The Death of Sean Connery: Andy Martin was his first fan
ANDY MARTIN /2020
[Former] Republican for U. S. Senator
New Hampshire
www.AndyMartin.com
www.FirstRespondersOnline.us
Headquarters:
E-mail: AndyforUSSenator@aol.com
P.O.
Box 742
Manchester,
NH 03105-0742
Cellphone:
(347) 960-9593
Fax
(866) 214-3210
Blogs:
www.AndyMartin2020.blogspot.com
www.AndyMartin2020.wordpress.com
---
For immediate
release:
October
31, 2020
Dear
Granite Stater:
Since
losing the primary in September I have been on vacation.
I
decided to let the winners speak for themselves; I’ll be heard after November 3rd.
Later
this weekend I will issue my strong endorsement of President Trump. Otherwise,
I am on vacation with a capital “V.”
In the
meantime, I’m back to writing and thinking. And while you may not be interested
in my political views before the election, you might enjoy and be amused by the
fact that I was movie star Sean Connery’s first fan. Sean died this weekend.
I
learned a great lesson from Connery and it resonates with me even to this day.
My mother
was born in Manchester, graduated from Central High School and also graduated from
the University of New Hampshire. She was one of the first women from an
immigrant family to receive a graduate degree from an Ivy League University, at
Cornell. She was later offered a job at the CIA but decided instead to pursue a
Ph.D. degree, and renewed her studies at Oxford University.
At the
age of 13, I accompanied her to Oxford University.
Living
at Oxford as an appendage to my graduate student mother was the most profound intellectual
experience that you can imagine. Oxford changed my life, making it possible for
me to mature in so many dimensions. Mornings I was a grammar school (high
school) student. Afternoons I morphed into an Oxford undergraduate. Because I
was tall, university students often assumed I was one of them. Oxford had
unusual treats: mornings seeing the poet W. H. Auden at the Kadena Café; Friday
afternoon teas at the Kemp Café, a student favourite.
My
mother’s degree at Cornell was in speech and theater so, in addition to the
focus of her academic research, we naturally went to many of the local Oxford productions.
The
Oxford Playhouse is a small theater on Beaumont Street, and still there. Back
then, a young Greek director, Milos Volonakis, was directing the Bacchae, a
play by Euripides. (My mother was Greek-American so she was particularly
interested.) We became part of the troupe while the play was in rehearsals and
afterwards.
Who
was the lead actor? Sean Connery.
Connery
enjoyed having me around the production as his 13-year-old acolyte. I was his “first
fan.”
What
did I learn from Sean? That there is always a second act, another day, in life.
When he acting at the Oxford Playhouse he was thought to be washed up, a bit
player, a failed star, a nobody forced to do legitimate theater in small venues
to survive. His acting career was moribund.
Connery
had earlier made his way to Hollywood. He was good looking and had the
potential to be a leading man. But he washed out. He left Hollywood and
returned to Britain where he was taking lead roles in small productions. Life
had dealt Connery a hard blow: early success with a shot at Hollywood, followed
by a crash and burn and back to obscurity.
The
Bacchae was a successful production, but it’s short run ended and Volonakis and
Connery left Oxford. Volonakis never became a famous director, although he was
well regarded in Britain.
Connery?
I had met him at the “nadir” of his professional career.
Two
years later he was cast as James Bond.
You know
the rest of the story.
I
followed Connery’s films but we never again crossed paths. But the lesson of his
life still resonates: You never know what lies around the next corner. That moral
applies to all of us. There is always a second act, a new day, a new opportunity.
I hope
you enjoyed my reminiscences about Sean Connery, from his first fan.
See
you after November 3rd.
Sincerely,
Andy
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Please
feel free to forward and/or post this email
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LINKS
TO THIS STORY: (cut and paste the entire link below and not just the underlined
portion):
ANDY
MARTIN - A BRIEF BIO:
Andy Martin is a legendary New Hampshire-based muckraker,
author, Internet columnist, talk television pioneer, radio talk show host,
broadcaster and media critic. With over fifty (50) years of background in radio
and television and with decades of intelligence, investigative and analytical experience
in Washington, the USA and around the world, Andy provides insight on politics,
foreign policy, military and intelligence matters. For a full bio, go to: www.AndyMartin.com. See also
www.FirstRespondersOnline.us; www.BoycottABC.com/executive_director.htm
Andy has also been a leading corruption fighter in American
politics and courts for over fifty years and is executive director of the National
Anti-Corruption Policy Institute. www.AmericaisReadyforReform.blogspot.com.
He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of
Illinois College of Law and is a former adjunct professor of law at the City
University of New York (LaGuardia CC, Bronx CC).
He is the author of “Obama: The Man Behind the Mask”
[www.OrangeStatePress.com] and produced the Internet film “Obama: The Hawaii’ Years”
[www.BoycottHawaii.com]. Andy is the Executive Editor and publisher of the
“Internet Powerhouse,” blogging at www.contrariancommentary.wordpress.com and
www.ContrarianCommentary.com.
Andy’s family immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire
over 100 years ago; today his home overlooks the Merrimack River and he lives
around the corner from where he played as a small boy. He is New Hampshire’s leading
corruption fighter and Republican Party reformer.
UPDATES:
www.twitter.com/AndyMartinUSA
www.Facebook.com/AndyMartin
Andy’s
opinion columns are posted at ContrarianCommentary.com, ContrarianCommentary.blogspot.com
and ContrarianCommentary.wordpress.com
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posted by Andy Martin | 2:10 PM
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