Profile: Sir Sean Connery

Sir Sean lives in the Bahamas

Actor Sir Sean Connery - best known for playing James Bond - has had a tumour removed from his kidney.

Sir Sean, 75, is considered to be one of the UK's biggest film stars, having starred in more than 60 movies.

The proud Scotsman was born in Edinburgh on 25 August, 1930.

The eldest of two boys, he left school early and did several menial jobs before joining the navy at 16.

It was here that he had two tattoos

done, one saying "Mum and Dad" and the other saying "Scotland Forever" - a declaration of enduring loyalty to his home country.

A stomach ulcer forced him to leave the navy after three years and he returned to Edinburgh, where he took several jobs including coffin polishing and bricklaying.

But it was his hobby of bodybuilding which would help catapult him to movie stardom, although it did not happen overnight.

Sir Sean was knighted in 2000

After coming third in Mr Universe in 1950, he began to pick up modelling work, which in turn led to small theatrical roles and chorus appearances.

His first film role was an unnamed part in the 1955 movie, Lilacs in the Spring, a musical drama starring Errol Flynn.

But it was another three years before he got his first big break opposite Lana Turner in Another Time, Another Place.

Roles in films such as Tarzan's Greatest Adventure followed before he hit the big time in 1962 as suave secret agent James Bond in Dr No.

He went on to star as the popular spy in six more Bond movies - Goldfinger, From Russia, With Love, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again.

His later film credits include a A Bridge Too Far, Marnie, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, working with many of the great directors including Alfred Hitchcock, Sir Richard Attenborough and Steven Spielberg.

Patriotic

He won a best supporting actor Oscar in 1988 for his role in The Untouchables and was knighted by the Queen in 2000 for his services to film.

But it is his years playing James Bond that he is probably best remembered for.

Off-screen, his calls for Scottish independence and his support for the Scottish National Party are well documented.

Connery, who lives in the Bahamas, said in 2003 that he would not live in Scotland again until it became independent.

Sir Sean said in an interview last year that he would probably not make any more films because he was "fed up with the idiots now working in Hollywood".

"He has no plans to do any more films," Sir Sean's spokeswoman confirmed.

"However, he did make a very famous film called Never Say Never Again," she added.