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Mehr dazu in der Diskussion "Die Burg Sonnensturm".

Mehr dazu in der Diskussion "Die Burg Sonnensturm".

Mehr dazu in der Diskussion "Die Burg Sonnensturm".

Mehr dazu in der Diskussion "Die Burg Sonnensturm".

Gert Fröbe as Auric Goldfinger.

Albert Schrott (Gert Fröbe)

Dr. Hans Matthäi (Heinz Rühmann)

Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6258. Gert Fröbe, Sean Connery, and Harold Sakata in Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964).

Scottish superstar Sean Connery (1930-2020) has died today, 31 October 2020. He is best known as the original secret agent 007, starring in seven James Bond films between 1962 and 1983. His film career also included such notable films as Marnie (1964), The Name of the Rose (1986), The Untouchables (1987), and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Connery won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and also a BAFTA Award. He was 90.

Thomas Sean Connery was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, in 1930. He was the son of Euphemia 'Effie' Connery-Maclean, a cleaning woman, and Joseph Connery, a factory worker, and truck driver. He has a younger brother, Neil. At 13, he left school and worked as a milkman in Edinburgh with St. Cuthbert's Co-operative Society. In 1947 he joined the Royal Navy, but after three years he was discharged on medical grounds because of severe stomach ulcers. First, he returned to the co-op, then worked as a lorry driver, an artist's model for the Edinburgh College of Art, and as a coffin polisher. Looking to pick up some extra money, he helped out backstage at the King's Theatre around Christmas of 1951. He became interested in the proceedings and got a job as a singing and dancing sailor in the chorus of South Pacific. More bit parts followed. He also took up bodybuilding as a hobby. His official website claims he was third in the 1950 Mr. Universe contest, other sources place him in the 1953 competition. He made his film debut as an extra in the musical Lilacs in the Spring (Herbert Wilcox, 1955) with Anna Neagle and Errol Flynn. No Road Back (Montgomery Tully, 1957) was Sean's first major film role, and it was followed by such films as Hell Drivers (Cy Endfield, 1957) starring Stanley Baker, Darby O'Gill and the Little People (Robert Stevenson, 1959), and The Frightened City (John Lemont, 1961).

Sean Connery played another early film part in Another Time, Another Place (Lewis Allen, 1958) as Lana Turner's romantic interest. During filming, Turner's possessive gangster boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato, believed she was having an affair with Connery. He stormed onto the set and pointed a gun at Connery, only to have Connery disarm Stompanato and knock him flat on his back. Shortly thereafter, Stompanato met his end at the hands of the teenage daughter of Lana Turner, Cheryl Crane. The film was released four months ahead of schedule to capitalize on the murder. Meanwhile, Connery also appeared regularly on television. He played the leads in an ITV Teleplay of Anna Christie (1957) with his later wife Diane Cilento, and in a Canadian TV adaptation of Macbeth (Paul Almond, 1961). He also had a prominent role in a BBC production of Anna Karenina (Rudolph Cartier, 1961), in which he co-starred with Claire Bloom.

Sean Connery's big breakthrough came in the role of the suave and sophisticated secret agent James Bond. He played the character in seven Bond films: Dr. No (Terence Young, 1962), From Russia with Love (Terence Young, 1963), Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964), Thunderball (Terence Young, 1965), You Only Live Twice (Lewis Gilbert, 1967), Diamonds Are Forever (Guy Hamilton, 1971), and Never Say Never Again (Irvin Kershner, 1983). All seven films were big box-office hits, if not critically acclaimed as well. Among his many Bond girls were Ursula Andress, Daniela Bianchi, Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton, Claudine Auger, Karin Dor, Lana Wood, Jill St. John, Barbara Carrera, and Kim Basinger. At first, James Bond's creator, Ian Fleming, doubted the casting, saying, "He's not what I envisioned of James Bond looks" and "I’m looking for Commander Bond and not an overgrown stunt-man," adding that the muscular Connery was unrefined. However, Fleming's girlfriend told him Connery had the requisite sexual charisma. Fleming changed his mind after the successful Dr. No premiere; he was so impressed, he created a half-Scottish, half-Swiss heritage for the literary James Bond in the later novels.

