WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 before he was James Bond. You know, like the 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.339 ultimate symbol of cinematic sophistication. 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:07.900 Right, the guy in the tailored tuxedo. Exactly. 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:10.740 Before all of that, Sean Connery actually polished 00:00:10.740 --> 00:00:12.759 coffins for a living. And we can talk about a 00:00:12.759 --> 00:00:16.600 contrast, right? It is wild. So welcome to the 00:00:16.600 --> 00:00:19.719 Deep Dive. We are working through a massive stack 00:00:19.719 --> 00:00:21.800 of source material today. We really are. We've 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:25.899 got this comprehensive encyclopedic biography 00:00:25.899 --> 00:00:29.039 of Sir Thomas Sean Connery. And our mission for 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:31.179 you today is to get past that Hollywood myth 00:00:31.050 --> 00:00:33.109 we're stripping off the tuxedo. Yeah, we're looking 00:00:33.109 --> 00:00:35.570 at the actual man underneath all that glamour. 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:38.789 Because we want to explore how a working -class 00:00:38.789 --> 00:00:42.070 Scottish milkman completely redefined modern 00:00:42.070 --> 00:00:45.299 masculinity. And also how he handled the... the 00:00:45.299 --> 00:00:48.500 psychological crush of just unimaginable global 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:50.539 fame. Right. And most importantly, what his life 00:00:50.539 --> 00:00:53.020 teaches us about the ultimate power move, which 00:00:53.020 --> 00:00:55.000 is, you know, knowing exactly when to walk away. 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:56.820 Well, absolutely. That is the core of his story. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:00:59.159 OK, let's unpack this, because if you look closely 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:02.280 at Connery's real life, it was driven by a level 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:05.060 of gritty calculation that puts literally any 00:01:05.060 --> 00:01:08.060 spy thriller to shame. It absolutely does. I 00:01:08.060 --> 00:01:10.680 mean, when people watch Connery on screen, they 00:01:10.680 --> 00:01:13.819 assume that effortless, imposing confidence was 00:01:13.819 --> 00:01:16.650 just I don't know, innate. Like he was born holding 00:01:16.650 --> 00:01:19.790 a martini glass or something. Exactly. But charisma 00:01:19.790 --> 00:01:22.799 of that magnitude? It isn't born. It's forged. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:25.459 Oh, for sure. To understand the polished icon, 00:01:25.599 --> 00:01:27.340 you really have to understand the underlying 00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:30.180 mechanics of how he learned to navigate the world. 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:34.159 And in his case, it started with grueling, unglamorous 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:36.480 physical labor. Right. His origins are about 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:38.879 as blue collar as it gets. He was born in Edinburgh 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:41.739 in 1930. To a cleaning woman and a factory worker. 00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:45.379 Yep. He grew up in this block of flats that literally 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:48.799 doesn't even exist anymore. And the guy was hustling 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:51.200 from day one. I mean, he was a milkman. Which 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:52.680 is where he learned the streets of Edinburgh. 00:01:52.819 --> 00:01:55.260 Yeah. He actually knew the streets so well from 00:01:55.260 --> 00:01:57.900 that job that decades later, during a film festival, 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.500 he was casually calling out every single street 00:02:00.500 --> 00:02:03.159 name to his taxi driver. That is amazing. But 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:05.680 it wasn't just delivering milk. He was a lorry 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:08.620 driver. a lifeguard he modeled for the Edinburgh 00:02:08.620 --> 00:02:11.680 College of Art. For, what was it, 15 shillings 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:14.060 an hour? Yeah, 15 shillings an hour. And yes, 00:02:14.300 --> 00:02:16.719 as I mentioned, he literally polished wooden 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:20.379 coffins. What's really fascinating here is how 00:02:20.379 --> 00:02:23.539 these specific jobs created his acting style. 