72 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

Now on the CBn main page...

Sir Sean Connery Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

_{AFI Achievement awarded to Sean Connery, 8 June 2006}

Sir Sean Connery to receive AFI Life Achievement Award

Sir Sean Connery has been selected by the American Film Institute's (AFI) Board of Trustees to receive the 34th AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest honor for a career in film, it was announced today by Sir Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees.

The award will be presented to Connery at a gala tribute in Los Angeles on June 8, 2006.

"Sir Sean Connery is an international film icon," said Stringer. "Though best remembered for creating one of the great film heroes of all time, his talents transcend typecasting, and his body of work not only stands the test of time, but illuminates a career more extraordinary than James Bond himself. Sir Sean is an artist of the highest order, and AFI is honored to present him with its 34th Life Achievement Award."

"In Sir Sean, AFI has found a perfect honoree for its Life Achievement Award," added Bonnie Hammer, President, USA Network and SCI FI Channel. "A celebration of his outstanding work guarantees a tribute as entertaining as it is deserved."

USA Network will broadcast the 34th AFI Life Achievement Award tribute in June 2006. Bob Gazzale, who served as executive producer and writer of AFI's Tributes to George Lucas, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro, will continue in these roles.

About Sir Sean Connery

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Sean Connery grew up in a two-room flat, working odd jobs from a young age to earn extra money for his family. After three years in the navy he played football (soccer) semi-professionally, but it was his hobby of weightlifting that pushed him into the spotlight. Connery represented Scotland in the Mr. Universe pageant and shortly thereafter began to model. He finally caught the acting bug and entered the theater, touring with "South Pacific."

Connery first hit the big screen in LILACS IN THE SPRING, in 1954. He arrived to screens in America with TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE and DARBY O' GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE, both in 1959.

With a bit part in the 1962 WWII epic THE LONGEST DAY, he could have been lost amongst the film's star-studded cast, but of course he wasn't, and 'James Bond' was found. Harry Saltzman may have recognized Connery's refined disposition, but it was Cubby Broccoli that glanced out the window and noticed this man slinking down a street in London, "like a panther." It was then that he knew he had found Bond. And, though Ian Fleming's image of James Bond may not resemble Sean Connery, to the world he soon would be the iconic Bond of the big screen.

Cast as Agent 007 in DR. NO, Connery inaugurated one of the longest-running series in film history. He starred as Bond in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, GOLDFINGER, THUNDERBALL, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER and NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. His salary from DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER went to kick-start the Scottish International Education Trust, which helps many young Scottish students fund their education. The trust also funds a drama chair at Glasgow's Strathclyde University.

Connery later starred in Alfred Hitchcock's MARNIE, as well as in such films as WOMAN OF STRAW, THE HILL, A FINE MADNESS, SHALAKO, THE MOLLY MAGUIRES, THE ANDERSON TAPES, THE RED TENT, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, THE WIND AND THE LION, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING, ROBIN AND MARIAN, A BRIDGE TOO FAR, OUTLAND, ZARDOZ, FIVE DAYS ONE SUMMER, METEOR, THE NAME OF THE ROSE, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, THE RUSSIA HOUSE, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, MEDICINE MAN, RISING SUN, JUST CAUSE, FIRST KNIGHT and THE AVENGERS.

Connery headlined opposite Nicholas Cage in the 1996 summer blockbuster hit THE ROCK, and provided the voice and personality for the animated dragon in DRAGONHEART. He also led an all-star cast in Miramax's PLAYING BY HEART, working alongside Gena Rowlands, Angelina Jolie, Gillian Anderson and Dennis Quaid. Following, Connery produced Twentieth Century Fox's thriller ENTRAPMENT, in which he starred opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones and then produced and starred in FINDING FORRESTER which was directed by Gus Van Sant and co-starred newcomer Rob Brown. Connery next starred in THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, which was released in July 2003 by Twentieth Century Fox.

