Top US movie honour for Connery

Connery has hinted his film career has come to an end

Sir Sean Connery is to receive the American Film Institute's (AFI) highest honour, its life achievement award.

The AFI said the 75-year-old James Bond actor is "best remembered for creating one of the great film heroes" but his "talents transcend typecasting".

Past recipients include Robert De Niro, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood.

Sir Sean, who won an Oscar for The Untouchables, will pick up the award at a ceremony in Los Angeles on 8 June.

"Sir Sean Connery is an international film icon," said Sir Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI Board of Trustees.

"His body of work not only stands the test of time, but illuminates a career more extraordinary than James Bond himself."

Book shelved

The Scottish star is the 34th recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award, which was established in 1973.

He made his first film appearance in 1954 with a small role in the Errol Flynn comedy Lilacs in the Spring.

He went on to play James Bond in six films between 1962 and 1971 and also reprised the iconic part in 1983's Never Say Never Again.

Sir Sean's last screen appearance was in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003 and there have been indications he has become disillusioned with the film-making process.

In an interview with the New Zealand Herald in August, Sir Sean said he would need "a Mafia-like offer I couldn't refuse" to appear in another film.

Sir Sean also told the newspaper he pulled out of an autobiography deal because he felt the publisher wanted to delve too deeply into his private life.