Sean Connery’s brother also did “James Bond” and the 007 star was angry | movies | entertainment

Neil Connery starring in Operation Kid Brother in 1967

1967 saw Sean Connery at the height of his power as James Bond. Four films about the role of famous British spy Ian Fleming, Connery was the biggest star in the world and established an icon of the 1960s as the Beatles or “Swinging London”. His fifth adventure in 007, You Only Live Twice, seemed set once again to beat the box office. However, waiting in the wings was one of the strangest competitors to Connery’s secret agent dominance in Bond history.

A picture made in Europe with a fraction of Bond’s budget featured his well-known nickname, starring his brother Connery…Neil Connery.

Born a few years after his famous brother in 1938, Neal never followed through on the acting career, which Shawn himself indirectly came to after serving as a bouncer and nanny.

Neil traded as a plasterer in his hometown of Edinburgh while Sean traveled the world making films and the romances of the great beauties. The Bond star made millions while his younger brother earned £7-8 an hour from plaster.

Until one day, a fantastic £5,000 opportunity came when Neil was fired from his job for losing his tools, and his famous brother was called to a local radio station to discuss the matter with his union.

Neil had the opportunity to appear in such a movie that was released in America (Image: Getty)

Neil Connery at a reception at the Hilton in London, with a group of actresses modeled on the Bond girls

Neil Connery at a reception at the Hilton in London, with a group of actresses modeled on the Bond girls (Image: Getty)

Dr. No and from Russia With Love, director Terrence Young, after hearing the interview, told Italian film producer Dario Sabatello about how much Neil invokes his distinguished Scottish brother.

Sabatilo is best known for providing several examples of “Spaghetti Western”, which after the success of Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars in 1964, Italian filmmakers saw the production of a whole range of imitations in Europe of the traditional American film genre.

Along with this, another similar type of imitation appeared – the so-called “Eurospy” movie, which explicitly copied the James Bond franchise with the same formula of guns, girls, gadgets and action sequences.

Every James Bond actor

Every James Bond actor – but not Sean Connery’s brother (Image: Getty)

Neil had the opportunity to appear in such a movie, eventually released in America as Operation Kid Brother and elsewhere as OK Connery.

He was playing Dr. Neil Connery, a skilled surgeon with hypnotic powers, is recruited by the British government to save a kidnapped scientist from the machinations of THANATOS, an evil organization bent of course on world domination.

In this, he is aided by several veterans of the official James Bond series of the era, including Bernard Lee aka M, and Lewis Maxwell aka Miss Moneypenny, all of whom take the money and run!

The end result, directed by veteran Alberto Di Martino, ended up being an expert egg even by Eurospy type standards. Not only was he the opposite of the actor, he looked like nothing,” Di Martino said years later.

“He was losing his hair, so we put a wig on him; he had bad teeth, so he had dentures; he had a dull face and they put a beard on him. We put glue on his temples to make his eyes stand out more.”

Sean Connery, Ian Fleming and Shirley Eaton in Golden Fingers

Sean Connery, Ian Fleming and Shirley Eaton in Golden Fingers (Image: Getty)

When Sean had the natural star power, Neil was desperately confused trying to cash in on his brother’s superhero laurels and the result was a movie that almost instantly prepared for the bargaining box in the basement.

An American actor nicknamed Neil to cover his wooden performance. The film took the unconventional title “OK Connery” among the crew based on Neil’s screen test when they were constantly repeating “Ok Connery ok”.

She commented, and indeed, created pop singer Kristi covering much of the picture, which was produced by the legendary film by maestro Ennio Morricone.

Upon releasing the movie the same year You Only Live Twice, Sean Connery was unhappy with his brother’s apparent attempts to try to steal his Thunder. “Neil is a plasterer, not an actor,” Connery bluntly stated.

“However, they put him in a movie in Rome – and gave him the lead too! It’s a typical example of the way some people do things. It doesn’t matter whether a person can act or not. What matters is that one is a brother.”

Every Dr. No Bond girl has no time to die

Every Dr. No Bond girl has no time to die (Image: Getty)

Sean Connery on the set of James Bond: Never Say Never Again

Sean Connery on the set of James Bond: Never Say Never Again (Image: Getty)

Sadly, Operation Kid Brother aka Okey Connery was not instrumental in making Neil Connery’s career.

While Sean would leave his role as 007 after You Only Live Twice (for a while, at least), decades of classic visuals and a variety of roles awaited him as the Bond franchise rose to new heights.

Returning to Scotland, Neill returned to his traditional life as a plasterer, never to grace the silver screen again.

Sean Connery as James Bond

Sean Connery as James Bond (Image: Getty)

He passed away just six months after Sean’s death in April 2021, at the age of 83, but his younger self remains immortal in a farcical example of European excesses in the 1960s.

Perhaps no one has done it better than Sean as James Bond, but Neil nonetheless briefly tried to give him a run for his super spy money.

The Cinematic Connery: The Films of Sir Sean Connery by AJ Black is out now



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