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:26.699 How so? Well, he wasn't a theater kid. trained 00:02:26.699 --> 00:02:29.259 in some posh academy to project his voice or 00:02:29.259 --> 00:02:32.159 hit his marks. His education was entirely physical. 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:35.060 Right. He was doing manual labor. Exactly. When 00:02:35.060 --> 00:02:37.400 you spend your formative years hauling heavy 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.319 milk grates, driving massive trucks, working 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:43.340 with your hands, your center of gravity actually 00:02:43.340 --> 00:02:45.419 shifts. Oh, I see what you mean. You develop 00:02:45.419 --> 00:02:49.159 a certain physical weight. and a quiet observation 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:51.759 of the people around you. So later, when he walks 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:53.919 into your room on camera, he doesn't have that 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:55.860 nervous energy of an actor trying to impress 00:02:55.860 --> 00:02:58.539 you. Right. He has that grounded, heavy presence 00:02:58.539 --> 00:03:01.180 of a man who knows exactly how much physical 00:03:01.180 --> 00:03:03.539 space he takes up. Precisely. And he knew how 00:03:03.539 --> 00:03:05.319 to defend that space, too. I mean, he joined 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:07.780 the Royal Navy at 16. Oh, yeah. That's where 00:03:07.780 --> 00:03:10.080 he got his two famous tattoos. They weren't just, 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:12.360 like, random anchors or anything. They were these 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:16.379 deeply personal markers of his identity. One 00:03:16.379 --> 00:03:19.080 said, Mom and Dad, and the other said, Scotland 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:21.039 forever. Which really tells you everything you 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:23.099 need to know about his priorities. Totally. But 00:03:23.099 --> 00:03:26.000 he was actually discharged at 19 because of a 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:28.819 duodenal ulcer. Which apparently ran in his family, 00:03:29.020 --> 00:03:31.659 kind of like a family curse. Yeah. But being 00:03:31.659 --> 00:03:34.080 thrown back into civilian life just meant he 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:36.620 had to rely on that physical presence even more. 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:40.180 Exactly. So he turns to bodybuilding. He actually 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:43.020 ended up competing in the Mr. Universe contest 00:03:43.020 --> 00:03:46.280 in 1953. Wait, Sean Connery was in Mr. Universe? 00:03:46.520 --> 00:03:49.939 He was. But the underlying psychology here is 00:03:49.939 --> 00:03:52.520 what really matters. The American bodybuilders 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:54.620 were beating him because they cared exclusively 00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:57.159 about sheer muscle volume. Just getting as huge 00:03:57.159 --> 00:04:00.479 as possible. Right. But Connery refused to stop 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:03.300 playing sports. He didn't want decorative muscle. 00:04:03.500 --> 00:04:05.800 He wanted functional strength. He wanted agility. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:09.319 Exactly. Which brings us to a massively defining 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:12.099 moment in his life. He was a phenomenal footballer. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:14.039 Good enough that Matt Busby scouted him, right? 00:04:14.219 --> 00:04:17.139 Yeah, the legendary manager of Manchester United. 00:04:17.939 --> 00:04:20.879 Busby sees him at a match and offers him a contract 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:24.220 right on the spot. 25 pounds a week. Which, for 00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:26.980 a working class guy in 1953, I mean, that is 00:04:26.980 --> 00:04:29.600 a golden ticket out of poverty. It's life -changing 00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:32.480 money. But Connery, who is just 23 years old 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:36.040 at the time, he turns it down. He calculates 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:38.220 that a footballer's career is essentially over 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:41.360 by the time they hit 30. So he decides acting 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:44.160 is a more intelligent move because it offers 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:46.939 longevity. You know, that decision right there 00:04:46.939 --> 00:04:50.680 is the skeleton key to understanding Sean Connery. 