Sean Connery's portrayal of Bond owes much to stylistic tutelage from director Terence Young, polishing the actor while using his physical grace and presence for the action. While making the Bond films, Connery also starred in other acclaimed films such as The Longest Day (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki, 1962), the romantic melodrama Woman of Straw (Basil Dearden, 1964) with Gina Lollobrigida, Marnie (Alfred Hitchcock, 1964), the excellent war film The Hill (Sidney Lumet, 1965), and the western Shalako (Edward Dmytryk, 1968) with Brigitte Bardot. Two of his most moving films were The Offence (Sidney Lumet, 1972) and in the wise and romantic version of the Robin Hood legend, Robin and Marian (Richard Lester, 1976) with Audrey Hepburn. Apart from these films and The Man Who Would Be King (John Huston, 1975) with Michael Caine, and The Wind and the Lion (John Milius, 1975) most of Connery's successes in the seventies were as part of ensemble casts in films such as the Agatha Christie mystery Murder on the Orient Express (Sidney Lumet, 1974) and the war epic A Bridge Too Far (Richard Attenborough, 1977). Four years later, Sean Connery appeared in the Sci-Fi comedy Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam, 1981) as King Agamemnon. The casting choice derives from a joke Michael Palin included in the script, in which he describes the character as being 'Sean Connery — or someone of equal but cheaper stature'. However, when shown the script, Connery was happy to play the supporting role.

After his experience with Never Say Never Again in 1983 (difficulties with the production staff made it a nightmarish experience for him) and the following court case, Sean Connery became unhappy with the major studios and for two years did not make any films. He returned to the screen in the successful European production Der Name der Rose/The Name of the Rose (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1986), for which he won a BAFTA award. That same year, a supporting role in Highlander (Russell Mulcahy, 1986) with Christophe(r) Lambert also showcased his ability to play older mentors to younger leads, which would become a recurring role in many of his later films.

The following year, Sean Connery's acclaimed performance as a hard-nosed veteran cop in The Untouchables (Brian de Palma, 1987) earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, his sole nomination throughout his career. Subsequent box-office hits included Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Steven Spielberg, 1989), The Hunt for Red October (John McTiernan, 1990), where he was reportedly called in at two weeks' notice, The Rock (Michael Bay, 1996), and Entrapment (Jon Amiel, 1999) with Catherine Zeta-Jones. The latter two he also produced. Both Last Crusade and The Rock alluded to his James Bond days. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas wanted 'the father of Indiana Jones' to be Connery since Bond directly inspired the Indiana Jones series, while his character in The Rock, John Patrick Mason, was a British secret service agent imprisoned since the 1960s.

In later years, Sean Connery's filmography included several box office and critical disappointments such as First Knight (Jerry Zucker, 1995), The Avengers (Jeremiah S. Chechik, 1998), and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Stephen Norrington, 2003), but he also received positive reviews, including his performance in Finding Forrester (Gus Van Sant, 2000). In 2008, on his 78th birthday, Connery unveiled his autobiography 'Being a Scot', co-written with Murray Grigor. Sean Connery was married to actress Diane Cilento from 1962 to 1973. They had a son, actor Jason Connery. Since 1975 he was married to French painter Micheline Roquebrune. In 2000, Sean Connery was knighted.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Brian McFarlane (Encyclopedia of British Cinema), SeanConnery.com, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Dutch postcard by 't Sticht, Utrecht, no. AX 6262. Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman, Martin Benson and Sean Connery in Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964).

Yesterday, 6 April 2020, British actress Honor Blackman (1925-2020) passed away at the age of 94. She was best known for playing the Bond girl Pussy Galore opposite Sean Connery in Goldfinger (1964). Blackman became a household name in the 1960s as Cathy Gale in The Avengers in which she showed an extraordinary combination of beauty, brains and physical prowess. After a career spanning eight decades, she died of natural causes unrelated to coronavirus.

