Sean Connery has died | Hacker News Reader

Sean Connery has died

bbc.co.uk

633 pointsbitshifta240 comments

I once helped Mr. Connery print something.

I was staying at the Beverly Hills Hilton in 2004 during Oscars week. I was in the business center on the Internet (this was the dark ages before ubiquitous hotel WiFi and personal devices.)

Someone comes in, and then a few minutes later says in a completely unmistakable voice

“Excuse me, do you know how to print this?”

I immediately jumped into parental IT support mode, it was a pretty easy thing to do, he said, Thanks, and (this is the awkward thing) continued to stay in there on the computer while I had to do the whole “pretend to be normal around Sean freaking Connery” for the next 20 minutes. I couldn’t even bring up the courage to mention my childhood favorite, Darby O’Gill and the Little People …

PS the reason I was there was to film an episode of Jeopardy, and I told Alex what had transpired (he loves those skits) and he was pretty pumped, he asked if I’d pop him in the mouth and tell him “that’s from Trebek” if I saw him again.

RIP Sean Connery, a great actor!

Your story reminds me

How did Sean Connery shave?

...same as the rest of us, ctrl-s

You mean CTRL+ESH

I believe he did this in the movie "The Hunt-and-Peck for Red October".

some of us cmd-s, but point taken

"Command","Control" ... aye, aye Captain.

Command, Control, Conquer...

The second trilogy after Embrace, Extinguish, Extend

Soon on your local library!!

Why would he send XOFF to his terminal to when he wanted to s(h)ave...

The joke is Sean Connery would pronounce "save" as "shave".

And the follow-up joke is that Ctrl-s in a terminal emulator doesn't save anything but instead sends XOFF, which temporarily blocks further output.

I'm going to control-q this thread before it goes any further.

That is a very fun story. It got me thinking about those SNL skits parodying Trebek and Connery on Jeopardy. Is there a known history between them?

Surprised that being on friendly terms with Alex Trebek wasn't enough to make you feel somewhat courageous enough to speak to Sean Connery.

Merchant Navy, milkman, nude model, lifeguard, truck driver, bricklayer, boxer, bodybuilder, street brawler (he once beat a gang of four while hanging out with Michael Caine, and another time, he defeated six people in a street fight.) ...

... and, finally, backstage maintenance worker at the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh. The rest is history.-

A 20th century icon.-

RIP.-

He also recorded lovely narrations for Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG4wWO5HV3c&list=PLVJ2vTa3CV... and Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKjQlF-2WiA&list=PLVJ2vTa3CV... , apparently for charity in a spare evening between Bond shoots.

Thank you so much for the link to him narrating Peter and the Wolf. I’m listening to it now, and it’s fantastic!

The guy defined what it meant to be classy, hip, and bad ass all at the same time. Mere mortals can barely do just a single one of those.

I'm halfway, got the bad hip already.

This is a seriously under appreciated comment! Make me laugh!

Wasn't he known for saying that "women need to be hit now and then" or something? Real classy.

It sounded cool and tough guy thing at the time to quite a lot of people. And the books also contain open racism.

Let's chalk it to improvement over time. It is not cool not classy anymore. But it is also good to remember that it used to be acceptable thing to say for cool guy, so that we don't idealize past.

Classy... except for when he talked about physically assaulting women and how that's no big deal.

I think one has to separate the person from the art.

It’s the same with book “burnings”: because now the author has an unpopular opinion. It’s ridiculous.

This is not about the art, it is about the man. While he was a great actor, style icon, artist, and had a tremendously interesting life, he was also quite explicitly misogynistic in several interviews.

I get that. We can criticize that aspect surely. However, if you like the performance like it. Disconnect the person from the performance and from the larger context (his movies were complicit in sexism).

Look, consensual people can engage in degrading stuff, but we don’t come down on that because we believe that’s a private matter between consenting adults.

AFAIK, he was not taking about consensual bdsm.

Also, art and person are related, both in good and bad. Ones opinions and feelings affects ones art.

The art also degraded women routinely as a matter of practice.

