THREE LEGENDS I ADORED- An Actor, A Singer and A Golfer

 

The news of Sean Connery’s passing away yesterday came as a bolt from the blue. Wasn’t he meant to be always there, an immortal?

It transported me back to my young days in the '60s when in 1962, I saw a movie called “Dr No”. That introduced us to James Bond, a character popular to the day 58 years hence. Sean Connery was the original Bond and generally considered the best although he passed on the baton in 1967 after 4 more Bond films. He did return twice though, the last time in "Never Say Never Again" in 1983. He didn’t want to be typecast but his delightful way of introducing himself- Bond, James Bond, and his unique martini- Shaken, not Stirred, would become trade marks in all subsequent films. While he may not have been directly responsible,  the opening of the movies with the view of James Bond through the barrel of a gun accompanied by the delightful Bond theme would continue to be identified with him, the original Bond. So would the Bond girls beginning with the bikini clad Ursula Andress emerging from the sea in “Dr No”.

Sean Connery, it was “No Time to Die”.

Nostalgia brought two other favourites to mind. Sean lived to be 90 but these two died young.

The first is the unforgettable singer, ‘Gentleman’ Jim Reeves. His smooth deep voice was remarkable and his simple lyrics touched one’s heart. He was extremely popular in the early 60s and you could not resist singing along with him on the radio. I particularly remember Kharakvasla evenings when Bogey Borgonah, Honky Mukhuty, Sudhir Isaacs and I would croon his songs almost every evening with a drink. His greatest hit was “He’ll Have to Go” with a stanza to recall, ‘With your sweet lips a little closer to the phone, Let’s pretend that we’re together all alone, I’ll tell the man to turn the jukebox way down low, And you can tell your friend that well, He’ll have to go’.

Then one evening in July 1964, we heard the news that he had died in his private plane crash at the age of 40. We were stunned and shed a lot of tears for him.

Seve Bellesteros is my all-time favourite golfer. Before him, golf was considered a staid game dominated by the stiff upper lip middle-aged British and Americans. Seve brought passion and visible emotion into the game. I happened to be at home in Jaipur tuning into the BBC commentary of the 1976 British Open when at the age of 19, he gave a run for the money to the eventual winner Johnny Miller and finished runner-up tied with Jack Nicklaus. The commentators were full of praise for this fresh talent and his style of play and that got me excited too. He immediately became my golf idol and I kept track of his career from thereon. In 1979 he finally won his first British Open becoming its youngest winner in the 20th century. In 1980 he won the Masters becoming at 23 the youngest champion of the event, a record beaten by Tiger Woods only 17 years later. He went on to win one more Masters and 2 more British Open the last of which was in 1988 watched anxiously by me live on TV in Singapore. He broke the monopoly of the British and Americans in golf and popularized the game immensely in Europe with the latter winning the Ryder Cup for the first time and a total of 5 times with him as a member and then Captain of the European team. Spaniards were thrilled to host the first Ryder Cup in Continental Europe at Valderrama, Spain, in 1997 and with Seve as the Captain, beat the Americans comfortably.

Seve developed back pain towards the end of his career and the consequent loss of form depressed him a great deal leading to a divorce. Then in 2008, he fainted at Madrid airport and was diagnosed with a brain tumour which was removed and he appeared to be on the mend. But he developed brain cancer and sadly passed away in 2011 at the age of 54. A sad end to a brilliant man. 

I have a photograph with Seve’s wax statue at Madame Tussaud’s, London - a prize possession.

Thank you, Sean, Gentleman Jim and Seve for providing so much pleasure in my life. My memories of you are eternal.