought up that his number one game offers an 우리카지노계열 extremely low club house edge of 0.50%. To his reasoning, the way that baccarat's home edge rates are higher—1.06% on the broker bet and 1.24% on the player bet—makes it the sub-par game.

I don't believe it's reasonable for look at the house edges, however, in light of the fact that blackjack is unmistakably an expertise based game while baccarat is an unadulterated toss of the dice. In other words, players can apply a degree of authority over a blackjack hand, while everything's up to Lady Luck in baccarat.

The club is home to a few different shots in the dark in which system assumes no part at all, specifically roulette and craps.

Furthermore, what do you know? Baccarat is a significant deal contrasted with both those other options. The pass line bet in craps brings about a 1.41% house edge, single-zero roulette runs at 2.70%, and twofold zero roulette ascends to 5.26%.

Consider the whole and you can't beat baccarat's home edge whenever contrasted with different tosses of the dice.

You Can Turn a Tied Hand Into a Sweet 9 to 1 Payout

In blackjack, when you end up holding a similar definite complete as the seller, your bet is just returned in a "push."

Ties can occur in baccarat as well (we call them "impasses"), and sufficiently sure, any player or broker bettors get their bets back. Be that as it may, when an impasse appears, you'll frequently see a player at the table beginning commending like they just won the lottery.

El Royale Online Casino Baccarat

That is on the grounds that baccarat offers a third wagering choice called the tie. Furthermore, when you win it's anything but, a succulent 9 to 1 profit from your cash.

The tie is actually a "sucker" bet, as it's anything but a lofty house edge of more than 14%. All things considered, sprinkling around on the tie now and then offers an invigorating difference in pace, and you'll score a champ close to 10% of the time.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Bond has taste. He is a dream character for most men. Wouldn't everyone like to have the birds fighting over them, and be able to tell a bartender how to make cocktails?

- Anthony Sinclair

Tailor Anthony Sinclair provided the suits for Sean Connery in the first Bond movies Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger (including the famous three-piece suit), You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever.

Terence Young, the director of Dr. No, turned to his own tailor Anthony Sinclair to oversee the transformation of the then unknown Sean Connery into the suave and stylish character that prevails in our minds today. For the shirts and ties, they went to Terence Young's own bespoke shirtmaker Turnbull & Asser where Bond got his signature shirts with double cuffs.

Connery was not used to wearing suits at the time and it is said that Young had him wear the suits around the clock, even to the extent of sleeping in them, in order to have him feel totally natural when filming began.

[ericdeggans]

How My Love for Sean Connery and Bond Led to a Serious Case of White Guy Hero Infatuation Syndrome

Like a lot of people all over the world, I have long considered myself a stone Sean Connery fan.

I often recited the juiciest dialogue bits from his Oscar-winning turn as a beat cop-turned crusader in he Untouchables (in addition to the speech everyone quotes, I loved how he told Eliot Ness he knew he was a treasury agent without seeing his badge because “who would claim to be that who was not?”) I watched the painfully clumsy 1986 B-movie Highlander mostly for his charming turn as Egyptian (!) immortal Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez.

And, of course his work as James Bond always set the ultimate example for urbane cool. Which explains why I often felt the theme song thrumming in my head whenever I wore a stylish suit or hopped off a plane in a cool city. For men from the generation before mine, he practically defined the sophisticated, stylish machismo found in the pages of Esquire and Playboy.  

For these reasons and more, I have always loved the rogueish Scotsman as an actor. And yet, when news of his death at age 90 spread across the world, I couldn’t bear to pay tribute to him on my social media pages, until now.

That’s because his passing highlighted my problem with a particular malady. I call it White Guy Hero Infatuation Syndrome. And I have suffered from it for many years.

Put simply, my fan’s brain knows that Connery’s landmark performances were the stuff of film legend – especially as Bond. Cool, authoritative, suavely menacing and mostly unflappable, his take on a secret agent who knows the best suit designers nearly as well as the best pistol manufacturers set the template for escapist espionage fantasies over the next half century and beyond.

His first line as the character – “Bond. James Bond.” – has become pop culture legend.

But as a media critic, I also have to contend with James Bond’s status as a relentless sexist and a British agent who walked the world as if it was made to be ruled by wealthy, capable white men. Watch him slap the behind of a pretty blonde who was massaging him poolside in 1964’s Goldfinger when CIA agent Felix Leiter turns up for a chat. “Man talk,” he tells her dismissively, sending her out of the scene.

Or check out how he treats Quarrel, the bug-eyed Black man who acts as a “fixer” for him in Jamaica during the first Bond film, 1962’s Dr. No. Scrambling across a beach to avoid the bad guys’ goons, Bond turns to Quarrel and tells him “fetch my shoes” -- as if he were his butler, rather than a local ally helping him avoid thugs with automatic weapons.

