| Connery Doing Just Fine After Tumour Scare [message #233388] |
So, 12 März 2006 04:33 |
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The Sunday Times March 12, 2006
Sean Connery hit by kidney tumour scare
Jasper Gerard
SIR Sean Connery, the actor, is recovering from a health scare after a
tumour was discovered on his kidney. The former James Bond star
required an operation to remove the growth, discovered during medical
tests.
He flew from the Bahamas, where he lives with his second wife
Micheline, to New York, where he was operated on by a team of
specialists at one of the city's top private hospitals.
The surgery, which involved five separate incisions, was scheduled to
take place at the end of last year but was postponed until January
after he slipped and injured his ribs.
Following his treatment, the actor returned home to the Bahamas to
recuperate. Only Connery's friends and close family knew about his
health scare.
Talking publicly for the first time about the operation, he told The
Sunday Times: "I was opened in five places."
The health scare is the latest to befall the veteran actor and former
body-builder who had benign cysts removed from his larynx several years
ago.
Despite the risks posed by the surgery, a close friend said the
75-year-old had shown little concern.
"Sean makes light of everything. He takes it in his stride and just
gets on with it. He was ordered to rest in the Bahamas over the last
few weeks where he got in Setanta (the satellite sport channel) so he
could watch all the Scottish football. He was kicking every ball in
Rangers' European run."
Connery's brother Neil said: "As far as I'm led to believe the
tumour was benign. He seems to be quite upbeat about it."
Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, said: "Sean is now fighting fit and
raring to go. He has got an extraordinary fighting spirit and we all
wish him well."
A spokesman for the actor said there had been no complications during
surgery, adding: "The results were perfect and he's completely
recovered."
Britain's most enduring screen star also revealed that only a
"monumental" offer would tempt him back in front of the camera. He
insisted that his recent ill-health was not a factor in his decision to
relinquish his licence to thrill.
Instead he is to turn his talents to making a party political broadcast
for the Scottish National party (SNP). Connery blames a new generation
of Hollywood moguls ignorant of basic movie-making skills for his
disillusion.
Connery has also spoken of his experiences on The League of
Extraordinary Gentlemen, in which he starred. He accused Stephen
Norrington, its director, of being "insane". "It was a
nightmare," said Connery. "The director should never have been
given $185m.
"We did two months of night shooting in Prague in winter - when the
light goes at 2.30 in the afternoon. We were filming in the dark."
When asked if he was tempted to walk off set, Connery, who won an Oscar
in 1988 for The Untouchables, replied: "I knew if I did it would
never restart.
"The only one he was scared of was me. He said, 'Do you want to hit
me?' I said, 'Don't tempt me.' The experience had a great
influence on me; it made me think about showbiz."
Asked to comment, Norrington said in a statement: "Nothing to add.
Best of luck with the story."
Connery said other film makers had tried to cash in on his name. "I
have had other problems: people who raise money on me, then cut me out
of it."
He added: "There is a widening of the gap between those who know
about movies and those who green-light movies. The one thing you
can't say in Hollywood is 'I don't know'."
Previously Connery, star of seven 007 films, has hinted that he might
appear with Harrison Ford in a new Indiana Jones caper, but he used the
interview to declare there are no remaining roles he covets.
As a last service to film, Connery said he yearns to found a studio
between Edinburgh and Glasgow and claims to have offered the government
=A31m towards the project. However, the SNP donor accused ministers of
dragging their feet, perhaps because of his refusal to endorse Labour.
In the interview he spoke of feeling used by Tony Blair to campaign for
Scottish devolution after he and his wife were wooed at a Chequers
lunch.
Connery denied there was a problem in pronouncing on Scottish affairs
from the Caribbean. "I pay more tax in the UK than most MPs put
together," he said.
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