Bond, James Bond: 3 Important Lessons Sean Connery Has Taught Us

The great Sean Connery passed away in 2020.

Sean Connery was a huge part of my world growing up because my dad LOVED Bond movies, so he was on our TV screen more often than not. He would watch those movies over and over again and never got bored of them. My dad also looked a little like Connery, particularly in his younger years. I have some old photos of my dad where you can see the resemblance.

I wasn’t very close to my dad. When I started growing up, having opinions of my own, understanding my environment and who my father was, we began to clash and it was rare in my teenage and adult years that we ever really talked. But one thing we could always agree on was Sean Connery.

Sean Connery is, for many reasons, one of my favourite actors of all time. He is a silver screen legend, and one of the most iconic actors of all time. He made over 60 films during his career, many of them in leading roles and his last movie was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Alongside his Oscar win for The Untouchables, he won 37 films awards and had a further 29 nominations

– Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

– The Rock

– The Hunt for Red October.

– Finding Forrestor

– First Knight

…so many of his movies are in my favourite movie’s catalogue. But of course of all the roles he played, one stands out.

James Bond

Did you know that 12 actors have played the character of James Bond?

Despite all of the competition, Sean Connery is THE James Bond.

There are good reasons for this, and we can all learn some lessons from Sean Connery.

Lesson 1 — Be The First Person To Do Something

Whenever you’re the first into a new space or trying a brand new thing, you will always have an unfair advantage. You will be automatically the “go-to choice.”

Sean Connery was not the first actor to ever play an English spy on the big screen…but he was the first to play James Bond.

James Bond was brand new…it was almost a film category of its own in the way that it went on to become a runaway, multi-generational cinematic hit. There have been 26 Bond movies so far. Whether you love or hate Bond movies, you are familiar with them. Bond was a huge hit because of how well Connery played the role. He is Bond.

Lesson 2 — Own What You Do

Sean Connery was so successful as Bond because he 100% owned it as his own. He was Bond in his own unique way. In fact, he owned it so hard that he set the standard for every Bond actor who followed him. Every single other Bond is compared to him.

In Dr. No, cigarette in mouth, he says “Bond. James Bond.” and this image and moment became James Bond.

Every other Bond actor gets demoted to Tier II Bond if they don’t match his level of charisma, magnetism, charm, and smoothness. Every actor who followed in his footsteps had a lot to live up to.

Lesson 3 — Be You

The power of your performance and the level of your success and impact is directly related to how much you make your work your own.

Bond was an already established character in Ian Fleming’s novels before Connery. Connery’s Bond isn’t as iconic as it is because he perfectly depicted Fleming’s character and transported it to the screen. It’s iconic because he made the character his own.

Think about it for a moment…this was a man with a very strong Scottish accent playing an English spy and no one batted an eyelid. Bond the English spy was a Scotsman and he is still the number one Bond.

Connery had a reputation for doing things his way. Apparently, he was lousy at imitating accents and didn’t even bother trying to change his accent. He played every character his way. In The Hunt for Red October, he played a Russian sub commander…and still sounded Scottish. But no one cared.

Sean Connery knew that moviegoers were not going to see his movies for his ability to nail a foreign accent. They were going to see what only HE could do. Be Sean Connery.

So just like Sean, with whatever you do:

• You need to know your craft…
• You have to become a hero to a market you adore…
• You have to follow the core principles of your space…
• And you have to present the best, most authentic version of you…

In fact, the single best thing that you can do is to always just be completely and unapologetically you. Because no one else can do what you can do…Be You.