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:53.740 Really? Why do you say that? Because most 23 00:04:53.740 --> 00:04:56.180 -year -olds in his financial position would have 00:04:56.180 --> 00:04:57.560 grabbed the cash without a second thought. Oh, 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.060 absolutely. I know I would have. Right. But Connery 00:05:00.060 --> 00:05:01.920 was already thinking about his expiration date. 00:05:02.459 --> 00:05:05.519 He was calculating his long -term leverage. And 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:08.060 that functional strength we talked about, it 00:05:08.060 --> 00:05:10.720 gave him the confidence to make those bold calculations 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:12.959 because he knew he could physically hold his 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:15.740 own anywhere. It's like an RPG video game character 00:05:15.740 --> 00:05:18.480 where he just maxed out his physical and survival 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:21.540 stats early on, you know? But he also had the 00:05:21.540 --> 00:05:25.379 incredible strategic foresight to realize a sports 00:05:25.379 --> 00:05:28.240 career has a hard expiration date. That's a great 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:31.040 way to put it. And that survival stat was definitely 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:33.279 maxed out. I mean, look at his hard man reputation 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:36.449 in Edinburgh. Oh, man, the Val D 'Or gang story. 00:05:36.689 --> 00:05:39.029 Yes. OK, so he was targeted by the Val D 'Or 00:05:39.029 --> 00:05:41.329 gang, which was one of the most notoriously violent 00:05:41.329 --> 00:05:43.269 groups in the city. And they cornered him on 00:05:43.269 --> 00:05:46.550 a balcony, right? 15 -foot high balcony. Now, 00:05:46.569 --> 00:05:48.389 most people would run or just hand over their 00:05:48.389 --> 00:05:51.569 wallet. But Connery grabs one guy by the throat, 00:05:51.850 --> 00:05:54.509 another by the biceps, and physically cracks 00:05:54.509 --> 00:05:57.129 their heads together. Just unbelievable. He literally 00:05:57.129 --> 00:05:59.649 dismantled their leadership right on the spot. 00:05:59.810 --> 00:06:02.060 And notice the mechanism there. He didn't try 00:06:02.060 --> 00:06:04.920 to negotiate from a position of weakness. He 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:07.959 met a physical threat with overwhelming physical 00:06:07.959 --> 00:06:11.339 dominance. It's pure animal instinct for survival. 00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:13.720 And he took that exact same survival instinct 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.519 straight to Hollywood. Oh, the Lana Turner incident. 00:06:16.860 --> 00:06:19.879 Yes. So it's 1957, he's filming a movie with 00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:22.360 Lana Turner. Her boyfriend at the time was a 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:25.199 mobster named Johnny Scampanato. Who had ties 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:27.680 to Mickey Cohen, so this was a serious guy. Very 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:30.259 serious. Stompanato gets paranoid about a rumored 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:33.100 affair, storms onto the movie set, and actually 00:06:33.100 --> 00:06:36.079 pulls a gun on Connery. On a live movie set? 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:38.519 Yeah. And Connery doesn't call for security. 00:06:38.740 --> 00:06:41.800 He simply steps up, twists the gun out of Stompanato's 00:06:41.800 --> 00:06:44.540 hand, and knocks him flat on his back. Wow. The 00:06:44.540 --> 00:06:46.699 guy actually ended up getting deported back to 00:06:46.699 --> 00:06:49.879 the US. Connery literally knocked out an armed 00:06:49.879 --> 00:06:52.279 mobster between takes. So when we look at his 00:06:52.279 --> 00:06:55.240 early career, his undeniable on -screen charisma. 00:06:55.709 --> 00:06:58.050 It wasn't a performance. It was a byproduct of 00:06:58.050 --> 00:07:00.449 literal survival. Yeah. He had faced down street 00:07:00.449 --> 00:07:03.170 gangs and armed gangsters. Right. That raw, imposing 00:07:03.170 --> 00:07:06.069 threat was real. And that is exactly what makes 00:07:06.069 --> 00:07:08.889 his next career phase so brilliant. Because that 00:07:08.889 --> 00:07:11.550 raw, brawling, working -class energy is about 00:07:11.550 --> 00:07:14.110 to violently collide with the most aristocratic 00:07:14.110 --> 00:07:16.110 upper -class character in British literature. 00:07:16.410 --> 00:07:18.470 James Bond. The James Bond casting is just one 00:07:18.470 --> 00:07:21.110 of the greatest cultural pivots of the 20th century. 