Alex Carson
When starting her career, actress Lana Wood struggled to break free from the shadow of her famous sister, Natalie. Natalie Wood is one of the most prolific film stars of her era. Lana’s biggest claim to fame in her life is in Plenty O’Toole in the Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. Lana finds herself typecast in similar roles after acting in the film since she comes to embrace the character. She comes with details about an affair that she is on the set of the film with star Sean Connery! Although the two had amazing chemistry, Lana couldn’t allow the affair to continue after the film’s production. Join Facts Verse as we explore why Lana Wood ended her affair with Sean Connery.
Coming into Hollywood in the shadow of her older sister Natalie Wood, Lana Wood determines to make her own mark. Natalie is one of the most famous figures around. She recognizes as one of the greatest Hollywood film stars of all time! In contrast, Lana remains best known for portraying a Bond girl.
She takes the role of Bond girl Plenty O’Toole in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. Lana Wood does some work in the entertainment industry. She had taken on a few acting roles and had also posed for a notable spread in Playboy magazine. It is these Playboy spreads that got Lana her role in the Bond film. There are rumors that there is a Bond girl curse. The actresses that portray Bond girls go on to see diminishing returns in their future careers.
There are rumors that there is a Bond girl curse. The actresses that portray Bond girls go on to see diminishing returns in their future careers. Lana is forced to choose between taking the role and saw by audiences around the world. Passing on the role and continuing to work in smaller forms of media. She becomes a Bond girl, there is a possibility that she will never be famous as anything else. This is inevitably what happened when Lana made the decision to accept the role of Plenty O’Toole.
Diamonds Are Forever hit theaters in 1971 and stars Sean Connery as James Bond. Lana had already met Sean Connery, having dated a man previously that was good friends with him. Lana had always felt a connection to Sean and was thankful to be starring alongside him in the film. The two are in a relationship before filming, it isn’t long before the sparks are flying during the film’s production. Unbeknownst to the film’s producers, Lana and Sean became involved in an affair.
The reason for the affair between Lana Wood and Sean Connery is that they want to keep things professional. Sean separates from his wife Diane Cilento. Lana isn’t the only Bond girl that Sean hooks up with during his time playing the character. When Diamonds Are Forever’s filming, Sean is impassive in playing James Bond and becomes preoccupied with playing golf. When he wasn’t filming or playing golf, he was spending all of his time with Lana Wood. However, there were reasons that the relationship wasn’t going to last beyond the film’s production.
Lana Wood allows herself to involves with Sean Connery, with no intention of staying with him. She is already in love with someone, and that person was a British playwright and composer Leslie Bricusse. Lana is in love with Leslie, but the love isn’t to be. Lana breaks off her fling with Sean because of her affinity for Leslie. She marries at the time and remains the same woman until his recent death in 2021. He told Lana that he was going to divorce his wife, but he never did.
She breaks off her fling with Sean Connery. Lana feels foolish for making the assumption that Sean seeks a long-term relationship in the first place. The actor engages in flings with his coworkers on the set of his James Bond films. No reason to believe she is an exception. However, she still felt the need to tell him because she has always been an honest person. If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support! Also, subscribe to the channel if you’d like to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
Lana Wood warns that her appearance as Bond girl Plenty O’Toole in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever results in her typecast as an overly sexual character, and this proves relatively true. However, she was able to secure a role on ABC’s The Wonderful World of Disney the following year, in 1972. She appeared in the two-part episode “Justin Morgan Had a Horse”.
While filming “Justin Morgan Had a Horse”, Lana overheard a conversation amongst her coworkers talking about her past as both a Bond girl and an erotic model. At one point, she confronts someone asking if the executives at Disney knew about her past. Although insecurity weighed down on Lana, she enjoyed the fact that she was able to perform in a role that didn’t focus on her cleavage. Sadly, Lana’s role in the two-part episode of the popular series didn’t do much for her career, and she remains best known as the character of Plenty O’Toole to this day.
Although many actresses may come to resent the role that causes them to be typecast, Lana embraces her turn as Plenty O’Toole in recent years. She says that she’ll take pretty much an invitation to an event that’s related to the James Bond franchise. She also still likes talking about her time on the set of the film Diamonds Are Forever, as well as her short-lived affair with star Sean Connery.
Nowadays, Lana isn’t living a life of luxury. In recent years, she has fallen on hard times. In 2017, she was staying in a Los Angeles motel room with her daughter, Evan, as well as Evan’s husband and kids. Part of the reason that Lana was down on her luck was medical expenses as a result of Evan’s failing health. The family started a donation campaign and ended up receiving nearly $30,000 from fans. Evan passes away after the money receives.
After the passing of her daughter, Lana Wood still has her animals to keep her company. She lives with her cats and dogs and likes reminiscing about the past. Lana’s older sister, Natalie, passed away in 1981, though Lana still largely lives in the star’s shadow. Although Natalie was far more successful during her lifetime than Lana has ever been, Lana has always had a hard time being jealous of her sister’s fame and fortune. Whenever Lana got together with Natalie, the latter was always in a constant state of stress due to worrying about her image and her career. According to Lana, this wasn’t the lifestyle that she wanted.
Although Lana Wood was never quite comfortable aspiring to live the fast-paced Hollywood lifestyle of her sister, she still enjoyed her time in the spotlight. Also, she likes to remember the days that she spent with Sean Connery on the set of Diamonds Are Forever! Like Natalie Wood, Sean Connery is no longer with us. Sean passed away just recently, in 2020. Sean marries two times in his life but gets into many, affairs. Some of these affairs were with Bond girls, like Lana Wood. In fact, there was another Bond girl on the set of Diamonds Are Forever that Sean Connery became involved in an affair with, and that was Jill St. John.
Sean Connery, Lana Wood, and Jill St. John spend a while traveling the world together and promoting Diamonds Are Forever, though it remains unknown if either of these female stars knew that the other had also been romantically involved with Sean. Sean splits from his wife of many years, Diane Cilento, though their divorce is not final. Sean and Diane had married in 1962, and their divorce wouldn’t be finalized until 1973.
According to Lana Wood, the first time she ever saw the final cut of Diamonds Are Forever was at the film’s premiere. After all the work that Lana had put into both filming the movie and promoting it, she was shocked to see how few of her scenes had actually ended up on the screen. As is typical with movies of the caliber, many of the scenes that were filmed for Diamonds Are Forever didn’t make it past the editing stage of the film. As she watched the film premiere before it’s first big audience, she wondered whether or not she had made the right decision in taking the part!
Lana certainly had some regrets about playing Plenty O’Toole in Diamonds Are Forever in the years after the film’s release, but she has since come to accept that she remains best known for the role. If the actress could do it all over again, she would probably have listened to her agent when he tried to warn her about the growing James Bond curse. However, then she wouldn’t have gotten to be with Sean!
Although Lana Wood believes she was typecast after portraying the character of Plenty O’Toole in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, she has since come to terms with the role. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Lana Wood ended her affair with Sean Connery, or did you think that Sean had been the one to put the brakes on the relationship? As always, like this video to show your support, and subscribe and hit the notification bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their way!
