Sean Connery (Movie Icons)

Why is the only non-American winner of the AFI's prestigious Life Achievement Award a Scotsman? Perhaps because Sean Connery's career, though international in scope and global in appeal, made him a "genuine movie star" without any pretensions or pandering to fashion. Indisputably, Connery's incarnation of James Bond catapulted him to stardom and lay the foundation for the most successful franchise in motion picture history. Together Bond and Connery became larger-than-life; but it was Connery, not Bond, whose powerful presence went on to permeate scores of other roles. Connery can be as cool and charismatic as Steve McQueen, as elegant as Cary Grant, or as generous as Frank Sinatra. Said Audrey Hepburn: "There are only two great stars in my recollection who have not been changed by massive success: Lassie and Sean Connery."