MOVIE legend Sir Sean Connery has announced that he is officially quitting
public life.
And all this week in The Scottish Sun the 80-year-old super Scot opens his
heart on his life and gives us the full lowdown on his plans for retirement.
Here, on Day One of our sensational series, Sir Sean talks to JOAN McALPINE
about being the world’s sexiest star and his love for golf, swimming,
cats… and loyal wife Micheline.
FOR 50 years men have wanted to be him. Women just want him — period.
He’s a Hollywood sex idol, a man’s man.
Leading ladies including Ursula Andress, Honor Blackman, Brigitte Bardot, Kim
Bassinger and Catherine Zeta-Jones have all fallen for his charms.
But in reality his petite wife Micheline Roquebrune Connery is the one true
love of his life.
Imagine the scene. Their eyes met across the dinner table — 007 James Bond is
calling you ‘Ma Cherie’ in that unmistakable sexy Scottish brogue.
But it’s not a movie scene, it’s not an act and the woman isn’t some Hollywood
goddess.
Micheline is one LUCKY woman.
Sir Sean says simply: “Micheline is an amazing woman. She is the love of my
life.”
I spent several days as a guest of Sir Sean and Micheline at their beautiful
villa, near Nassau, in the Bahamas — the islands off the coast of Florida
where he filmed Thunderball in 1965.
For the first time the real Sir Sean Connery — living legend, Hollywood icon
and proud Scot, who’s known as Big Tam to his mates — is laid bare.
The house is full of artwork and family photographs.
Scotland
Micheline’s feminine touch is everywhere, North African throws and carpets,
orchids growing out of giant clams.
It boasts a swimming pool, surrounded by tropical flowers.
It’s a modest property compared to some of the neighbours’ pads.
But that’s down to its location — overlooking the golf course — rather than
his canny Scots roots.
Micheline — an acclaimed artist — paints every day.
But pride of place in her studio is a black and white picture of Sean taken
before they met — looking drop-dead gorgeous in a Mr Universe competition.
She is tiny compared to the 6ft 2in towering frame of her husband. But they
don’t seem to mind.
They met in 1970 at a golf tournament in Morocco.
She had been married twice and Sean had already split from his first wife
Diane Cilento.
Micheline says: “I saw this man from the back, and of course, he had a fine
physique.
“But that first day I didn’t know who he was or anything about him.
“Then I dreamed I saw this man. I was in his arms. And I thought ‘At last,
peace’.
“The next day I went back to the tournament and that was that!”.
So intense is their connection that Sean reveals he once recognised Micheline
— by her FEET.
He says: “In the early days it was difficult for us to see each other. She was
still living in North Africa with her children.
“We were in separate queues coming off different flights.
“There was a partition and underneath I saw these feet.
“I immediately recognised them and tried to get through to see her but it
wasn’t allowed.”
He battled through the crowd to wait for her at the other end. Micheline
laughs: “I’m so glad because if I had arrived at an empty apartment that
would have been it finished!”
Scotland
But in those early days they couldn’t even speak the same language — not that
it mattered.
Micheline, 81, who speaks fluent French and Spanish and understands Arabic,
twinkles mischievously: “Oh we had no problem communicating — body language!”
Sir Sean offers to take me on a grand tour and we hop on a golf buggy, filled
with his monogrammed bags.
“Come on and I’ll show you around,” he says. Life really doesn’t get much
better.
During our buggy ride we see some impressive yachts in the local harbour. Some
of them look like ocean liners.
But Sean isn’t interested in these rich men’s toys. He says grimly: “I once
attended a big party on a boat with my friend Jackie Stewart many years ago.
“I got so seasick Princess Anne ended up driving me home!”
He may be 80 but he’s still very fit — in more ways than one.
He has the exercise regime of a man half his age. The day starts early with a
cycle ride round the community where he lives and in the afternoon it’s into
the pool for a swim.
But he’s not worried about getting old.
He says: “Micheline sometimes says to me ‘the time is rushing past’ but I
don’t worry about getting older.
“There’s always a new challenge to keep you motivated.”
Sean started with nothing and has become one of the most successful Scots of
all time. Born on the top floor of a tenement in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh,
the family had no hot water, no bathroom and the loo — shared with a dozen
families — was four floors down.
His dad worked in a rubber mill six days a week and his mother cleaned.
Young Sean started his milk round when he was nine — and left school at 13.
He says: “It sounds strange to say it now, but we never realised we lacked
anything!”
His first independent act as an adult was to get a ‘Scotland Forever’ tattoo
when he joined the Navy. Another followed to ‘Mum & Dad’.
Surprisingly, Sir Sean has a rival as the head of the household — his big tom
cat called Tiger. The feisty Bengal mix lords it in his study — sitting on
his chair.
Like Sean he’s an alpha male — and doesn’t like to be challenged.
He’s even taken a lump out of Sean’s arm.
Micheline — who sports a faint scar on her own arm — adds: “He’s bitten me
too. He is just powerful.”
Routine is important at the Connery home.
They have lunch each day at the same time on a patio beside the pool.
There’s always a healthy meal at the dinner table and then it’s on to the
squashy sofas for coffee and a few squares of dark chocolate.
Micheline explains: “I’m very French. Black coffee and lots of vegetables
cooked to perfection.
“Milk chocolate? NEVER. Much too sweet.” The couple share the
same passions in life. But golf is at the very heart of their relationship —
it’s what makes them tick.
Micheline herself is an excellent golfer and won the women’s tournament they
first met.
Sean took it up while shooting Goldfinger and has enjoyed a lifelong love
affair with the game.
And it’s clear they are never far from each other’s minds.
Even as Sean continues our golf expedition, trundling across the course, he’s
wondering aloud what she’s up to.
In the distance there is a tiny speck in traditional golf kit. Unrecognisable
to the untrained eye.
But Sean instantly knows his lover of more than 40 years.
He says: “There’s Micheline!”
He smiles, and the foot goes down as we roll across the fairway towards the
love of his life.
