Question about Connery and Cubby's falling out

yodboy007

We all know that Connery has always given EON the cold shoulder since leaving the role in 1971. He hardly shows up to 007 events and sometimes resents having played the character.

So, my question is did he and Cubby ever "make-up" after their falling out? I read somewhere that Sean Connery called and talked to Cubby for a long time when he learned Cubby was close to death. I hope this is true because it would be a shame for Sean Connery to have hardly been able to get along with the man who made him the rich mega-star he is today. Wasn't the falling out over money that Sean Connery thought he supposedly "was screwed out of" over the years? If so, that is a damn shame, too.

Mailfist

I'd seem to remember reading the exact opposite - that even when Cubby was dying Connery refused to make up. Off the five Bonds at the time only Connery and Lazenby did not attend the funeral. You can hardly blame Lazenby. He didn't exactly have a long and happy association with EON. Connery may have been filming.

As for the dispute Connery though he had not got enough money for turning the series into such a success and Cubby thought he was an ungrateful git after being made into a mega star.

Solaris

I Think over the years Connery has forgotten the fact that without taking the role of James Bond it is highly unlikely he would have ever became the star he is today.

I'm of the oppinion that Connery didn't make the series succsessful, the series made Connery Succsessful and he should remember that sometime.

I would like to think he made it up with Cubby, but I'm not sure it actually happened. if he'd made up with him \i'm sure he would have gone to the funeral.

Napoleon Plural

Yes, but then again if you owe someone something you often resent them more because of the hold they have over you.

It would have seemed to him that he was the guy who made the Bond films as big as they were, and he didn't get enough of a slice of the profits.

Willie Garvin

Unlike Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan,Sean Connery hadn't established himself with the public as a dashing tuxedoed crimefighter prior to his becoming James Bond.As a result,he was immediately typecast as Bond in a manner no other 007 actor has ever experienced.And as someone who lived through the 1960s and Bondmania,I can report that Connery's presence as James Bond helped immeasurably in selling his movies to the general public.For an entire generation(and their parents) he literally was James Bond.In fact,Connery was so well established in the role that replacing him was never mentioned by Eon.

After the success of Thunderball,Terence Young advanced the idea that Connery become Eon's 3rd partner--this would keep him with the team and even help when the time came to select a successor to play 007.But Broccoli and Salzman didn't care for Young's idea.And the time eventually came when Connery wanted out.He left--and there was acrimony on both sides(money was at the root of this-Connery believed that he wasn't being paid what he was worth).

However,with the passage of time, Cubby and Connery mended their friendship.Here's the story...

Author and reporter Donald Zec--a close friend of Cubby's--helped Cubby Broccoli compose his memoirs,When the Snow Melts-The Autobiography of Cubby Broccoli(Boxtree-1998).And in 1995,while the book was being completed,the 84 year-old Cubby underwent delicate heart surgery.Cubby also suffered a small stroke at that time.

Zec was a regular visitor to the Broccoli's California home and he witnessed firsthand how Cubby's many friends-among them former 007s Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton(who lived nearby)- came to give Cubby their best wishes.Here's what Zec says about Sean Connery:

"Sean Connery was told about Cubby's illness and phoned immediately.The bitterness and controversies that had clouded a good friendship was water under the bridge now.There was genuine concern in the questions he asked about his one-time sponsor and genuine appreciation in Cubby's response."[pages 318-319]

Cubby lived to be 87.

"At around five-thirty p.m.,on June 27,1997,it was all over.An avalanche of messages,flowers,telegrams and phone calls deluged the Broccoli's home in Beverly Hills.Sean Connery phoned from Europe.He had been Dana's personal choice for the first James Bond.That spontaneous piece of casting in a darkened screening room made him and movie history.Now the man who had made it all a multimillion-dollar reality had died.Sean said with evident sincerity how sorry he was to hear of Cubby's death."[page 324]

I think that regardless of how he may once have felt about being typecast as 007(and in all fairness,this was not due to Eon alone, but by an excited public who'd never seen this kind of character on the screen before),Connery finally came to accept the situation.After all,he'd wanted the part, and he'd gotten it.Of course, it was playing James Bond that made Connery a star, and it was Cubby Broccoli --and Harry Salzman--who selected him and thus gave him a jumpstart on his career.It would've been extremely ungrateful of Connery to not acknowledge this reality and set aside any old-and ultimately pointless-animosities when Cubby was dying.

yodboy007

Thanks for the info, WG. The info you gave sounds exactly like what I read somewhere years ago. I was happy to have heard it then just as I am happy to hear it now. I have this little pet peeve where if I find out that collaborators who were or are involved in something I enjoy do not get along for dumb reasons I just get angry.

That was interesting about Terence Young. I wonder why he wanted that for Connery. Did he mean for Connery to be a partner for the remainder of his tenure as 007 or permanently?

