Ian Fleming described the character James Bond as of slim built, six foot tall and a “cruel” mouth. The operative word is ‘cruel’ and in many of the novels, Bond kills villains with impunity and treats his women shabbily – something that just won’t do nowadays.Sean Connery (August 25, 1930-October 31, 2020) embodied those traits, but ironically, was not Fleming’s or the producers’ first choice. Fleming wanted the Scottish actor Richard Todd, who was unavailable, and an offer was also made to Cary Grant and Richard Burton; both of them declined. Connery, who was of a working class background, had worked in a few films and television shows, but was not a frontline name; he had been a body-builder and a Mr Universe title contestant, where he caught the eye of a casting director and got a tiny role in the chorus line of a musical. Fleming called him an “overgrown stuntman”.Fleming was to change his mind after he saw Dr No, which became a huge hit. Audiences loved this new character and the fresh theme, plus the exotic locales – most of them film is shot in Jamaica – the women, the gadgets and the slick violence. The props – the Aston Martin car, the Walther PPK gun and the immortal line, “Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred”, all added to the persona and have remained constant, with some variations, over the years. The story of a lone British agent, with a “Licence to Kill” (given by whom, and over which jurisdiction?), who saves the day by disposing off a crazy, over the top villain bent on world domination, appealed to viewers.Also read: Scottish Movie Legend Sean Connery, World’s Favourite James Bond, Passes Away at 90Though Connery worked in over 90 films and shows, and only in seven of them (one of them, Never Say Never Again was ‘unofficial’) was he James Bond, he is most synonymous with that character.For a nation which had not yet come to terms with the loss of the Empire, and still thought of itself as a global power, Fleming’s popular novels and now the film were a reassuring reminder that Britain still counted for something all over the world. Future films followed this basic formula. Fleming was so impressed with the actor that, to accommodate his Scottish accent, he gave Bond a Scottish background in his books.Connery became a star from the moment he uttered the words, “Bond, James Bond” in a casino, smoothly lighting his cigarette. Sharply dressed, confident, sophisticated and a winner – at gambling, with women and when fighting the baddies – Connery laid down the template for all future renditions of the character, which the producers, directors and actors have followed to perfection.The poster for From Russia With Love.From Russia With Love followed and to this writer, stands among the top three Bond films. (Making lists of top Bond films is a popular pastime and is an intensely personal choice, often leading to furious debates.) It came at the height of the Cold War) and in neutral India, was renamed as From 007 With Love), but the producers were careful not to paint another country – Russia – as the enemy or villain. Bond sets out to get a code breaking machine made by the Russians who have their own plan, but the one doing the real mischief is SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion,) a global terrorist organisation which has infiltrated even Soviet intelligence.The film was set mainly in Turkey and then on the Orient Express, which has a great fight sequence between Bond and Donald ‘Red’ Grant, played superbly by Robert Shaw, matching the spy blow for blow. Tatiana Romanova (Danielle Bianchi) had little to do except look sexy and sultry, which she did. The final touch comes in a hotel room where Rosa Klebb, the Soviet-Smersh double agent, enters as a maid and tries to kill Bond with a spring knife hidden in her shoe. With its success, the Bond franchise was here to stay.Connery made five Bond films in succession, at the end of which he decided to give it up. The producers desperately looked for an alternative and found one in Australian actor George Lazenby, a competent actor, whose greatest failing was that he was not Sean Connery. Despite adhering to the formula – set in Switzerland, beautiful women (the Bond girl was Diana Rigg), a plausible villain (Telly Savalas) – the film was universally panned.Connery was brought back for Diamonds Are Forever, a campy film set in places like Amsterdam and Nevada, the site of his confrontation with Ernst Stavros Blofeld, (Charles Gray), and a funny car chase on the streets of Las Vegas. The side villains, Mr Wint and Mr Kidd, are hinted to be gay, a bold move at the time – Connery despatches them when he catches them making a mistake about a wine vintage.By then, he was a big star but had come to be so identified with James Bond that he felt stifled as an actor – he finally left the franchise. He was replaced by Roger Moore, who made the role his own with his own style.Connery had made some indifferent films between the Bond ones, and after Diamonds Are Forever, he acted in the fantasy film Zardoz and in Murder On the Orient Express, which had an ensemble cast. His big film was The Man Who Would Be King, a Rudyard Kipling written romp about two soldiers turned fortune hunters who come to the North West Frontier and begin ruling there, only to be exposed as charlatans and killed by the local tribes. Michael Caine and Saeed Jaffrey co-starred and John Huston directed – it is a film that has travelled well over the years.Sean Connery in 1975 film The Man Who Would Be King. Photo: Columbia PicturesSuch was Connery’s charisma and sex appeal that his name continued to attract audiences to films, no matter he was no longer Bond. He had broken the curse of being so closely identified with a character that he failed at other roles. Ironically, it was as Bond, in the film Never Say Never Again, (1983), that he flopped – he had become too old to play the spy by then and it just looked embarrassing; the fact that it was a badly written film didn’t help.Among his best known films are Name of the Rose, based on Umberto Eco’s book of the same name, The Untouchables, directed by Brian de Palma, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as Harrison Ford’s eccentric and annoying father, Russia House, based on John Le Carre’s novel, Entrapment and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), his last film which also had Naseeruddin Shah. Actresses of a much younger generation, like Michelle Feiffer and Catherine Zeta Jones, acted opposite him when he was in his 60s.Connery was a passionate supporter of Scottish independence and said he would return to live there from his home in the Bahamas when Scotland became a separate country. Sean Connery routinely topped the list of the best James Bond ever and his films remain popular to this day. He was never a classical stage actor of the Shakespearan kind (though he had acted as Macbeth) and nor was a method actor like the American actors, but he had star appeal and tremendous presence.Many others have played the character since then – Moore brought a light and somewhat frivolous touch to the role. Timothy Dalton was all seriousness, and Pierce Brosnan was a metrosexual Bond, with the perfectly knotted tie and perfect hair. Daniel Craig has brought back that touch of cruelty and has had a successful run.But never have the words, “Bond, James Bond”, been said better or with more style.