00:07:21.449 --> 00:07:24.439 And it almost didn't happen. Ian Fleming, the 00:07:24.439 --> 00:07:28.100 guy who created Bond, he absolutely despised 00:07:28.100 --> 00:07:30.639 the casting at first. Wait, really? He hated 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:33.959 it. Oh, he hated it. Fleming had written Bond 00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:37.160 as this refined aristocratic commander. He looked 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:40.259 at this six foot two muscular Scottish brawler 00:07:40.259 --> 00:07:43.560 and called him an overgrown stuntman. Ouch. Yeah. 00:07:44.229 --> 00:07:47.050 Fleming thought he lacked the essential sophistication 00:07:47.050 --> 00:07:49.350 the character demanded. But the producers, they 00:07:49.350 --> 00:07:51.870 saw the raw danger Connery brought. They knew 00:07:51.870 --> 00:07:54.050 you couldn't fake that kind of menace. They just 00:07:54.050 --> 00:07:55.730 needed to package it. Which is where Terrence 00:07:55.730 --> 00:07:57.930 Young steps in. He was the director of the first 00:07:57.930 --> 00:08:00.529 film, Dr. No. And the way the sources describe 00:08:00.529 --> 00:08:03.250 Young's, like, finishing school for Connery is 00:08:03.250 --> 00:08:06.329 just incredible. It really is. Young realized 00:08:06.329 --> 00:08:09.029 that to make Connery believable as Bond, he couldn't 00:08:09.029 --> 00:08:11.649 just tell him to act rich. He had to teach him 00:08:11.649 --> 00:08:13.850 the physical choreography of the upperclassmen. 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:17.019 The physical choreography, I love that. Yeah. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:19.100 Young took him to the finest restaurants, taught 00:08:19.100 --> 00:08:21.160 him how to order wine, how to walk in high -end 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:23.620 casinos. He even taught him how to wear a bespoke 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:26.000 suit so that it looked like his everyday clothes 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:28.459 rather than some costume he rented for the afternoon. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:31.519 And the result is staggering. I mean, when Dr. 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:34.919 No hits theaters in 1962, it changes Western 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:37.620 pop culture overnight. It really does. The way 00:08:37.620 --> 00:08:40.299 he delivers Bond, James Bond, establishes a whole 00:08:40.299 --> 00:08:43.679 new archetype. He becomes this untouchable global 00:08:43.679 --> 00:08:46.659 sex symbol. Even Ian Fleming completely reversed 00:08:46.659 --> 00:08:49.440 his opinion. Did he really? Yeah, he was so blown 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:51.580 away by the final film that he actually went 00:08:51.580 --> 00:08:54.320 back to his typewriter and gave the literary 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:57.080 James Bond a Scottish heritage just to align 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:59.929 with Connery. That is wild, but you know, the 00:08:59.929 --> 00:09:02.029 reality of playing that character was actually 00:09:02.029 --> 00:09:05.129 grueling. The machine was quite literally dangerous. 00:09:05.190 --> 00:09:06.649 Oh, you're talking about Thunderball? Yeah, the 00:09:06.649 --> 00:09:09.230 shark incident. During the filming of Thunderball 00:09:09.230 --> 00:09:12.929 in 1965, Connery was shooting a scene in a pool 00:09:12.929 --> 00:09:15.470 with live sharks. Which sounds like a terrible 00:09:15.470 --> 00:09:18.539 idea to begin with. Right. He had demanded a 00:09:18.539 --> 00:09:21.139 plexiglass partition for safety, but the crew 00:09:21.139 --> 00:09:23.659 didn't secure it properly. One of the sharks 00:09:23.659 --> 00:09:26.919 actually breached the partition. Wow. Yeah. Connery 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:29.179 had to scramble out of the water to avoid an 00:09:29.179 --> 00:09:31.980 actual shark attack. Just terrifying. So what 00:09:31.980 --> 00:09:33.480 does this all mean? I mean, let's look at the 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:35.639 other side of this. He gets the role of a lifetime. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:38.320 It makes him unfathomably rich. It turns him 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:41.039 into a global icon. Everyone wants to be him 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:44.179 or be with him. Right. And yet after just a few 00:09:44.179 --> 00:09:46.779 films, he famously says he is fed up to hear 00:09:46.700 --> 00:09:49.460 with the whole Bond bit and tells an interviewer 00:09:49.460 --> 00:09:51.899 he'd like to kill the character. He really did 00:09:51.899 --> 00:09:54.559 say that. Isn't this the ultimate be careful 00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:57.899 what you wish for scenario? Or is he just being 00:09:57.899 --> 00:10:00.379 ungrateful? Well, if we connect this to the bigger 00:10:00.379 --> 00:10:02.960 picture, you have to look at what typecasting 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:06.639 does to an artist's psychology. Early, massive 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:08.960 success can become a gilded cage. A gilded cage, 00:10:09.059 --> 00:10:11.820 yeah. Connery saw himself as a serious craftsman. 00:10:11.960 --> 00:10:14.279 In his early years, he was constantly reading 00:10:14.279 --> 00:10:17.440 Proust, Ibsen, and Shakespeare to educate himself. 00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:21.840 He was a serious guy. Exactly. But now, he couldn't 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:23.659 walk down the street without someone yelling 00:10:23.659 --> 00:10:26.480 a catchphrase at him. Everyone saw James Bond. 00:10:26.789 --> 00:10:29.590 No one saw Sean Connery. That would get exhausting. 00:10:29.830 --> 00:10:32.289 He realized that the character was actively consuming 00:10:32.289 --> 00:10:35.289 his identity and worse, it was consuming his 00:10:35.289 --> 00:10:37.970 autonomy. He was losing his leverage. Exactly. 00:10:38.169 --> 00:10:40.950 And Connery treated his career like a high -stakes 00:10:40.950 --> 00:10:44.370 union negotiation. He was always willing to walk 00:10:44.370 --> 00:10:46.529 away from the table to prove he had the power. 00:10:46.809 --> 00:10:49.750 That realization is exactly what drove his next 00:10:49.750 --> 00:10:52.440 era. He knew that to survive as an actor, he 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:55.399 had to actively destroy the very image Terrence 00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:58.000 Young had built for him. Precisely. And he started 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.240 weaponizing his massive feign to do it. He began 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:03.840 taking roles specifically designed to shatter 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:05.960 that tuxedoed illusion. Here's where it gets 00:11:05.960 --> 00:11:09.120 really interesting. In 1964, right at the peak 00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:11.899 of Bond mania, Alfred Hitchcock casts him in 00:11:11.899 --> 00:11:14.240 the psychological thriller Marnie. Which is a 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:17.419 huge deal. Hitchcock is a cinematic god. A total 00:11:17.419 --> 00:11:20.000 legend. But Connery shocks everyone by demanding 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:21.799 to read the script before officially signing 00:11:21.799 --> 00:11:24.460 on, just to ensure he isn't being shoved into 00:11:24.460 --> 00:11:26.580 another spiral. Which you just didn't do with 00:11:26.580 --> 00:11:29.740 Hitchcock. Right. Hitchcock's agent is furious. 00:11:30.139 --> 00:11:33.440 He tells Connery, Cary Grant doesn't ask to read 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:35.700 Hitchcock scripts. And what did Connery say? 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:38.620 Connery just looks at him bluntly and says, I'm 00:11:38.620 --> 00:11:42.159 not Cary Grant. That is a master class in establishing 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:44.480 boundaries. It really is. He is telling the most 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:47.220 powerful corrector in the world, my participation 00:11:47.220 --> 00:11:51.220 is conditional and I set the terms. He was completely 00:11:51.220 --> 00:11:53.440 unafraid to look foolish if it meant protecting 00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:55.799 his artistic freedom. I mean, just look at the 00:11:55.799 --> 00:11:59.940 1974 sci -fi film Zardo's, often called one of 00:11:59.940 --> 00:12:02.519 the most bizarre movies ever made. He spends 00:12:02.519 --> 00:12:05.500 the film running around a post -apocalyptic wasteland 00:12:05.500 --> 00:12:08.480 in a bright red mankini and thigh -high boots. 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:11.580 It completely obliterated the suave Bond aesthetic. 00:12:11.779 --> 00:12:14.159 Totally. But the director, John Borman, noted 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:15.860 that between takes of running around in that 00:12:15.860 --> 00:12:18.820 absurd outfit, Connery was sitting quietly reading 00:12:18.820 --> 00:12:21.539 and writing poetry. Wow, really? Yeah. He was 00:12:21.539 --> 00:12:23.960 a man of profound intellectual depth who was 00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:25.919 deliberately deconstructing his own commercial 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:28.240 image so he could rebuild it on his own terms. 