Actor Sean Connery, an avid golfer, dies at age 90

Famed Scottish star of the early '007' spy thrillers didn’t take up golf until adulthood, but he played often, usually as a walker

Died: Sean Connery, the Scottish actor best-known for his role as the original James Bond in the “007” series and an avid golfer, on Oct. 31 at his home in the Bahamas, according to his family and the BBC. Connery was 90. Connery starred in seven of novelist Ian Fleming’s spy thrillers, including the first five, as the suave British agent James Bond. He won an Oscar for his role as a tough cop in the 1987 film “The Untouchables.” But to golf fans, Connery might be best remembered for his 1-up match-play victory against the dastardly Goldfinger in the 1964 Bond move “Goldfinger.” Connery didn't take up golf until his early 30s, to prepare for the golf scene in Goldfinger, despite having grown up near a course in his native Scotland. Born Thomas Sean Connery in Edinburgh, he came from a poor upbringing and dropped out of school at age 13 during World War II to deliver milk and help support his family. He served in the Royal Navy in the late 1940s. Once he was an established star on the big screen, Connery embraced golf, according to his obituary in The New York Times. He played the game almost every morning, often with his wife, and was renowned for much of his life for walking and carrying his clubs. Actor Daniel Craig, one of the successors to the lead character in the Bond series, said of Connery: “Wherever he is, I hope there is a golf course.”

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