In addition to receiving both the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and the Golden Globe Award in 1987 for his performance in THE UNTOUCHABLES, Connery has received numerous other accolades. They include, among others, the Legion d'Honneur and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (the highest honors given in France), and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Best Actor award for THE NAME OF THE ROSE in 1987, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award -- special BAFTA silver mask presented by H.R.H. Princess Anne to a British actor or actress who has made an outstanding contribution to world cinema -- presented in 1990. In 1995 he was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field" given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at its annual Golden Globe Awards. In 1997, Connery was honored with a Gala Tribute by the Film Society of Lincoln Center for his lifetime career and, in April 1998, BAFTA honored him with their highest award, The British Academy Fellowship. In 1999, Connery was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient and in 2000 he was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the Queen's New Year's Honours List. Connery's proudest moment, and in his mind, his greatest honor to date, came when he received the Freedom of the City of Edinburgh in 1991.

About the AFI Life Achievement Award

The highest honor given for a career in film, the AFI Life Achievement Award was established by the AFI Board of Trustees on February 26, 1973. It is presented to a single honoree each year based on the following criteria as mandated through a resolution passed by the AFI Board of Trustees:

"The recipient should be one whose talent has in a fundamental way advanced the film art; whose accomplishment has been acknowledged by scholars, critics, professional peers and the general public; and whose work has stood the test of time."

In 1993, the trustees extended the criteria to encompass "individuals with active careers and work of significance yet to be accomplished."

AFI Life Achievement Award Recipients

Sir Sean Connery joins an esteemed group of individuals who have been chosen for this distinguished honor since its inception in 1973.


1973 John Ford
1974 James Cagney
1975 Orson Welles
1976 William Wyler
1977 Bette Davis
1978 Henry Fonda
1979 Alfred Hitchcock
1980 James Stewart
1981 Fred Astaire
1982 Frank Capra
1983 John Huston
1984 Lillian Gish
1985 Gene Kelly
1986 Billy Wilder
1987 Barbara Stanwyck
1988 Jack Lemmon
1989 Gregory Peck
1990 Sir David Lean
1991 Kirk Douglas
1992 Sidney Poitier
1993 Elizabeth Taylor
1994 Jack Nicholson
1995 Steven Spielberg
1996 Clint Eastwood
1997 Martin Scorsese
1998 Robert Wise
1999 Dustin Hoffman
2000 Harrison Ford
2001 Barbra Streisand
2002 Tom Hanks
2003 Robert De Niro
2004 Meryl Streep
2005 George Lucas

About the American Film Institute

AFI is a national institute providing leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television and digital media. AFI trains the next generation of filmmakers at its world-renowned Conservatory, maintains America's film heritage through the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and explores new digital technologies in entertainment and education through the AFI Digital Content Lab and K-12 Screen Education Center. As the largest nonprofit exhibitor in the US, AFI ON SCREEN encompasses the annual AFI FEST presented by Audi: AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival -- as well as year-round programming at ArcLight Hollywood and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, including SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival. AFI AWARDS, the annual almanac for the 21st century, honors the most outstanding motion pictures and television programs of the year, while AFI's 100 Years ... series has ignited extraordinary public interest in classic American movies. And, during the past 33 years, AFI's Life Achievement Award has become the highest honor for a career in film. Additional information about AFI is available at AFI.com.

http://commanderbond...item&item=26935

[dinovelvet]

Well deserved, Sir! Can't wait to watch it, these are always good. They always have actors and directors up on stage telling anecdotes about the receipient, I wonder if any Bond alumni will be doing this...

[Dalton's Wendy]

What a wonderful tribute, and, as dinovelvet said, so well-deserved!

[triviachamp]

Congradulations Sean!

Now we need the AFI to nod Roger and George.

[Double-Oh Agent]

A well deserved honor for a cinema legend. Do you think there will be any mention of his role as James Bond?

Seriously, I wonder if Sir Roger Moore will be there and Sir Michael Caine? I'm sure they've got some interesting things to say about their good buddy.

Edited by Double-Oh Agent, 11 November 2005 - 07:48 AM.

[Qwerty]

I wonder if any Bond alumni will be doing this...

I'd hope so! These are always very cool events, I recently got to see the 1979 tribute to Hitchcock on The Masterpiece Universal DVD set.

[killkenny kid]

I wonder if any Bond alumni will be doing this...