00:12:28.460 --> 00:12:31.519 And that rebuild was incredibly successful. He 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:34.440 gets a massive late career renaissance. He wins 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:36.639 the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:39.519 the Untouchables in 1987. Playing Jimmy Malone, 00:12:39.740 --> 00:12:43.039 that gritty street smart Chicago cop. Yeah. And 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:46.379 he plays Indiana Jones's father. Harrison Ford 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:50.220 actually explicitly credited Connery with reshaping 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:53.120 that script to give the character real emotional 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:55.840 weight. That's right. But for all the iconic 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:58.299 roles he took, the ones he rejected are almost 00:12:58.299 --> 00:13:01.940 more revealing. The scale of his rejections is... 00:13:01.950 --> 00:13:04.490 Truly staggering. He was offered the role of 00:13:04.490 --> 00:13:06.970 the architect in the Matrix trilogy. Which he 00:13:06.970 --> 00:13:09.509 turned down. Right. He was offered Albus Dumbledore 00:13:09.509 --> 00:13:12.029 in the Harry Potter series. Turned it down. And 00:13:12.029 --> 00:13:13.830 of course, he was offered the role of Gandalf 00:13:13.830 --> 00:13:15.629 in the Lord of the Rings. OK, wait, let's talk 00:13:15.629 --> 00:13:17.629 about this. The sources show he was offered $30 00:13:17.629 --> 00:13:21.490 million upfront, plus 15 % of the worldwide box 00:13:21.490 --> 00:13:23.590 office for Lord of the Rings. Which is an insane 00:13:23.590 --> 00:13:26.129 amount of money. That translates to an estimated 00:13:26.129 --> 00:13:30.350 $450 million. He walked away from nearly half 00:13:30.350 --> 00:13:33.350 a billion dollars because he simply said he didn't 00:13:33.350 --> 00:13:35.669 understand the script. I have to push back here. 00:13:36.049 --> 00:13:38.450 How does anyone walk away from that kind of money 00:13:38.450 --> 00:13:41.009 just because they don't get the fantasy elements. 00:13:41.470 --> 00:13:45.690 Is that hubris or just a guy who is utterly uncompromising? 00:13:45.950 --> 00:13:47.509 Well, this raises an important question about 00:13:47.509 --> 00:13:50.110 the mechanics of power in Hollywood. By that 00:13:50.110 --> 00:13:52.409 point in his life, Connery had already achieved 00:13:52.409 --> 00:13:55.129 maximum commercial and financial success. Right. 00:13:55.250 --> 00:13:58.090 He was already rich. Exactly. What did half a 00:13:58.090 --> 00:14:00.429 billion dollars actually mean to him? Nothing 00:14:00.429 --> 00:14:03.850 compared to his peace of mind. Oh, peace of mind. 00:14:03.929 --> 00:14:06.570 Connect this back to his refusal of the Manchester 00:14:06.570 --> 00:14:09.679 United contract. He calculated the expiration 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:13.200 date of his patients. A massive, CGI -heavy, 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:15.799 fantasy epic shooting for years in New Zealand. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:18.500 That's an environment where an actor has very 00:14:18.500 --> 00:14:20.700 little control. And we know how much he valued 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:23.279 control. Right. He valued his autonomy over their 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:26.159 money. If he couldn't grasp the story, he knew 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:28.700 he'd be miserable. And he simply refused to be 00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:31.299 miserable for a paycheck. That perfectly explains 00:14:31.299 --> 00:14:34.039 his final exit from the industry, because in 00:14:34.039 --> 00:14:37.500 2003, he stars in the League of Extraordinary 00:14:37.500 --> 00:14:40.580 Gentlemen. And that production was an absolute 00:14:40.580 --> 00:14:43.159 nightmare. The sources detail how Connery felt 00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:45.659 the director was completely losing control of 00:14:45.659 --> 00:14:48.299 the set, to the point where Connery publicly 00:14:48.299 --> 00:14:50.820 stated the director should be arrested for insanity. 00:14:50.980 --> 00:14:54.559 Arrested for insanity? Yeah, yeah. He spent months 00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:56.779 trying to salvage the movie in the editing room. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:00.340 And after that exhausting battle, He was done. 00:15:00.600 --> 00:15:02.799 He officially quit. He officially confirmed his 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:05.279 retirement, stating he was completely disillusioned 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:07.440 with the Hollywood machine. He enacted the ultimate 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.019 walkway. When the industry stopped being creatively 00:15:10.019 --> 00:15:12.399 engaging and became a source of endless stress, 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:15.389 he pulled the plug. He never looked back. That 00:15:15.389 --> 00:15:18.309 uncompromising, stubborn nature was the engine 00:15:18.309 --> 00:15:20.809 of his entire professional life. It really was. 00:15:21.009 --> 00:15:23.909 But that exact same uncompromising nature didn't 00:15:23.909 --> 00:15:26.269 shut off when the camera stopped rolling. It 00:15:26.269 --> 00:15:28.909 bled heavily into his personal life, too. Yeah, 00:15:29.149 --> 00:15:31.370 creating a legacy that is fiercely Scottish, 00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:34.429 highly decorated and undeniably controversial. 00:15:34.620 --> 00:15:37.080 Because when you refuse to bend for anyone, you 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:39.639 inevitably create some very sharp unforgiving 00:15:39.639 --> 00:15:42.720 edges. Looking at his life is like looking at 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.580 a brilliantly cut gemstone. How do you mean? 00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:48.480 It catches the light in incredible ways, but 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:51.379 if you look closely, it has some very sharp, 00:15:51.379 --> 00:15:54.919 rough edges that were never smoothed out. Absolutely. 00:15:55.320 --> 00:15:57.519 For instance, his devotion to Scotland was a 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:00.200 lifelong constant. Even while living abroad, 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:02.460 he was a major financial backer of the Scottish 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:05.720 National Party, or the SMP. Right, which advocates 00:16:05.720 --> 00:16:08.139 for Scottish independence. His political stance 00:16:08.139 --> 00:16:11.100 was so loud and deeply held that it reportedly 00:16:11.100 --> 00:16:13.360 caused his nomination for a knighthood to be 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:16.820 vetoed by the UK government in both 1997 and 00:16:16.820 --> 00:16:19.750 1998. He did finally receive that knighthood 00:16:19.750 --> 00:16:22.789 in the year 2000 from Queen Elizabeth II in Edinburgh. 00:16:23.389 --> 00:16:25.610 And, of course, because he is Sean Connery, he 00:16:25.610 --> 00:16:27.490 refused to wear the standard morning suit. He 00:16:27.490 --> 00:16:29.669 wore a kilt, right. He wore the green and black 00:16:29.669 --> 00:16:32.490 hunting tartan kilt of his mother's McLean clan. 00:16:32.789 --> 00:16:35.289 Classic Connery. But you know, the sources also 00:16:35.289 --> 00:16:37.129 detail significant controversies that we have 00:16:37.129 --> 00:16:39.669 to talk about. Right. And before we get into 00:16:39.669 --> 00:16:41.370 this, we want to make it absolutely clear to 00:16:41.370 --> 00:16:44.230 you, the listener, that we are maintaining strict 00:16:44.230 --> 00:16:47.009 neutrality here. We are just impartially outlining 00:16:47.009 --> 00:16:49.669 the source text, not endorsing his actions or 00:16:49.669 --> 00:16:51.850 taking sides. Exactly. We are just looking at 00:16:51.850 --> 00:16:55.159 the documented history. So his tax status was 00:16:55.159 --> 00:16:57.759 a frequent target of criticism. He was accused 00:16:57.759 --> 00:17:00.620 of living in the Bahamas and Spain as a tax exile 00:17:00.620 --> 00:17:03.840 to avoid paying UK rates. And there was the investigation 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:06.740 in Spain. Right. In 1999, Spanish authorities 00:17:06.740 --> 00:17:08.839 launched an investigation into the sale of his 00:17:08.839 --> 00:17:11.599 villa in Marbella. While Connery himself was 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:14.220 cleared by officials, his wife and 16 others 00:17:14.220 --> 00:17:16.640 were officially charged with attempting to defraud 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:18.900 the Spanish Treasury. The sources also point 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:21.039 out highly troubling elements in his personal 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:24.559 life. Yes. His first wife, Diane Salento, published 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:28.079 an autobiography in 2006. In it, she alleged 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:30.160 that Connery had abused her both physically and 00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:32.119 mentally during their marriage. Furthermore, 00:17:32.380 --> 00:17:34.619 the sources point to highly