Alex Carson
Sean Connery was a living legend. Sadly, he is no longer with us. Truthfully, he leaves a legacy that will endure for decades, if not longer.
The Scottish film star passed away at the age of 90 in October of 2020. He leaves his wife of more than four decades, Micheline Roquebrune, whom he meets in 1970 and marries in 1975.
Many words describe the kind of man that Connery is. He describes as charismatic, debonair, and suave – and at one point, he’s the ‘Sexiest Man of the Century. His reputation, however, isn’t entirely glowing. Connery’s ex-wife, Diane Cilento, claims that Sean once said that he thought it was perfectly acceptable to hit women.
Besides the seven 007 flicks that he stars in, Connery is famous for his roles in films like Highlander, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt of Red October, and Dragonheart. For his work in cinema, Sean awards three Golden Globes, two BAFTA Awards, and even a Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award.
We can devote videos to detailing all of Connery’s professional accomplishments, today we’ll be focusing on Sean’s interactions with women. The late Hollywood legend is a sex symbol. Throughout his life, he had numerous passionate love affairs with some of the most beautiful women of his time. In a case of art imitating reality, his dating life mirrored that of his most iconic role, James Bond.
Carol Sopel
This dark-haired beauty with the figure of a ballerina is famous as one of Sean Connery’s lovers in the mid-1950s. Connery and Sopel started dating during the production of the film South Pacific. While things started off passionate for the two, Sopel’s Jewish family wasn’t approving of Connery and tried to chase him off.
Regardless of how her family felt about him, Sean was absolutely madly in love with Sopel. He even asked for her hand in marriage. But after Sopel took her parent’s advice and turned him down, their relationship quickly crumbled.
Julie Hamilton
Julie was the daughter of famed feminist and documentarian Jill Craigie. We know that Hamilton and Convery involve for a rather long time. For nearly a year, Hamilton is Sean’s live-in girlfriend, but fascinatingly, it says that she isn’t attracted to him in the beginning.
Hamilton would later say that her first impressions of Connery were less than stellar. She quotes him as calling him ‘a yob and a terrible bore’, but as their paths continue to cross, she grows to find him quite likable and charming.
After they started dating, the two were inseparable. Hamilton found Connery to be a bit old fashion in a lot of ways but she loved how gentle and kind he was to her.
One morning, however, Hamilton woke up beside Connery to hear him describing how beautiful his ‘Anna Christie’ co-star, Diane Cilento’s eyes were.
She immediately leaped out of bed and asked him point-blank if he still loved her. Not one to mince his words, Connery replied by confirming that he no longer loved her like he used to.
Brokenhearted, Hamilton gathered up and things and left to go cry at her parent’s house for several days.
Maxine Daniels
Sean Connery fell in love with this Jazz singer almost immediately after locking eyes with her at the Empire Theatre. He did his best to win her over, but she makes it very clear that she is happily married with a baby daughter. Needless to say, their relationship never went anywhere.
Diane Cilento
As we mentioned previously, this Australian actress shared the screen with Connery in 1957’s Anna Christie. She would later appear alongside Connery once again in 1967s You Only Live Twice, doubling for Mia Hama during the film’s underwater cave sequence. Cilento is perhaps famous, however, for her Oscar-Nominated performance in Tom Jones.
In 1962, she and Sean Connery dated and exchanged wedding vows. Their marriage started off blissful enough – at least from the outside – but in time they started experiencing troubles. In 1971, the two separated, and two years later in 1973, they divorced.
Decades later Cilento would reveal that Connery had been physically and verbally abusive to her throughout their relationship. Connery even reportedly said that he felt like hitting women wasn’t that big of a deal especially if she was hysterical, or as he put it, “bloody-minded continually’.
Cilento’s acting career saw a very steep decline in the years that she marries to Connery but at least one good thing comes of their relationship. The couple had one son together, Jason Connery.
Jill St. John
This actress is best known for playing the diamond smuggler and love interest of James Bond, Tiffany Case, in the 1971 007 film Diamonds Are Forever. During the filming of that movie, the two were reported to have been dating.
At the time, Connery was separated from his first wife Diane Cilento although their divorce had yet to be finalized.
Lana Wood
This former Bond Girl also had an affair with Connery. Lana was the younger sister of Natalie Wood and played Plenty O’Toole In Diamonds are Forever.
Sean evidently made the first move, as Lana was a bit more reserved. For their first date, Connery and Wood went out to dinner, met up with a few of his friends, and then went for a walk. They reportedly started hooking up before filming of Diamonds are Forever had even begun.
Both parties didn’t want the public to know about their relationship. So, when they had to film their love scenes together, they had to do their best to give good performances without being ‘too convincing’.
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Carole Mallory
Mallory first met Connery at a dinner date arranged for them by a producer friend who was visiting Manhattan. Years later, Mallory would tell reporters that she and Connery spent the night together that evening, and they continued to see each other on a few more occasions, but since they were both married and hated sneaking around to meet up, eventually their affair came to an end.
Mallory would further say that Connery had little respect for women, but at least she was able to get a meal out of him.
Even more surprising is what Mallory said about her and Connery’s bedroom escapades. She said that he was the worst in bed and that he didn’t leave a very “big impression”.
Magda Konopa
This Polish actor and model was romantically involved with Connery for just a short time. It’s reported that she flirted with Sean and spent a few evenings with him in Porto Rotundo.
Lynsey de Paul
Best known for her hit pop songs like ‘Won’t Somebody Dance With Me’ and ‘Sugar Me’, de Paul and Connery had a brief yet highly-publicized affair in the 1980s
At first, she didn’t want to have an affair with him and did her best to keep their relationship platonic, but Lynsey says that Connery pressured her relentlessly before she gave in. She wasn’t normally attracted to macho men like him, but she saw his softer side – a man who wrote poetry, quoted Robbie Burns, and even penned his own ballet.
Since she didn’t know his wife, de Paul didn’t feel like she was betraying her by having an affair with Sean. Soon enough, however, their relationship came to an abrupt end.
Lynsey would later bitterly regret having her affair with Connery due to his views toward domestic violence. She never saw his violent side firsthand, but when she learned that Connery thought it was okay to hit women, she was nothing short of shocked and appalled.
Micheline Roquebrune
Connery was separated from his first wife Diane Cilento when he first met Roquebrune at a golf tournament in 1970. Sean got married to the French-Moroccan painter in 1975. Their marriage somehow managed to survive Connery’s affair with Lynsey de Paul, and Roquebrune remained by his side for 45.
Connery’s Death
Conney died in his sleep on Halloween 2020 at the age of 90. At the time of his death, he was at his home in the Lyford Cay community of Nassau in The Bahamas.
His death was announced by Eon Productions and members of his family. At first, no details were provided about the cause of his death. His son did say, however, that Sean had been unwell for quite some time.
The following day, Michelle Roquebrune revealed that Connery had been battling dementia for the last several years before his passing.
Connery’s death certificate would list his cause of death as pneumonia and cardiopulmonary failure, with dementia being the underlying cause.
Per his wishes, Connery was cremated and his ashes will be scattered in Scotland at a later date.
While Sean Connery will always be remembered for his iconic role as 007 and for being a charismatic sex symbol, his legacy is still somewhat tarnished by his unsavory views on violence towards women.
Once again, we have a star who seems to have used their power and prestige to essentially treat women as disposable.
Not only was he repeatedly unfaithful to his two wives, but he allegedly was also pretty violent and abusive.
Did you know that Sean Connery once said that it was okay to hit women? And how do you think people would react today if a star came out and said a similar thing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
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