I'd hope so! These are always very cool events, I recently got to see the 1979 tribute to Hitchcock on The Masterpiece Universal DVD set.

Yes, if only for one night.

[Dalton's Wendy]

I wonder if any Bond alumni will be doing this...

I'd hope so! These are always very cool events, I recently got to see the 1979 tribute to Hitchcock on The Masterpiece Universal DVD set.

Yes, if only for one night.

And, the more that I think about it, I hope that all the Bond alumni will be gracious enough to appear.

Because, if it weren't for the outstanding groundwork laid by Sir Sean -- the matrix around which all future Bonds were molded -- chances are very good that the Bond movies would not have lasted much past his withdrawal from the scene.

[Kingdom Come]

A lot of these kinds of awards are for artists 'past it'! I wonder why, apart from them saying thank you and sorry but the industry does not require your services anymore, why they are giving this award to help increase this man's MONSTEROUS ego?

[David Schofield]

A lot of these kinds of awards are for artists 'past it'! I wonder why, apart from them saying thank you and sorry but the industry does not require your services anymore, why they are giving this award to help increase this man's MONSTEROUS ego?

Yes, I agree. Ok, Connery created the cinematic Bond but that does not preclude the possibility someone might have done it better - or might do it better in the future (over to you, Mr Craig).

Connery made (or appeared in, if you prefer) some Bond classics and some VERY bad Bonds (compared with others). Most of his other films were both dire as entertainments and dire at the box office. I'd give him a career of the first 4 Bonds, Marnie, Woman of Straw and the Untouchables (just to be charitable).

The citation should be "Sean Connery - for Creating the cinematic icon of James Bond".

Then again, if you did that the cumugeonly old bugger would refuse it. Anyone sat through the Man with the Deadly Lens..?

Edited by David Schofield, 12 November 2005 - 12:30 PM.

[Kingdom Come]

Connery never created James Bond. He helped that is all - and only in the sense that his physical body was then, James Bond - nothing else.

[Dalton's Wendy]

A lot of these kinds of awards are for artists 'past it'! 

But is not that the stage of life at which they have assembled a lifetime's worth of achievements? It's a bit difficult to give this particular award to someone in their thirties.

[Dalton's Wendy]

Yes, I agree. Ok, Connery created the cinematic Bond but that does not preclude the possibility someone might have done it better - or might do it better in the future (over to you, Mr Craig).

Someone might have done it better (but no one else did), and someone might do it better in the future, and let us hope he does.

Nevertheless, if that someone does it truly well, he might even win the Oscar for Best Actor, which would be a Bond "first". But that is a different type of award than is this one. And, at that relatively early stage, it would still not qualify him for the level of "lifetime" achievement.

The citation should be "Sean Connery - for Creating the cinematic icon of James Bond".

Perhaps it should, but I think that rather than debating the worthiness of Sir Sean, we, as, Bond fans, should instead focus on the fact that the man who -- in the minds of the majority of people who are old enough to recall anyone other than Pierce Brosnan in the role -- is the once and forever James Bond, and has just received a tremendous accolade. This can only accrue well to the overall world of Bond.

I maintain that if it were not for the impact of Connery's performanaces, the franchise probably would not have lasted much longer than its first twenty years. Things certainly looked pretty gloomy in the mid-eighties.

If CBn members are not pleased at this most recent selection of the AFI, then who would be?

It is also worth noting that this announcement, coming as it does at a time when a new and relatively unknown actor is stepping into the role, is something which Bond fans should welcome even more gladly. It is impossible to turn on the tv or radio, or open a newspaper, today, without seeing mention of the announcement. Invariably, Connery's name is followed by the words, "originator of the role of James Bond." For the second time within the space of one month, James Bond is world news.

And just imagine the publicity that will occur on June 8th of next year, when the actual event takes place. This is publicity that Eon, in its wildest dreams, could have neither arranged, nor bought.

[Kara Milovy]

A lot of these kinds of awards are for artists 'past it'

Not this particular one. The AFI Lifetime Acheivement Award has gone, in recent years, to Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorcese; all actively working.