controversial interviews 00:17:34.619 --> 00:17:36.859 he gave to the press, specifically to Playboy 00:17:36.859 --> 00:17:40.980 in 1965 and Vanity Fair in 1993, where he made 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:42.960 statements appearing to justify hitting women 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:45.359 under certain conditions. The text does note 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:49.220 that much later in 2006, Connery issued a statement 00:17:49.220 --> 00:17:52.299 to the Times clarifying his stance. He stated, 00:17:52.740 --> 00:17:54.960 I don't believe that any level of abuse of women 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.380 is ever justified under any circumstances. Full 00:17:58.380 --> 00:18:01.150 stop. Again, we're just presenting the material 00:18:01.150 --> 00:18:03.789 objectively here. Exactly. He eventually passed 00:18:03.789 --> 00:18:06.470 away in 2020 at the age of 90 at his home in 00:18:06.470 --> 00:18:08.710 the Bahamas from pneumonia and heart failure. 00:18:08.910 --> 00:18:11.730 And his final wish was for his ashes to be scattered 00:18:11.730 --> 00:18:14.309 in secret locations across his beloved Scotland. 00:18:14.619 --> 00:18:17.000 The picture we get from all of this is of a man 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:19.599 who lived entirely unapologetically on his own 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:21.819 terms. Every bridge he built and every bridge 00:18:21.819 --> 00:18:24.099 he burned was by his own design. That's exactly 00:18:24.099 --> 00:18:26.940 it. When we examine the lives of massive cultural 00:18:26.940 --> 00:18:29.900 icons, we have to recognize that the very traits 00:18:29.900 --> 00:18:32.299 that allow them to conquer the world, in his 00:18:32.299 --> 00:18:34.960 case, a ruthless sense of self -preservation 00:18:34.960 --> 00:18:37.920 and an absolute refusal to compromise. They are 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:40.579 the same traits. that make them deeply flawed 00:18:40.579 --> 00:18:43.619 human beings. We don't have to agree with everything 00:18:43.619 --> 00:18:46.220 they did to learn from their journey. His life 00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:49.220 is a testament to the power of self belief and 00:18:49.220 --> 00:18:51.779 the reality that icons are always far messier 00:18:51.779 --> 00:18:54.119 than the characters they play. It's an unbelievable 00:18:54.119 --> 00:18:57.160 arc. I mean, from a milkman shivering on the 00:18:57.160 --> 00:19:00.500 streets of Edinburgh to an Oscar winning knight 00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:02.839 of the realm living his final days in the Caribbean. 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:05.200 Quite the journey. And as we've seen today, his 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:08.259 ultimate superpower wasn't his looks or his voice. 00:19:08.269 --> 00:19:11.630 His true superpower was his ability to say no. 00:19:12.230 --> 00:19:15.150 He possessed this uncanny, calculated ability 00:19:15.150 --> 00:19:18.049 to identify the exact moment a situation stopped 00:19:18.049 --> 00:19:20.490 serving him, whether it was a street gang, a 00:19:20.490 --> 00:19:23.170 football contract, a multi -billion dollar spy 00:19:23.170 --> 00:19:26.410 franchise, or the entire Hollywood studio system, 00:19:26.609 --> 00:19:29.289 and just pivot. Which leaves us with a fascinating 00:19:29.289 --> 00:19:31.130 final thought for you to consider. Okay, let's 00:19:31.130 --> 00:19:33.529 hear it. Connery originally chose acting over 00:19:33.529 --> 00:19:36.039 football. because a footballer's career expires 00:19:36.039 --> 00:19:38.660 at age 30. Yet decades later, when Hollywood 00:19:38.660 --> 00:19:40.799 stopped being fun and became a source of stress, 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:44.420 he actively chose to put an expiration date on 00:19:44.420 --> 00:19:47.619 his own legendary acting career. He walked away 00:19:47.619 --> 00:19:50.279 while he still had the power. So what is the 00:19:50.279 --> 00:19:52.960 James Bond? in your own life? What is the thing 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:55.920 you are highly successful at, but might eventually 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:58.319 need the courage to walk away from in order to 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:00.440 truly be yourself? That is a great question. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:02.559 Because at the end of the day, sometimes the 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:04.799 bravest thing you can do isn't putting on the 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:07.380 tuxedo. It's knowing exactly when to take it 00:20:07.380 --> 00:20:07.619 off.