One of life's magnificent winners, charismatic actor Sir Sean Connery (1930-), was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Fiercely proud of his Scottish heritage, he grew up poor, enlisted in the British Navy at 16, then in 1953 as a buffed weight trainer, placed 3rd in the Mr. Universe contest.

"If you fear nothing, you love nothing. If you love nothing, what joy can there be in life?" he once asked.

Cast in Dr. No (1962) as the irrepressible master spy 007, Connery once said of his cinematic alter-ego, "I have always hated that damn James Bond. I'd like to kill him."

Steven Spielberg who directed Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade said of him, "There are only seven stars left in the world, and Sean Connery is one of them."

With the $1.25 million he earned from Diamonds are Forever, Connery established a charity trust to help alleviate his hometown's high unemployment and poverty.

"Laughter kills fear, and without fear there can be no faith. For without fear of the devil there is no need for God," said the actor of over 70 films.

He received an Academy Award in 1987 for his role in The Untouchables. "I always wanted to be an old man with a good face, like Hitchcock or Picasso," said the actor named the Sexiest Man Alive by People in 1989. In 1999, New Woman named him the Sexiest Man of the Century, beating Brad Pitt and Mel Gibson for the honor.

About Connery's enduring sex appeal, film critic Pauline Kael explained, "Women want to meet him and men want to be him. I don't know any man since Cary Grant that men have wanted to be so much."

"Most people have a full measure of life and most people watch it slowly drip away," Connery said, "But if you can summon it all up in one time and one place, you can accomplish something glorious."

You are a winner.