And there’s loads of scenes where Bond forces himself on women who quickly succumb to his charms – like Honor Blackman’s character in 1964′s Goldfinger – perpetuating a dangerous myth that a man can earn a woman’s love by pushing her into being romantic with him. (Or that a dismissive, vaguely annoyed tone with women – treating them like impertinent children or misguided simpletons – is also, somehow, irresistible to them.)    

When Connery played Bond, he played a character who was the embodiment of white privilege. He made it look sexy, virtuous and necessary – the natural state of things in a 1960s-era world that, outside the comfortable confines of Bond’s make-believe spy games, seemed to be coming apart at the seams. But in the America of 2020, it’s a symbol of how media can teach you to accept a limiting legend.

And this was a fantasy I bought into eagerly. As a kid, my mom and I bonded over the heroic white guys she loved on film and TV, mostly from westerns. Just this past December, as she was fighting cancer and months before she would succumb to an infection, we sat and watched Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Kevin Costner and Robert Duvall save the day too many times to count.

As I got older, I’d make fun of all the misogyny, racism and white centering going on in these shows – gibes which my mother, a proud Black woman who loved her people and culture, tolerated with a weary smile. “These are my guys,” she’d say playfully, swatting aside any idea that there was a deeper impact from gorging on stories which treated these virtuous white men as the noble, natural center of every story. I wish the issue were that simple; it often isn’t.

For me, it wasn’t just a problem with Connery. As a kid, I loved Eastwood’s 1970s-era Dirty Harry movies, where the taciturn cop with a Magnum pistol cut through all the nonsense to nab the bad guy. Same with Bronson’s Death Wish films, where the solution to rampant street crime wasn’t better policing, but a taciturn, middle class white guy with a gun shooting down street criminals. It’s a potent fantasy, especially if you’ve ever had to deal with the numbing bureaucracy of real-life law enforcement or the brutal violation of being a crime victim.

It wasn’t until I got older that I realized many of those bad guys Harry Callahan was hunting were young hippies and Black people – the kind of folks who, in real life when Dirty Harry was released in 1971, were trying to get America to face how it was chewing up poor, young men in an unwinnable, unnecessary war in Vietnam. It was a prime example of “copaganda” – convincing the audience that the excesses Detective Callahan committed to nail a person the audience already knew was a serial killer, was justified.

Even now, I wonder: Can I watch these movies and appreciate why they are thrilling, while rejecting the tropes that present a white male-centered world as just and appropriate? In my work on race and media, I’m often telling audiences that people who insist they are not affected by media subtexts are often the most affected by them. Couldn’t that be true for me, when it comes to heroes like Eastwood, Bronson and Connery?

(One caveat: Sitting in an arena in Tampa, watching Eastwood give his infamously strange “empty chair” speech at the Republican National Convention in 2012, broke me of my affection for his work. I have avoided watching new Clint Eastwood films since then. Click here to read my report on the empty chair speech for the Tampa Bay Times.)

In his later years, Connery denied or walked back quotes where he seemed to approve of physically hitting women in real life. His roles in films like Highlander, The Untouchables, Hunt for Red October, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen often featured him playing the older mentor to younger white guy heroes portrayed by the likes of Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin and Kevin Costner.

And so, as the question of Connery’s legacy in show business arises, the fanboy part of me is at war with the media critic. One side of me is lost in the absolute coolness of the suave masculinity he so often symbolized, particularly as the world’s most successful secret agent.

The other is painfully aware of the inequalities and oppression such portrayals enabled, and how much they may feed our real life fantasies for a powerful white male savior to set things right, even now. 

Especially now.

And saying these characters were a product of their flawed times somehow doesn’t seem enough.

This is a tough column to write, and not just because there are so many fans who want to focus on the best moments of Sean Connery’s life now that he’s gone. It’s difficult because he was a personal hero of mine for a long while – and remains one of my favorite performers – even as I acknowledge the terribly male-centric and white-superior ethos he embodied in so many roles.

This may sound like disrespectful nitpicking to hardcore fans and family. It’s never easy to sit with the more uncomfortable aspects of a great artist’s legacy. And the time after his death has been filled with heartfelt tributes to Connery, a man of great talent and no-nonsense sensibilities who was respected and loved by a great many people who worked with him.

Sometimes the media critic’s job requires being a buzzkill; insisting the public pay attention to troubling aspects of a film or TV show that we would all just rather sit back and enjoy. Because part of unwinding the effect of past portrayals is acknowledging their power in the present day.

Which means, every time I watch Connery stride to a baccarat table in Goldfinger, Dr. No, or Diamonds Are Forever, archly demanding a precisely constructed alcoholic beverage, I also have to remind myself of the damage done by too many characters like that offering too constricted a vision of what a hero looks and acts like. And I suggest you do the same.

