Joanne Woodward, Jean Seberg and Sean Connery on the set for A Fine Madness.
Sir Sean Connery, the Scottish actor best known for his role as 007 in seven of the 24 James Bond films produced, passed away peacefully in his sleep in the Bahamas on October 31, 2020 . He was 90.
Connery's acting career spanned seven decades and included Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964) and Sidney Lumet's The Hill (1965), Richard Attenborough's epic war film A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He won an Academy Award in 1988 for his role in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables.
He starred with Jean Seberg in the 1966 comedy A Fine Madness directed by Irvin Kirshner. Connery played hapless poet Samson Shillitoe, and a philandering husband to Joanne Woodward in the film.
"By the mid-1960s, Sean Connery had played James Bond in four films, and was anxious to avoid being typecast. Between the Bond films, he looked for roles that were far different from the suave superspy: a mysterious Hitchcock hero in Marnie (1964), a cockney POW in The Hill (1965), and a mad bohemian poet in A Fine Madness (1966). Based on a highly praised novel by Elliott Baker, who also wrote the screenplay, A Fine Madness is very much a product of its time. Connery plays Samson Shillitoe, who lives in Greenwich Village, works at menial jobs while writing his epic poems, tries the patience of his slobby wife (Joanne Woodward) by seducing other women, and battles to remain a free spirit. Like the character, A Fine Madness is often very funny, but is also something of a mess..." wrote Margarita Landazuri of TCM.
Connery was knighted by the Queen at Holyrood Palace in 2000.
The award-winning documentary Jean Seberg: Actress, Activist, Icon tells the true story of Hollywood and heartbreak, beginning when an unknown 17-year-old Iowa girl who beat out 18,000 actresses to play Saint Joan in Otto Preminger's 1957 film. The documentary goes behind the scenes of her rocky life in the international film spotlight, her civil rights activism that drew FBI attention, and her mysterious death in Paris in 1979 - deemed a "probable suicide." Produced by Emmy-nominated and award-winning filmmakers Garry McGee (McMarr Ltd.), and Kelly Rundle and Tammy Rundle (Fourth Wall Films).
Visit JeanSebergMovie for updates on the documentary, glimpses behind-the-scenes, all things Jean Seberg, and upcoming news on the film's release.
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