I guess I’m dumb for not knowing this, because it seems to have been common knowledge, but apparently Sean Connery, who turned 83 last week, was a bodybuilder before he was an actor. Thanks to Sports Illustrated’s Bryan Graham for schooling me.
Sean Connery was a bodybuilder before he was an actor. “His hobby of bodybuilding culminated in a bid for the 1950 Mr. Universe title where he placed third,” says his official site. [Who2]
Here’s another of Connery and his sweet abs. The 50s, so innocent. The days when you didn’t need steroids to win Mr. Universe, just a semi-strict jogging regimen, a regular schedule of calisthenics, and no cigarettes before noon. They’d break for a three-martini lunch during the competition and pat all the women on the butt and tell them to run along while the men talked. Ah, those were the days.
Here’s what a more recent Mr. Universe looked like. Rene Zimmermann, in 2003. Via Getty. I can smell the tanner through my computer.
I actually had a lucrative bodybuilding career before I got into movie blogging, but I had to quit because the judges told me my crotch bulge was “distracting.” In retrospect, the constant thrusting couldn’t have helped.