It's the only way to balance a comforting myth with the reality of how that legend can, unwittingly, teach us to cling to ideas that ultimately hold us back.      

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The Time Sean Connery Punched a Real Mobster in the Face

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“Isn’t that just like a wop, brings a knife to a gunfight,” Sean Connery said in his Academy Award-winning his role The Untouchables in 1987. This, from a man who only brought his fists to one in real life. 

In the Brian De Palma film, Connery played Officer Jim Malone, a tough old Irish cop chasing gangsters in Al Capone-era Chicago. But Connery also took on a mobster in real life as a tough young Scottish actor. In 1957, Connery was shooting the film Another Time, Another Place in London. His co-star was Lana Turner, a Hollywood sex symbol whose boyfriend was a mob enforcer who looked so much like a gangster he could have come out of central casting with his penchant for lime green suits and pistol cufflinks. Connery hadn’t yet earned his double-0 status as James Bond, but he put on a real-life performance which has become Hollywood mythology.

Turner’s career had taken a downturn and she was shooting Another Time, Another Place in England. The film told the story of an American journalist who has an affair with a British war correspondent who is 10 years younger than her. Turner chose Connery to play the love interest.

Connery had only been acting for three years, and this was only his seventh film. He’d also been making his mark on TV and the stage, a job he got after competing in the 1953 Mr. Universe bodybuilding contest as “Mr. Scotland.” He came in third in the junior section. Connery came from the tough Fountainbridge district of Edinburgh’s West End. He joined the Royal Navy when he was 16, but was furloughed with an ulcer three years later. To pay the bills, he took on a series of jobs which included posing nude for art students.

With a backstory like this, it was only natural gossip would spread that the two onscreen lovers didn’t end their scenes when the director called cut. Tabloids ran photos of Connery escorting Turner to shows on the West End and dining out at London’s fanciest restaurants. Reports were picked up by Hollywood papers, where they were read by Turner’s boyfriend.

Her boyfriend Johnny Stompanato was a mob bodyguard and enforcer who quickly got a reputation around Tinseltown as a violent mug with a thing for Hollywood starlets. Frank Sinatra had to ask Mickey Cohen to tell Stompanato to stay away from Ava Gardner. The loyal Cohen treated Johnny Stomp like an untouchable made man, and advised the Chairman of the Board to go back to his wife and kids.

The jealous Stompanato wasn’t too happy about Turner and Connery’s on-camera coupling, so when he heard the rumors, he went into a rage. He called Turner, threatened to kill or disfigure her, and boarded a plane for London to deal with Connery. Lana’s father, the bootlegger and gambler John Virgil Madison Turner, was the victim of a gangland execution when she was younger, and the “Sweater Girl” took such threats seriously. When Johnny Stomp landed, Turner told him to stay away from the set.

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Stompanato ignored her and showed up at the studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, where Turner and Connery were filming. He caught a scene where the pair were embracing on a couch. After a few retakes, he walked into the frame, pointed a pistol at Connery, and told him to take his hands off Turner. 

The future Bond grabbed the enforcer’s wrist in a swift move, twisted it until the gun came loose, and then decked him with one punch. Turner called Scotland Yard to escort Stompanato from the set, and he was deported for breaking England’s gun laws. While the whole thing was supposedly caught on camera, no footage has ever surfaced.

Some time after the film wrapped, Connery, under a seven-year contract to 20th Century Fox, went to Los Angeles to make Darby O’Gill And The Little People (1959) for Walt Disney. He soon learned about one of the biggest Hollywood scandals. Johnny Stomp had been killed at Turner’s rented Beverly Hills home on April 4, 1958. Turner’s 13-year-old daughter Cheryl Crane stabbed Stompanato to death with a butcher knife after witnessing him attack her mother and threaten to mess up her face. The killing was ruled justifiable homicide at trial but Stompanato’s family sued Turner for $7 million.

After Stompanato’s death, passages from his personal letters to Turner were published in the Hollywood press. Some of the letters mentioned his feelings about Connery taking the actress and her daughter to London vaudeville shows. Cohen, who was convinced Lana had actually murdered Stompanato, did not like the publicity, and had vowed revenge on anyone who had anything to do with his former bodyguard’s death.

Connery was staying at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel while making the Disney film. Depending on reports, he either got a call from Mickey Cohen or one of his henchmen with the message “Get out of town or a contract will be put on your life.” While Connery had proved himself a brave Scotsman, he had no way to gauge how serious the threat was. On the advice of Disney executives, he checked into the San Fernando Valley’s cheap Bel Air Palms Motel until the heat was off.

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The scandal didn’t tarnish Connery’s reputation as much as his performance in Darby O’ Gill and the Little People, though. Critics may have jeered, but Cubby Broccoli’s wife saw it and recommended Connery be hired to play James Bond in Dr. No (1962) based on the film. 

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