Sean Connery may have played James Bond in seven films, but he wasn’t always happy to be associated with the role.
The Scottish actor, who has died aged 90, first played 007 in 1962’s Dr No and returned a further six times up until Never Say Never Again in 1983.
While the role was the actor’s breakthrough after a decade of smaller stage and TV roles, he is said to have found it a drag being so synonymous with the British spy.
In 2004, The Observer reported that the actor once said he was “fed up” with the character, stating:"I have always hated that damned James Bond – I'd like to kill him."
Connery’s friend, Sir Michael Caine, once revealed in Andrew Yule’s book Sean Connery: Neither Shaken Nor Stirred that “you didn’t the raise the subject of Bond" around him.
"He was, and is, a much better actor than just playing James Bond, but he became synonymous with Bond. He'd be walking down the street and people would say, 'Look, there's James Bond.' That was particularly upsetting to him."
Connery is survived by his wife of 45 years, Micheline Roquebrune, his son, Jason, and his brother, Neil.
