Sean Connery biography

Synopsis

Childhood in Scotland

Actor. Born Thomas Sean Connery on August 15, 1930 in Fountainbridge, Scotland. The son of Joe, a truck driver, and Euphamia, a 20-year-old housewife, Connery had a modest upbringing in a neighborhood known as "the street of a thousand smells" for the stench of the local rubber mill and several breweries that always filled the air. His home was a two-room flat in "tenement land," where the infant slept in a bureau drawer because his parents couldn't afford a crib. "We were very poor," Connery has commented, "but I never knew how poor because that's how everyone was there." Joe brought home only a few shillings a week, and those were often spent on whiskey or gambling.

Known during his youth as "Tommy", Connery grew up on the streets along with the rest of the Fountainbridge youth, playing tag or soccer and causing rips in his short trousers that his mother was always patching. The local gangs dubbed him "Big Tam" because of his size and his ability to pummel most of his playmates. He attended Tollcross elementary school and amazed his teachers with a lightening-quick mathematical aptitude. From the day he could read, he devoured every comic book he could get his hands on and dreamed up his own imaginative tales of Martians and madmen. Even then, he had a fascination with film: "I would play hooky and go to Blue Halls, the local movie house, to watch the pictures," he recalled.

When Connery was 8 years old, his parents had a second child: Neil. Young Tom delighted in the role of big brother and, as they grew up, the Connery boys were inseparable. They fished in nearby Union Canal (using their mother's stockings for line) and skipped school to fit in more amusing extracurricular activities—including running with "the wrong element." Connery claims to have had sexual encounters with local ladies at the age of 8 (although he can't recall many of the details) and to have helped with his father's gambling rounds at the local pubs.

Young Drifter

At age 13, Connery quit school to work full time at the dairy. Three years later, he joined the Royal Navy. Like all good sailors, he got two tattoos on his arm, which he still bears today: MUM AND DAD and SCOTLAND FOREVER. Unfortunately, the artwork lasted longer than his naval career. Though he signed up for a seven-year stint, he was released from service after three years due to stomach ulcers.

Back home, Connery took assorted jobs shoveling coal, laying bricks, polishing coffins, and posing nude as a model at the Edinburgh Art School. For months, he skimped and saved every shilling to become a member of the Dunedin Weightlifting Club. "It was not so much to be fit but to look good for the girls," he once admitted. The local ladies were impressed—but so were his fellow gym mates, who nominated him for the Mr. Universe contest. So, in 1953, Connery traveled the nine hours to London, where the competitions were held. He boldly introduced himself to the contest