Sean Connery dies: he chose James Bond over the Busby Babes; Arnold Schwarzenegger pays tribute to ‘icon’ and ‘inspiration’
- The future 007, who died aged 90 on Friday, turned down Manchester United to pursue an acting career, ‘one of my more intelligent moves’
- Apart from football, Connery was a body builder before he became a Hollywood star and also loved to watch tennis
The sporting world joined Hollywood and fans from all walks of life in paying tribute to Sean Connery, the original James Bond who died aged 90 on Friday.
The Oscar-winning Scottish actor, a former body builder who once turned down Matt Busby’s offer to play for Manchester United, died in his sleep in Bahamas, reports said. Apart from seven outings as the dapper British spy 007, Connery also starred in a number of hit movies, including The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Rock and 1988’s The Untouchables, for which he won an Academy Award as best supporting actor.
He was close to choosing a life as a footballer in the early 50s with offers from United and Scottish side East Fife. World governing body Fifa was quick to pay tribute to Connery with a short tweet on how Busby offered him £25 a week to join United.
The tweet included Connery’s famous quote: “I really wanted to accept because I loved football. I decided to become an actor and it turned out to be one of my more intelligent moves.”
The Scottish Junior Football Association says in its archives that the future star of Dr No and Goldfinger played junior football for Midlothian team Bonnyrigg Rose. Citing a local newspaper report, Connery scored with a 30-yard shot in a 3-1 loss to Broxburn Athletic.