I love the film series, but man, misogyny is deeply rooted in the franchise's foundations. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/10/james-bond-miso...

edit: interesting, went from +2 to -1 in a minute. Going to take this time to point out Hacker News's routine degradation of women as well now that it's on full display again.

So I’m not saying you _have_ to like his art. But merely they are not one and the same. It’s okay to not like him or his characters, but it’s not okay to conflate the two.

I don't think anyone was conflating the two, but your point stands regardless.

Yeah, fortunetaly the movie industry was not a reflection of society. I mean, it's not like any of our parents or grandparents approved of any of this, right?

Our grandparents generation had more domestic violence then we do. Parents were in between. The domestic violence was much more accepted by those people. So, it is safe to say quite a few approved.

They even had jokes that approved that sort of thinking.

I mean, they did. That's the implicit critique; it's a relic of a darker time at least in societies that try a bit better today to treat people as peers.

So the people we love get away with an implied critique (nudge nudge wink wink), but we hurl stones at anyone famous?

Changing makes us better. Virtue signaling does not. Assuming we're monotonously moving towards tolerance and treating people better is also extremely arrogant. The comments to this post demonstrates that with great clarity. Sean Connery isn't even cold and already people line up to piss on his grave.

Next time someone in your family dies, are you going to list their moral shortcomings? The "but" right after listing their accomplishments and good sides? "BUT...he didn't like Asian people, spoke ill of jews and objectified women and stared at Mrs Jenkins daughers tits whenever he could. He ate red meat and belonged to a religion that terrorized much of the world for a thousand years".

Of course not.

But then again, Sean Connery isn't a person to any of us. He is just a symbol of something it is okay to hate. So pissing on his grave is somehow permissible.

What annoys me isn't that people get upset about his views. What upsets me is that people have the absolutely disgusting idea that pissing on his grave makes them better. It doesn't. It just means they are a different kind of asshole.

They climb and they fall, that’s how it’s always been and probably won’t change anytime soon. The Overton window is sliding a bit faster and characters who did questionable things get in the spotlight in their lifetime not a few centuries later. That is okay as long as it doesn’t degenerate into violence, but that is easier said than done

Regular people tacitly endorsing misogyny is awful and should be confronted, not sugarcoated.

But that is in no way remotely comparable to a huge worldwide movie star openly endorsing spousal abuse on a major television news program and never retracting it or apologizing.

Obviously we should criticize that extreme of an act far far more than tacit sexism passively accepted by eg an out of touch grandparent or something. You are trying to equate the two but they are not similar at all.

There’s no logical requirement for people to apply this criticism uniformly eg to every racist extended family member in order to be unhypocritical when leveling the criticism against a big media figure.

I’m extremely resistant to the idea that this generation is somehow an improvement on previous. It is just different.

Video of Sean Connery justifying hitting women:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzXkbJwrN38

Offendotrons Activate.

You have it backwards. It's the concept of class that allows you to use violence to put others in line.

The word "classy" has more than one definition...

As far as I understand, James Bond personifies the classic male upper class ideal.

RIP

Also loved his performances in The Name Of The Rose, and 70's weirdo films Robin And Marian and Zardoz.

Not a fan of newer Bond films after Roger Moore's which I thought took it too seriously and lacked comedy.

I feel like Daniel Craig delivered some witty comedy in his portrayal even if the films themselves were very gritty. But yeah, I felt like it was absolutely absent from Pierce Brosnan's Bond.

the commentary track for Zardoz is epic. Apparently, Connery was able to pocket some per diem because he lived close to the film set.

Will watch the hunt for Red October tonight in His memory, it's still time, still October !

The October Revolution was on the 7th of November using the Gregorian calendar. It is mentioned in Jack Ryan's presentation to the Joint Chiefs.

Red October night! I'm also in.

Can I come? Will bring snacks.

Bring shnacks.

Yesh. Will do that as well.

Whenever someone of this stature goes, I tend to gather together their films, what I have of them, and work through them. So here I am looking at Outland (which isn't as terrible as Harlan Ellison said but goodness it isn't great), Zardoz, In the Name of the Rose, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (it's fun, I will grant it that), Time Bandits and was left wondering: what films had his iconic performances? What's a good sample to understand the range he had?

