Bond. James Bond was a huge part of my family’s culture. My dad saw those movies when he was in the Army as a young man. Years later, my parents showed men and my siblings all the early 007 films. I loved them.

Connery was 90 when he died so you could say he had a really good run. I do have this weird empty sensation that shouldn’t hurt me, but will haunt me for a while. However, this might be how I would feel if I had known who Steve McQueen was when he passed away.

The 007 movies have been documented and talked to death since their first inception in the spring of 1963. Dr. No came out and introduced us to Connery who was a relatively unknown actor at the time. A few years after hanging up his license to kill, he signed on to be savage with a gun, pursing the truth behind a gigantic floating head and killing liberally. A real departure from playing an international spy, but his character does refer to himself as an “exterminator.”   

Zardoz bombed at the box office, but watching it 46 years later, it contains some of the trippy science fictions tropes which would later be incorporated into other films of the genre years later (The Matrix, Mad Max). Connery knew what roles to take and didn’t give a shit if his fans understood why. A true artist and a great actor has left this plane. Rest in power, Sir Sean.