Editing Sean Connery (section)

=== 1951–1959: Career beginnings ===
Seeking to supplement his income, Connery helped out backstage at the [[King's Theatre, Edinburgh|King's Theatre]] in late 1951.<ref name=Tiscali/> During a bodybuilding competition held in London in 1953, one of the competitors mentioned that auditions were being held for a production of ''[[South Pacific (musical)|South Pacific]]'',<ref name=Tiscali/> and Connery landed a small part as one of the Seabees chorus boys. By the time the production reached Edinburgh, he had been given the part of Marine Cpl. Hamilton Steeves and was understudying two of the juvenile leads, and his salary was raised from £12 to £14–10s a week.{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=36}} The production returned the following year, out of popular demand, and Connery was promoted to the featured role of Lieutenant Buzz Adams, which [[Larry Hagman]] had portrayed in the [[West End theatre|West End]].{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=36}}

While in Edinburgh, Connery was targeted by the Valdor gang, one of the most violent in the city. He was first approached by them in a [[billiard hall]] where he prevented them from stealing his jacket and was later followed by six gang members to a 15-foot-high (4.6&nbsp;m) balcony at the Palais de Danse.{{sfn|Sellers|1999|p=21}} There, Connery singlehandedly launched an attack against the gang members, grabbing one by the throat and another by the biceps and cracking their heads together. From then on, he was treated with great respect by the gang and gained a reputation as a "hard man".{{sfn|Yule|1992|pp=32–33}}

Connery first met [[Michael Caine]] at a party during the production of ''South Pacific'' in 1954, and the two later became close friends.{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=36}} During this production at the [[Opera House, Manchester|Opera House]], Manchester, over the Christmas period of 1954, Connery developed a serious interest in the theatre through the American actor [[Robert Henderson (actor)|Robert Henderson]], who lent him copies of the [[Henrik Ibsen]] works ''[[Hedda Gabler]]'', ''[[The Wild Duck]]'', and ''[[When We Dead Awaken]]'', and later listed works by the likes of [[Proust]], [[Tolstoy]], [[Turgenev]], [[Bernard Shaw]], [[James Joyce|Joyce]], and [[Shakespeare]] for him to digest.{{sfn|Yule|1992|pp=38–39}} Henderson urged him to take elocution lessons and got him parts at the [[Maida Vale]] Theatre in London. He had already begun a film career, having been an extra in [[Herbert Wilcox]]'s 1954 musical ''[[Lilacs in the Spring]]'' alongside [[Errol Flynn]] and [[Anna Neagle]].{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=43}}

Although Connery had secured several roles as an extra, he was struggling to make ends meet and was forced to accept a part-time job as a babysitter for the journalist Peter Noble and his actress wife [[Marianne Stone|Marianne]], which earned him 10 shillings a night.{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=43}} He met the Hollywood actress [[Shelley Winters]] one night at Noble's house, who described Connery as "one of the tallest and most charming and masculine Scotsmen" she had ever seen, and later spent many evenings with the Connery brothers drinking beer.{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=43}} Around this time, Connery was residing at TV presenter Llew Gardner's house. Henderson landed Connery a role in a £6-a-week [[Q Theatre]] production of [[Agatha Christie]]'s ''[[Witness for the Prosecution (play)|Witness for the Prosecution]]'', during which he met and befriended [[Ian Bannen]].{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=45}} This role was followed by ''Point of Departure'' and ''A Witch in Time'' at Kew, a role as Pentheus opposite [[Yvonne Mitchell]] in ''[[The Bacchae]]'' at the [[Oxford Playhouse]], and a role opposite [[Jill Bennett (British actress)|Jill Bennett]] in [[Eugene O'Neill]]'s play ''[[Anna Christie]]''.{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=45}}

During his time at the Oxford Theatre, Connery won a brief part as a boxer in the TV series ''The Square Ring'', before being spotted by the Canadian director [[Alvin Rakoff]], who gave him multiple roles in ''The Condemned'', shot on location in [[Dover]] in Kent. In 1956, Connery appeared in the theatrical production of ''Epitaph'', and played a minor role as a hoodlum in the "Ladies of the Manor" episode of the [[BBC Television]] police series ''[[Dixon of Dock Green]]''.{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=45}} This was followed by small television parts in ''[[Sailor of Fortune]]'' and ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]'' (in a special episode filmed in Europe).{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=45}}

[[File:Lana Turner and Sean Connery — Another Time, Another Place.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Connery with [[Lana Turner]] in 1957 on the set of ''[[Another Time, Another Place (1958 film)|Another Time, Another Place]]'']]