I grew up with the Bond films so they're very much background to me, almost hard to notice in a way. Any recommendations?

His top 5 performances in my mind

* The Man Who Would Be King

* The Offense

* Last Crusade

* The Untouchables

* The Wind and the Lion

He wasn't as bad of an actor as people say (compared to the greats), but he didn't take a lot of challenging roles. I wish he'd played more villains/anti heroes.

In my mind, I was listing the Connery movies that I liked and I completely forgot The Man Who Would Be King. I love that movie! Along with Michael Caine and Saeed Jaffrey as Billy Fish, it really shows a fun side to him.

That seems to be curiously common with that film - people seem to: 1) think it's awesome 2) but somehow forget that they think that until they're reminded of it!

'The Man Who Would Be King' is a wonderful film. He was also in some stinkers ('Highlander' springs to mind).

Highlander a stinker?

I enjoyed it when it first came out. But I watched it again with my family, recently, and the cringe factor was high. The janky special effects were of their time. But there is no excuse for the accents! The music is amazing though.

The Name of the Rose is pretty terrible. The book is incredible, though. It's the movie I instantly think of when someone asks "what is the worst movie adaptation of a book you've seen?"

I think it's probably important with Connery just to accept him as the man and actor that he was, rather than worrying about his range - whether he was playing Bond, or King Arthur in the execrable "First Knight", or a Russian submarine commander, he was always the same handsome, suave man with an unmistakable Scottish accent: that, in itself, was his great achievement. But he definitely wasn't a method actor or particularly dynamic.

Yes, usually the accent goes unmentioned in-story, but I liked how in "The Presidio" (1988) they actually explained why Sean Connery's character (a US Army officer) would have the accent by explaining that his family moved from Scotland to the US when he was a child.

Finding Forrester has I think perhaps his greatest performance.

Ohh I loved that one. I haven't watched his bond films and I didn't liked the few clips. Him as an older actors was fabulous everytime I saw him.

Dragonheart - I loved his voice in that. I think I realized for the first time, what a voice can do. The angry, bitter dragon turning to the wise advisor.

And someone else mentioned 'The Rock'

I can't imagine any actor of any era playing that part as well. (Same with 'Name of the Rose' and Henry Jones. Connery has been underappreciated.

Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964) where he appeared against Tippi Hedren. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058329/

"Outland" (despite its faults) can be seen as an early example of cyberpunk with its evil mega corporation ruling Io (even though it was inspired by real life company mining towns just on a larger scale)

_The Hill_ was not mentioned yet... (1965, directed by Sidney Lumet)

The Man Who Would Be King

Add Red October to your list.

The Rock! I consider it his best film but opinions are of course opinions.

I wouldn't underestimate the thief character he played in "Entrapment" (though the movie in itself was IMHO so-and-so), which is clearly derived/has connections with the one in "The rock".

And there are some memorable quotes:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137494/quotes/?tab=qt&ref_=tt_...

I like the "It's impossible. But doable." and the "I'm never late. If I'm late it's because I'm dead."

Untouchables

I recently re-watched most of his films as I created a programming language that emits error messages based on his accent[0]. I was unable to find a single film that he was involved in that I did not enjoy. Some actors not only practice their craft well but also only seem to put their stamp on films that are worth the audiences time.

[0]Example: "shtirred: filter requiresh a function and a lisht ash input!" - http://connerylang.org/

I would suggest not watching Sir Billi[1], then, because it’s atrocious.

[1]https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0851471/

Reading these comments, I remembered an achievement award presented to him by Mike Myers. Very well done (and pretty touching at the end).

https://youtu.be/KQYp8xJ4kpo

The ending was the best and it seemed like Connery teared up a little at the end too.

"If you fancy a journey, I recommend Fort Walton, Kansas."

"I was thinking of Maui"

"Forget Maui."

I love Red October. Fantastic movie. Also I will never forget his role as Indiana Jones’ father. The scene where he scares away the birds with his umbrella in order to take down a German Messerschmidt.

Nitpick: it wasn’t a Messerschmidt. It wasn’t even a German design (https://indianajones.fandom.com/wiki/Pilatus_P-2)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilatus_P-2 says it first flew on April 27, 1945, so it must have time-travelled to be able to attack Indiana Jones in 1938.