Also, this may have been answered but I can't remember or find an answer. Why did Young not do Goldfinger? I am kind of glad he did not. But most importantly, why did he leave after Thunderball? I kind of figured if he had stuck around for another film or two he could have helped the series out a lot by making YOLT not so OTT or slightly campy. He could have done the same for DAF. His career was practically nothing after Bond, right?

cbdouble07

yodboy007 wrote:

Thanks for the info, WG. The info you gave sounds exactly like what I read somewhere years ago. I was happy to have heard it then just as I am happy to hear it now. I have this little pet peeve where if I find out that collaborators who were or are involved in something I enjoy do not get along for dumb reasons I just get angry.

That was interesting about Terence Young. I wonder why he wanted that for Connery. Did he mean for Connery to be a partner for the remainder of his tenure as 007 or permanently?

Also, this may have been answered but I can't remember or find an answer. Why did Young not do Goldfinger? I am kind of glad he did not. But most importantly, why did he leave after Thunderball? I kind of figured if he had stuck around for another film or two he could have helped the series out a lot by making YOLT not so OTT or slightly campy. He could have done the same for DAF. His career was practically nothing after Bond, right?

I believe Young was approached to do Goldfinger but he already had another project he was obligated to. So Guy Hamilton became the director for Goldfinger and Young was brought back for Thunderball. From what I've read, Young left by his own decision, not because the producers wanted him to leave. He told them that they wanted an engineer, not a director. The gadgets were becoming more and more prevalent and he felt they took away from the character of Bond, what was most important for the films. I believe he was approached far down the line to direct FYEO but would only accept if they made it the last Bond film.

Things might have been different with Young directing YOLT and it would have been interesting to see. I personally think that the best way they could have done the films was to follow Thunderball with OHMSS (directed by Peter Hunt still) and then follow that with YOLT directed by Young, making it a more serious film of revenge. This would have made the Blofeld trilogy much more in line with the novels.

yodboy007

cbdouble07 wrote:

yodboy007 wrote:

Thanks for the info, WG. The info you gave sounds exactly like what I read somewhere years ago. I was happy to have heard it then just as I am happy to hear it now. I have this little pet peeve where if I find out that collaborators who were or are involved in something I enjoy do not get along for dumb reasons I just get angry.

That was interesting about Terence Young. I wonder why he wanted that for Connery. Did he mean for Connery to be a partner for the remainder of his tenure as 007 or permanently?

Also, this may have been answered but I can't remember or find an answer. Why did Young not do Goldfinger? I am kind of glad he did not. But most importantly, why did he leave after Thunderball? I kind of figured if he had stuck around for another film or two he could have helped the series out a lot by making YOLT not so OTT or slightly campy. He could have done the same for DAF. His career was practically nothing after Bond, right?

I believe Young was approached to do Goldfinger but he already had another project he was obligated to. So Guy Hamilton became the director for Goldfinger and Young was brought back for Thunderball. From what I've read, Young left by his own decision, not because the producers wanted him to leave. He told them that they wanted an engineer, not a director. The gadgets were becoming more and more prevalent and he felt they took away from the character of Bond, what was most important for the films. I believe he was approached far down the line to direct FYEO but would only accept if they made it the last Bond film.

Things might have been different with Young directing YOLT and it would have been interesting to see. I personally think that the best way they could have done the films was to follow Thunderball with OHMSS (directed by Peter Hunt still) and then follow that with YOLT directed by Young, making it a more serious film of revenge. This would have made the Blofeld trilogy much more in line with the novels.

I agree there, cbdouble07. If the SPECTRE trilogy of the novels had been filmed in proper order with Young and Hunt it would have turned out much better.

Shame to hear Young may have wanted to end the franchise if he directed FYEO. Just because one disagrees with the franchise's direction should not warrant a desire for its conclusion. Obviously millions of people like the films between TB and FYEO. I love Young and the style he brought to his 007 films. I also love the styles of other directors. Guy Hamilton had a great style as well, but more so in GF and LALD than in DAF or TMWTGG I am afraid. We change Presidents in order to get new and different ideas so things do not become stale or bad. I think the same applies with directors in this franchise. Variety is one of the many things that makes this franchise great.

Hardyboy

I'd heard that Young began pre-production work on Goldfinger, but he asked for a share in the ownership of the Bond franchise. The producers weren't willing to give him that, so Young walked. Believe the version you will!

yodboy007

Hardyboy wrote:

I'd heard that Young began pre-production work on Goldfinger, but he asked for a share in the ownership of the Bond franchise. The producers weren't willing to give him that, so Young walked. Believe the version you will!

I heard that same story, Hardy. The only thing different I heard was that he was let go rather than leaving himself. I know the man helped create the cinematic Bond we all know and love today, but this is a producer's franchise and they are the boss.

However, if I had to pick a director to have had for that time frame (the 1960s), it would be Young. Then Hamilton in the 70s and the underrated Glen in the 80s. If Young had been granted is request, I don't believe he would have remained with the franchise past the 1960s, even as just a producer. I actually fear what would have happened had anyone helped Cubby after Saltzman left. Even though Wilson helped out some, we all know the creative and final decisions came from Cubby. He would have been more open to new and fresh ideas than Young, who excelled only in the dark spy thriller type of 007 films. There's no doubt he owns that genre in this series!