Gire: Dann & Raymond look at Bond
<b>Film critic's notebook</b>
Blast in the new year with Raymond Benson and me as Dann & Raymond's Movie Club presents "The Films of Connery. Sean Connery" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, 500 N. Dunton Ave., Arlington Heights.
Connery, who won the Oscar for playing a Chicago beat cop in "The Untouchables," was born in Scotland where he worked as a milkman, driver, lifeguard and other jobs before deciding to become an actor instead of a soccer player.
He worked his way up through London musicals to parts in movies, until his breakthrough role (such as it was) in the 1959 production of Walt Disney's "Darby O'Gill and the Little People." In 1962, Connery set the world ablaze by uttering three words ("Bond. James Bond") in "Dr. No," the first 007 movie.
My partner Benson has some insider knowledge of the Bond phenomenon. He has written six 007 novels, plus three novelizations (based on James Bond screenplays) as well as 007 short stories for Playboy magazine and the book "The James Bond Bedside Companion."
Admission to Dann & Raymond's Movie Club is free. Visit ahml.info or call (847) 392-0100.
Because New Year's Day falls on Thursday this week, the Schaumburg Library edition of Dann & Raymond's Movie Club (usually presented the first Thursday of the month) has been bumped to Thursday, Jan. 15. "The Films of Alfred Hitchcock" is the subject. Free admission. stdl.org.
<i>Dann Gire's Reel Life column runs Fridays in Time out!</i>