Good thing he took it out, then!

That is one good reply. :)

Double nitpick: it's Messerschmitt, not Messerschmidt!

He really was great in that role.

I was first introduced to him as Indiana Jone's dad, and I loved him in the screenplay of the Hunt of the Red October. Will miss you Sean Connnery!

They say imitation and parody are the sincerest forms of flattery, in his honor here is one of the many great SNL Celebrity Jeopardy skits with Darrell Hammond playing Sean Connery:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVpt3erH7ms

Yeah, Connery and Harrison Ford were really hilarious in that movie! And I have the impression Connery thoroughly enjoyed not having to play the action hero for once...

I love his Bond films, just pure fun. And, god, he was sexy. They don’t make ‘em like they used to!

Few favorites:

- You Only Live Twice (1967)

- Never Say Never Again (1983)

- Goldfinger (1964)

I'm not even gay and I thought the man was sexy!

I wish he hadn't stopped making films at 70, but I can understand that he wanted some peace.

Same here. It's a shame The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was his very last.

It was his last because it was a shame.

Apparently he had been offered the role of Gandalf (which ultimately went to Sir Ian McKellen) in the LOTR movies but turned it down!

Maybe I should be ashamed of myself, but I even liked that movie :)

At the same time I felt that Sean's lines were jusy too predictable, that took away a lot from the performance.

Gosh that movie could’ve been so much more.

It was hist last because it was a shame.

As if 2020 wasn’t worse enough, i was hoping he’d live till the last daniel craig film

Makes me wonder, are there any cameos in Bond movies ?

Rowan Atkinson appears in "Never Say Never Again" as a character that is almost Mr. Bean. It's not really a cameo though.

Minnie Driver had a cameo in "Goldeneye", and Madonna had a small role in one of the Brosnan flicks. Richard Branson also appeared in one of the Brosnan films.

Other than that, it's mostly production folks:

https://www.007museum.com/Bond_cameos.htm

They tried to have a reoccurring comic relief character in Sheriff John W. Pepper but it only lasted two films. He played a sheriff or prison guard in a number of films of that era as well.

I meant ex-bonds in a bond movie

When George Lazenby looks into the camera and says, “This never happened to the other fellow,” that’s a cameo by reference.

That old guy you see in Skyfall who helps him setup the home alone traps was supposed to be Connery, but it didn’t happen.

This isn’t really surprising though, Connery stopped associating himself with bond many years ago, so it’s was unlikely he would ever agree to do a cameo.

I guess his role in never say never again was already a cameo in a way.

I'll always remember him for Zardoz

I would rate Zardoz to be the best movie that Connery was in.

It's widely panned as schlocky B-grade scifi, but it's actually pretty interesting and more profound than most A-grade films that garner much higher critical acclaim.

Sure, there's plenty of cheese in that film, but it doesn't make it any less great... more great, in my view.

Zardoz seemed so futuristic when it came out, without being entirely serious.

Looking back to when it was made in 1974, that's a lot closer to 1939 than it is to 2020.

I was about to say nobody mentioned Zardoz. One of the weirdest movies I've ever seen, and I say that as a compliment.

shurely shome mishtake :(

I'm trying to decide if Red October or The Rock makes a better Halloween movie.

The Name of the Rose is more creepy. Or the Highlanders.

Oh noes, now I'm going to watch a movie starring Nicolas Cage and it's your fault.

Nicolas Cage starred in a lot of good movies. He also made a lot of bad films. The Rock happens to be one of the good ones.

You cannot die, Highlander! You are immortal!

I love it, he plays an immortal being born in Egypt yet has a Spanish name and speaks with a Scottish accent. Though I guess it's easier to wrap your head around those bits since he's immortal and has had time to live different lives than explaining why a Soviet submarine commander speaks with a Scottish accent.

Absolutely love this movie + the soundtrack. Takes me back to being a teenager.

He won me on the Indiana's Jones movies. I was a kid back then. After that I watched almost all movies where Sean was present. RIP.

RIP. The best James Bond!