Honor Blackman was born one of four children of a middle-class family in London's East End. Her father, Frederick Blackman, was a civil service statistician. For her 15th birthday, her parents gave her acting lessons and she began her training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1940. Blackman received her first acting work on stage in London's West End as an understudy for 'The Guinea Pig'. She continued with roles in 'The Gleam' (1946) and 'The Blind Goddess' (1947), before moving into film. She debuted with Fame Is the Spur (1947), starring Michael Redgrave. Signed up with the Rank Organisation, Blackman joined several other starlet hopefuls who were being groomed for greater fame. She played small roles in the anthology film Quartet (Ken Annakin, Arthur Crabtree, Harold French, Ralph Smart, 1948), based on short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, the thriller So Long at the Fair (Terence Fisher, Antony Darnborough,1950), with Dirk Bogarde, and the Titanic drama A Night to Remember (Roy Ward Baker, 1958). Developing a solid footing, she filmed The Square Peg (John Paddy Carstairs, 1958) with comedian Norman Wisdom and A Matter of WHO (Don Chaffey, 1961) with Terry-Thomas. On television, she played in the Edgar Wallace vigilante series The Four Just Men (1959-1960). She secured her breakthrough when she was cast in 1962 as the leather-clad crimefighter Cathy Gale in the hit British show The Avengers (1962-1964), alongside Patrick Macnee as the bowler-hatted John Steed. Blackman had to learn judo for the role, and her tough persona allied to then daring costume choices – boots and figure-hugging catsuits – ensured she quickly assumed star status. One of its unlikely results was a hit single, 'Kinky Boots', recorded in 1964 with Macnee, which became a Top 10 hit in the U.K. in 1990. Blackman’s proficiency in martial arts helped her land what became her signature role, that of Pussy Galore, the glamorous villain assisting in Goldfinger’s plot to rob Fort Knox. Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964) was the third Bond film and was a global hit. Gary Brumburgh at IMDb: "Blackman went toe to toe with Sean Connery's womanizing "007" and created major sparks on screen, managing to outclass the (wink-wink) double meaning of her character's name."

After her rise to mainstream fame, Honor Blackman made noticeable appearances in such films as Jason and the Argonauts (Don Chaffey, 1963) as the vengeful goddess Hera, the Western Shalako (Edward Dmytryk, 1968) and The Virgin and the Gypsy (Christopher Miles, 1970) with Franco Nero. Simon Murphy and Andrew Pulver in The Guardian: "while she worked steadily in film, her TV work was higher profile, and included guest appearances in Columbo, Minder and Doctor Who. In 1990, she was cast in a regular role in the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand, playing the glamorous mother of the lead female character. Blackman expressed her fondness for the role, saying it “made women who had just retired and felt they’d been put on the backburner realise they had a lot of life left to live”." She earned raves on stage as the blind heroine of the thriller 'Wait Until Dark' as well as for her dual roles in 'Mr. and Mrs.', a production based on two of Noël Coward's plays. She also appeared on stage in The Sound of Music (1981), My Fair Lady (2005-2006) and Cabaret (2007). She was a staunch republican and turned down a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2002 to avoid being a “hypocrite”. More recently, she joined a campaign to demand compensation payments for pensioners who lost savings in the Equitable Life scandal. Honor Blackman was married to Bill Sankey from 1948 to 1956. After their divorce, she married British actor Maurice Kaufmann (1961–1975). They appeared together in the slasher film Fright (Peter Collinson, 1971) and some stage productions. They adopted two children, Lottie (1967) and Barnaby (1968). After her divorce from Kaufmann, she did not remarry and stated that she preferred being single. She enjoyed watching football. Blackman died at her home in Lewes in 2020, aged 94, from natural causes.

Sources: Simon Murphy and Andrew Pulver (The Guardian), Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Henri Verneuil présente ce film en 1964 avec Jean-Paul Belmondo, Lino Ventura, Bernard Blier, Gert Fröbe, Andréa Parisy,...

While his car is being packed up by Oddjob (Harold Sakata), Bond (Sean Connery) plants a tracker in the car and settles with Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) for his winnings. Goldfinger warns Bond to stay out of his affairs and orders Oddjob to demonstrate his favourite weapon, his blade-rimmed bowler hat, which he uses to decapitate a nearby marble statue.

Bond (Sean Connery) arranges to meet Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) socially and wins a high-stakes golf game against him with a recovered Nazi gold bar at stake.

Bond (Sean Connery) follows Goldfinger to Geneva, and while observing him from a mountain switchback above, is nearly hit by a shot from a nearby assassin. Bond pursues the assassin, forcing her off the road with the tire slashers mounted on his car.

After Bond (Sean Connery) planted a tracker in Goldfinger's Rolls Royce he follows him to Geneva and leaves a small village to start tracking Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) by car.

Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) leaves England and travels to Switzerland and heads for his industrial plant.

Not realizing that Bond (Sean Connery) caused the damage to her car, the driver asks Bond to drive her to the nearest auto garage. Bond notices that she's carrying a wooden case with the initials TM. She tells him they are a set of ice skates. Bond leaves her at the garage and continues his tracking of Goldfinger.

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