You only live once

“You Only Live Once” is probably one of the best James Bond movies of sir Sean Connery.  But sad to say, we only live once.  Connery who seemed indestructible as the British secret service agent 007, died in his sleep last October 31, 2020  at age 90, in his home in Nassau, the Bahamas.  Connery starred in seven James Bond movies starting with “Dr. No”. He started his showbiz career in the musical, South Pacific in 1951.  At age 7, he delivered milk before school and quit studying at 13.  In 1947-1950, he joined British Navy but was discharged due to ulcers.  In 1950, he represented Scotland in London’s  Mr. Universe competition.  He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2000.  After Connery stopped playing Bond, Roger Moore took over for the next seven movies, including “Live And Let Die” and “Moonraker”.  Moore died on May 23, 2013 at 89.  last April 5, 2020, Honor Blackman, who played pilot Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, died at age 94.  Gert Frobe (Auric Goldfinger) died in 1988 at 75.  In the same movie, Connery battled a Korean hitman named Obbjob, played by Harold Sakata, who at 62  years old, died of liver cancer in 1982 in Hawaii.  Sakata was a former national wrestling champion in the Puerto Rico World Wrestling Championship.  Only last September 10, 2020, Diana Rigg died at 82.  The movie “Her Majesty’s Secret Service”.  Rigg married James Bond, played by George Lazenby and died in the film.

RICHARD KIEL who could easily enter the NBA at 7’2” played Jaws in the film “Moonraker”.  Kiel who sports steel dentures, died on September 10, 2014 at age 74.

Christopher Lee and Herb Villechaize 

Two more villans in the film “Man with  The Golden Gun” are dead. Christopher Lee who is more famous as “Dracula”, died in 2015 at 93.  He played Francisco Scaramanga in the the Bond Film while Lee’s sidekick was a 3’11” midget named “Nicnac” played by French actor Herve Villechaize, who committed suicide on September 4, 1993 at age 50.  Lee is “Count Dooko” in the Star Wars series.  Donald Pleasense who played Ernst Blofeld died in 1995.

Darth Vader is dead

Dave Prowse who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars, died last November 28 at 85. Prowse stood 6’5”.  The other tall fellow in the film was 7’2” Peter Mayhew, who played Chewbacca who succumbed to a heart attack last year.  Others in the movie who have departed are Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) who died 2016 and Alex Guinness (Obi one Kenobi) in 2000.

Lewis Hamilton to greatest F1 racer?

Don’t look now, but Lewis Hamilton could be the greatest F1 racer  of all time.  In a previous column, I mentioned some of the top 100 F1 drivers of all time based on a book by Alan Henry, a veteran journalist who’s been writing for 35 years and has covered close to 600 F1 races.  He rated the likes of Ayrton Senna, Jim Clark, Stirling Moss, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher, who has won seven F1 World Championships.  Actually, Hamilton equaled Schumacher’s record when he won the Turkish Grand Prix last month.  It was his seventh title and his sixth in seven years.  Just last week , Hamilton cruised to his 85th victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix and was looking forward to the Sakhir Grand Prix, also in Bahrain when he tested positive for the coronavirus.  But did you know Hamilton almost won his first world title in 2007, losing only to Schumacher by a point? Hamilton’s father once wrote a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair, asking him to intervene for Lewis after he kicked a classmate and was on the verge of expulsion.  An avid  mountain climber, Hamilton scaled Mount Kinabalu in Borneo in 2013 and promised to conquer Mt. Everest over the next ten years. A devout Catholic,  Hamilton visited Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2014 during a Valentine weekend in Rome and had a picture with the Pope in the Sistine Chapel, together with his then girlfriend, Nicole Schekzinger. 

Did you know?

Sy Mah, a Toledo, Ohio runner ran two or sometimes three marathons on a weekend, finished 524 races longer than 42k before his death from cancer at age 62 in 1988.