He did retract it 2006. You types can look up evidence that fits your agenda but not what is also out there in the matrix that would make you retract your crap.

This was the guy in the red leather fetish suit from Zardoz right?

> This was the guy in the red leather fetish suit from Zardoz right?

If by "leather fetish suit" you mean "diaper", sure.

For some values of "suit".

I will probably be downvoted to death but I am not particularly impressed by Sean Connery. He wasn’t a bad actor by any means but nothing resonates with me, all known his movies are commercial stints and I couldn’t see any depth to his acting other than the known Sean Connery type we’re familiar with. Actors that weight heavier on my scale are for example Rutger Hauer or Jeremy Irons or even the recently cancelled Kevin Spacey. Sean Connery was the posterboy for that genre and didn’t go beyond that. I liked his look though and he seemed to get sexier and sexier as he got older but that’s about it

Couldn't stand his accent :)

Great actor, even a greater man, a true legend.

"There is nothing like a challenge to bring out the best in man" - Sean Connery.

Sean Connery is eternal. Farewell mister.

Farewell, Mr. Connery. Thanks for being such a great actor and filling all these roles so we'll!

One of the most distinct voices of my lifetime and a great actor. Definitely will be missed.

You're the man now dog. RIP

Sean Connery is a class act. Tonight The Hunt for Red October and Goldfinger.

“To the stars Bowen, to the stars.”

https://twitter.com/FoxAmoore/status/1322542679176187904

Why "Please Hurt Me Robin" is not a thing?

RIP.Much loved and will be sorely missed.

He was only borrowing my Humvee :<

It's good to be the king.

May he rest in peace.

What a great actor.

My favorite reaction from MetaFilter on this topic:

"I am both shaken, and stirred."

https://www.metafilter.com/189252/When-your-head-comes-away-...

RIP Sir. I compared every James Bond Actor with you;

RIP (the best James Bond.. a fantastic actor!!)

The best James Bond is George Lazenby. Sean Connery was fantastic in "The Man who would be a king" and in "The last crusade".

Yes, and the best “Bond girl” is Diana Rigg, also in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and who also sadly died recently.

Diana Rigg is absolutely my fave Bond girl. Those eyes could melt the coldest male resolve...

Sadly, Connery didn't play roles at the age Diana Rigg did (eg Lady Olenna)

I have to agree with you here. I grew up with Brosnan but Lazenby has more class to me.

On the other hand Connery defined Bond.

Agree; Lazenby is vastly underrated and in fact he played Bond in what I consider the best film in the series, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Trebek wins

Love his stage presence, but do check out his interview with Barbara Walters. He had some seriously crazy views on how to treat women. https://youtu.be/oo0d1zTAFKA

A guy born in 1930 has some outdated views about something. Why do you even feel the need to mention it? Does it makes you feel better with yourself?

Slapping women around is a bit more than "outdated". That's never been acceptable.

Pretty sure it has been acceptable if you go back far enough. It certainly would've been nice for Connery to keep learning throughout his life and getting some misconceptions out of his head. But I'll make the split to disagree with those views and still consider him a behemoth of an actor that I hugely adore.

One thing that annoyed me with his acting is as he got older his particular lisp got stronger and it gets harder to not notice. In his early movies it was merely a peculiar speech pattern.

Of all the reasons to pick on him (and I don't think there are many, but the few that exist are pretty big), I'm not sure picking on him for a speech impediment that was beyond his control is particularly kind.

That’s a good point, I’m being picky, however I can’t not notice it and it overwhelms his later performances (in my ears).

De mortis nil nisi bonum...

Is it possible for you to move past it? Not that you have to, just wondering if it's possible. I did pretty well understanding his later films; what you mentioned never occurred to me until you mentioned it.

That’s one of those things like flavors (ex. coriander) or smells (certain flowers, wet dogs). For some people they are “ambient” for others they are overwhelming. It’s obviously not on him but on me, but at the same time I find it hard to listen past it.

I mean, the Bond character didn't really help either. Much as his original take on Bond is a marvelous one for what it is, Bond was always written as an absolute jerk to women. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-48512928

Might explain why he fit the role so well.

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