In early 1957 Connery hired the agent Richard Hatton, who got him his first film role, as Spike, a minor gangster with a speech impediment in [[Montgomery Tully]]'s ''[[No Road Back]]'', alongside [[Skip Homeier]], [[Paul Carpenter (actor)|Paul Carpenter]], [[Patricia Dainton]], and [[Norman Wooland]].{{sfn|Yule|1992|p=291}} In April 1957, Rakoff{{snd}}after being disappointed by [[Jack Palance]]{{snd}}decided to give the young actor his first chance in a leading role, and cast Connery as Mountain McLintock in BBC Television's production of ''[[Requiem for a Heavyweight#British television version|Requiem for a Heavyweight]]'', which also starred [[Warren Mitchell]] and [[Jacqueline Hill]]. He then played a rogue lorry driver, Johnny Yates, in [[Cy Endfield]]'s ''[[Hell Drivers]]'' (1957) alongside [[Stanley Baker]], [[Herbert Lom]], [[Peggy Cummins]], and [[Patrick McGoohan]].{{sfn|Sellers|1999|p=42}} Later in 1957, Connery appeared in [[Terence Young (director)|Terence Young]]'s poorly received [[MGM]] action picture ''[[Action of the Tiger]]'', opposite [[Van Johnson]], [[Martine Carol]], [[Herbert Lom]], and [[Gustavo Rojo]]; the film was shot on location in southern Spain.<ref name="Baldwin1999">{{cite book|last=Baldwin|first=Louis|title=Turning Points: Pivotal Moments in the Careers of 83 Famous Figures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ElUgVxFWBcoC&pg=PA53|access-date=14 July 2011|year=1999|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-0626-5|page=53}}</ref><ref name="Callan2002">{{cite book|last=Callan|first=Michael Feeney|title=Sean Connery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lq0dAQAAIAAJ |access-date=14 July 2011|year=2002|publisher=Virgin|isbn=978-1-85227-992-9|page=75}}</ref> He also had a minor role in [[Gerald Thomas]]'s thriller ''[[Time Lock]]'' (1957) as a welder, appearing alongside [[Robert Beatty]], [[Lee Patterson]], [[Betty McDowall]], and [[Vincent Winter]]; this commenced filming on 1 December 1956 at [[Beaconsfield Studios]].<ref name="PfeifferLisa1997">{{cite book|last1=Pfeiffer |first1=Lee|last2=Lisa|first2=Philip|title=The films of Sean Connery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L60dAQAAIAAJ|access-date=14 July 2011|date=1997|publisher=Carol Pub. Group|isbn=978-0-8065-1837-4}}</ref>

Connery had a major role in the melodrama ''[[Another Time, Another Place (1958 film)|Another Time, Another Place]]'' (1958) as a British reporter named Mark Trevor, caught in a love affair opposite [[Lana Turner]] and [[Barry Sullivan (actor)|Barry Sullivan]]. During filming, Turner's possessive gangster boyfriend, [[Johnny Stompanato]], who was visiting from Los Angeles, believed she was having an affair with Connery.<ref>Morella, Joe; Epstein, Edward Z. (1971) ''Lana: The Public and Private Lives of Miss Turner'' pp. 177–182 New York: Citadel Press {{ISBN?}}</ref> Connery and Turner had attended [[West End theatre|West End]] shows and London restaurants together.<ref name="standard"/> Stompanato stormed onto the film set and pointed a gun at Connery, only to have Connery disarm him and knock him flat on his back. Stompanato was banned from the set.<ref>Kohn, George C. (2001) ''The New Encyclopedia of American Scandal. Facts on File: Library of American History'' (Revised ed.) p. 388. New York: Infobase Publishing {{ISBN?}}</ref> Two [[Scotland Yard]] detectives advised Stompanato to leave and escorted him to the airport, where he boarded a plane back to the United States.<ref>Turner, Lana (1982) ''Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth'' (1st ed.) p. 170. New York: Dutton {{ISBN?}}</ref> Connery later recounted that he had to lie low for a while after receiving threats from men linked to Stompanato's boss, [[Mickey Cohen]].<ref name="standard">{{cite news|title=Sean Connery: How he seduced a movie legend and faced the wrath of the Mafia|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/sean-connery-how-he-seduced-a-movie-legend-and-faced-the-wrath-of-the-mafia-6836938.html |access-date=30 May 2019|work=Evening Standard}}</ref>

In 1959, Connery landed a leading role in the director [[Robert Stevenson (director)|Robert Stevenson]]'s [[Walt Disney Productions]] film ''[[Darby O'Gill and the Little People]]'' (1959), alongside [[Albert Sharpe]], [[Janet Munro]], and [[Jimmy O'Dea]]. The film is a tale about a wily Irishman and his battle of wits with [[leprechaun]]s. Upon the film's initial release, [[A. H. Weiler]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' praised the cast (save Connery whom he described as "merely [[tall, dark, and handsome]]") and thought the film an "overpoweringly charming concoction of standard Gaelic tall stories, fantasy and romance".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B04E5DF1F3CE63BBC4953DFB1668382649EDE|author=Weiler, A. H.|title=Darby O'Gill and the Little People|newspaper=The New York Times|date=1 July 1959|access-date=14 July 2011}}</ref> He also had prominent television roles in [[Rudolph Cartier]]'s 1961 productions of ''[[Adventure Story (1961 TV play)|Adventure Story]]'' and ''[[Anna Karenina]]'' for BBC Television, co-starring with [[Claire Bloom]] in the latter.<ref name="karenina">{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/1181098/index.html|title=Cartier, Rudolph (1904–1994)|first=Oliver|last=Wake|publisher=Screenonline|access-date=25 February 2007}}</ref> Also in 1961 he portrayed the [[Macbeth (character)|title role]] in a CBC [[Macbeth (1961 film)|television film adaptation]] of [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Macbeth]]'' with the Australian actress [[Zoe Caldwell]] cast as [[Lady Macbeth]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca/multimedia/video/cbc_macbeth.cfm|title=Macbeth|last=Van Wagner|first=Danielle|year=2004|editor-last=Fischlin|editor-first=Daniel|website=Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project|publisher=University of Guelph|access-date=22 April 2018|archive-date=19 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219000925/http://www.canadianshakespeares.ca/multimedia/video/cbc_macbeth.cfm|url-status=dead}}</ref>