[Dalton's Wendy]

A lot of these kinds of awards are for artists 'past it'

Not this particular one. The AFI Lifetime Acheivement Award has gone, in recent years, to Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorcese; all actively working.

Dustin Hoffman, Harrison Ford, Meryl Streep . . .

[David Schofield]

Connery is that special classic actor that makes you want to go to see a movie. Even if the quality of that movie in question his appearance is enough to lift the movie's strenght.

Erm, not in a sufficient number of people to make them box-office hits, though.

[Dalton's Wendy]

Incontestably true, David, but what actor has not had his share of flops?

The Lifetime Achievement Award's title spells out what it is; it is not for merely a single great performance. And if it were given on the sole basis of box-office pull, then the stars of Saw II would be up there on the stage next 8th June.

If we consider the fact that Connery's most memorable work was done over 40 years ago, and add to that the fact that, all these decades later, his name, or his presence, still evoke excitement, then I believe the AFI has made the right choice.

I think chimera01 has said it all:

A great choice for a great actor.

And somewhere in the last minute Connery pops up the whole theater went nuts and there was a lot of cheering....... And most of audience was well younger than I was at that time.

[james st.john smythe]

how can he win that, he's a wife beater?!

[Dalton's Wendy]

how can he win that, he's a wife beater?!

James, dear, what does that have to do with the award?

Besides . . . maybe she likes it!

[james st.john smythe]

all his films bar the bonds were a load of tash because he thought he could act

[Dalton's Wendy]

all his films bar the bonds were a load of tash because he thought he could act

Well, acting isn't just about reading the lines, you know. A great deal of it is star quality, and Himself has that in spades.

Again, the fact that he created the most memorable hero of moviedom's longest-running franchise -- a franchise which is still going at full blast while into its fifth decade -- says a lot about the man, in my mind.

Who would we prefer receive the award next June? Brad Pitt?

[Qwerty]

all his films bar the bonds were a load of tash because he thought he could act

Have you seen films like Marnie, Murder on the Orient Express, Indiana Jones, etc...?

[Wade]

Sean Connery has always been one of my favorite actors, if not my favorite, and a close friend and I were discussing this honor last night. I wondered aloud if any of the other Bonds would be there ... Roger, Timothy, Pierce, etc.

And my friend said, "Well, we know Lazenby will be there. He'll be working for the venue as a seat filler. And when Connery goes to the bathroom, Lazenby will fill his seat ... until he gets back."

I damn near spit out my hot cocoa laughing.

Scotland forever, Sir Sean!

[hrabb04]

Well, despite some of you who had their go at pissing on Connery here, I think the AFI thing is a pretty damned good event. Good for Connery. For those that did the pissing, Connery craps bigger than you.

[Dalton's Wendy]

[color=orange]You can't argue with that    ...
I thought Wendy was having to rely on me for support !!!

Up until hrabb04 -- I was!!!!

Or, at least for a Laphroaig . . .

[Dalton's Wendy]

Dee Double U, I've never been to LA, but it would be worth the trip for June 8.

Can you get me a ticket?

Do you mean to the presentation, or to the post-award reception?

(I presume you did not mean airline ticket!)

[Dalton's Wendy]

Dee Double U, I've never been to LA, but it would be worth the trip for June 8.

Can you get me a ticket?

Do you mean to the presentation, or to the post-award reception?

(I presume you did not mean airline ticket!)

Both ... but not the airline ticket ... cos Im a high flyer already

Oh, good! I love a man who soars!

(Hmmmm . . . I may have a difficult time deciding just which Scotsman it is whom I prefer!)

[Dalton's Wendy]

Go for the one with the kilt ... Clan Farquharson, if there's more than one

and the answer to the next question is always NO ... never!!!

Well . . . since you're going to be such a gentleman about it, I think I shall let you have the last word on the subject!

My mother brought me up to always let the man have it, anyway!

[Dalton's Wendy]

That wasn't the next question though ... was it?

       

OH!!!!! The kilt!!!!!
Yes, of course . . . the obvious question: what does a Scotsman wear . . . (modesty forbids!)

[Dalton's Wendy]

That wasn't the next question though ... was it?

       

Perhaps I'll discover the answer next June . . .