From the 1930's working-class alleys of Edinburgh, to the world stage, advocating fiercely for Scottish independence ... from the grimy cover-alls of an unknown bricklayer to the gleaming muscles and revealing bikini of a Mr. Universe finalist ... from simply "Welder #2" in his first flick to the inimitable, debonair "Bond, James Bond" eight years later, Sir Sean Connery is, like so many of the characters he portrayed, a study in triumphant contrast.

Born in 1930, the young Connery already carried a history of low-paying, back-breaking work experience with him by 1946, when he enlisted in the Royal Navy. Handsome, charming and innately intelligent, Connery emerged from brief Naval service a young man burning with ambition, challenged to find his own way in a hard world that expected little from -- and offered even less to -- working-class youngsters.

Like so many others of that era just out of the service, without family connections, title or higher education, he took whatever jobs he could -- laying bricks, life-guarding, even polishing coffins.

But at just 19 years old, this handsome and strong young man from Edinburgh had mapped a future for himself that did not include long days of back-breaking labor and short nights quaffing pints at the local pub. Instead, he used his spare time honing his strong muscles and equally strong ambition in a relentless regime of physical development and muscle-building.

By 1950 the handsome Edinburgh laddie, tattooed in the Navy proclaiming "Scotland Forever," captured third place for his beloved country in the Mr. Universe competition.

The rest, as it's said, is history.

Well, almost.

Even for the superbly talented and immensely appealing young Sean Connery, instant stardom was rarely granted in American filmdom of the 1950s. But certainly his days of bricklaying and coffin-polishing were behind him, exchanged for a more competitive -- but also more promising -- world of modeling and obscure chorus lines.

He's uncredited in his first film, 1954's "Lilacs in the Spring," starring Errol Flynn and Anna Neagle in a fantasy-comedy set during the London blitz.

By 1957, the confident young Scot had hit his stride, breaking into the film scene in a big way with four films that year. His credits moved from "Welder #2" in "Time Lock" to the quintessential "Spike" in the crime drama, "No Road Back." He portrayed Mike in the international action flick, "Action of the Tiger," and took a part in the star-studded epic, "A Night to Remember," based on Walter Lord's vivid and heart-wrenching story of the Titanic.

His brooding good looks and fabulous physique -- plus his now legendary, gravelly Scots brogue -- made Sean Connery a natural to capture the role of BBC war correspondent Mark Trevor in the 1958 classic, "Another Time, Another Place." This would be his first starring role, opposite the luscious young Hollywood starlet, Lana Turner, and he'd achieved a professional height from which he never looked back.

For the next five decades, he would be continually in demand, and he was already well on his way to the role that many believe marked his world fame forever -- the devilish, debonair Secret Agent 007, undefeated, quick and clever -- and surrounded by sexy ladies in every port o' call.

Connery was just 32 years old in 1962 when he was transformed into every man's hero and every woman's heart-throb, with his cool, aloof, trademark, "Bond, James Bond." For the next decade, he portrayed the epitome of cool in a more innocent pre-AIDS movie era, when a man's sexual exploits were implied, not graphically displayed, and his relationships measured in quantity, not quality.

A more mature Connery reprised his Bond role in 1983 for "Never Say Never Again," but by then had so broadened his skills with diverse roles that a whole new generation of movie-goers came to know him not as the lanky, sexy 007, but rather as the handsome and exasperating elder Mr. Jones in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" or as the deeply pained, brilliant and daring captain of the Russian nuclear submarine in 1990's "Hunt for Red October," or even the rude, suffering, pony-tailed and brilliant scientist who discovered -- and then lost -- the cure for cancer in the 1992 film, "Medicine Man."

Not a man to rest on his laurels, Sean Connery -- who was named "Sexiest Man Alive" by People Magazine at the age of 59 -- has made no less than 15 films in the past 15 years and continues to charm and excite audiences world-wide. Virtually unparalleled in the history of film, Connery truly merits this profound tribute evoked from equally-renowned director Steven Spielberg, who said, "There are seven genuine movie stars in the world today, and Sean is one of them."

Kate Sheridan is a Michigan freelance writer, photographer and homesteader whose writings on the fun and foibles of country living may be found at http://www.gardenandhearth.com/RuralLiving.htm.