From a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

So much has happened in the past two months, I was unable to post my thoughts on Sean Connery, who died at the end of October.  Now, finally, I can say my peace.

Sean Connery will always be remembered as the original James Bond in the movies, but after making his last Bond movie in 1971 (except for a one-off return in 1983), he developed a record of achievement that ranks him as one of the greatest actors to ever come out of Britain, and certainly the best actor ever to come out of Scotland. He distinguished himself in the seventies with stellar and possibly unexpected performances in John Huston's 1975 movie The Man Who Would Be King and, as an aging Robin Hood, in 1976's Robin and Marian.  He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing an Irish Chicago cop in The Untouchables in a performance that was far better than the movie, and up to the turn of the millennium, he was still proving himself in Gus Van Sant's 2000 film Finding Forrester, about a distinguished but reclusive author who becomes a mentor to an inner-city teenager aspiring to be a writer.  (Finding Forrester is a rather underrated film, but if you're a writer like I am, you'll love it.)

And of course, who could forget his part in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade? 😃

Although Connery hadn't appeared before a camera since 2003's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, his aura and his legend remained strong, and it would be a mistake to say that anyone missed him after he entered retirement.  His legend is likely to remain stronger with time, as people rediscover his abilities as an actor beyond 007.  RIP. 😢