Sir Sean Connery hit by kidney tumour scare

Sir Sean Connery, the former James Bond actor, is recovering from a health scare after a tumour was discovered on his kidney. The former James Bond star required an operation to remove the growth, discovered during medical tests - reports The Times.

He flew from the Bahamas, where he lives with his second wife Micheline, to New York, where he was operated on by a team of specialists at one of the city’s top private hospitals.

The surgery, which involved five separate incisions, was scheduled to take place at the end of last year but was postponed until January after he slipped and injured his ribs.

Following his treatment, the actor returned home to the Bahamas to recuperate. Only Connery’s friends and close family knew about his health scare.

Talking publicly for the first time about the operation, he told The Sunday Times: “I was opened in five places.”

The health scare is the latest to befall the veteran actor and former body-builder who had benign cysts removed from his larynx several years ago.

Despite the risks posed by the surgery, a close friend said the 75-year-old had shown little concern.

“Sean makes light of everything. He takes it in his stride and just gets on with it. He was ordered to rest in the Bahamas over the last few weeks where he got in Setanta (the satellite sport channel) so he could watch all the Scottish football. He was kicking every ball in Rangers’ European run.”

Connery’s brother Neil said: “As far as I’m led to believe the tumour was benign. He seems to be quite upbeat about it.”

Alex Salmond, the SNP leader, said: “Sean is now fighting fit and raring to go. He has got an extraordinary fighting spirit and we all wish him well.”

A spokesman for the actor said there had been no complications during surgery, adding: “The results were perfect and he’s completely recovered.”

Britain’s most enduring screen star also revealed that only a “monumental” offer would tempt him back in front of the camera. He insisted that his recent ill-health was not a factor in his decision to relinquish his licence to thrill.

Instead he is to turn his talents to making a party political broadcast for the Scottish National party (SNP). Connery blames a new generation of Hollywood moguls ignorant of basic movie-making skills for his disillusion.

Connery has also spoken of his experiences on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in which he starred. He accused Stephen Norrington, its director, of being “insane”. “It was a nightmare,” said Connery. “The director should never have been given $185m.

“We did two months of night shooting in Prague in winter – when the light goes at 2.30 in the afternoon. We were filming in the dark.” When asked if he was tempted to walk off set, Connery, who won an Oscar in 1988 for The Untouchables, replied: “I knew if I did it would never restart.

“The only one he was scared of was me. He said, ‘Do you want to hit me?’ I said, ‘Don’t tempt me.’ The experience had a great influence on me; it made me think about showbiz.”

Asked to comment, Norrington said in a statement: “Nothing to add. Best of luck with the story.”

Connery said other film makers had tried to cash in on his name. “I have had other problems: people who raise money on me, then cut me out of it.”

He added: “There is a widening of the gap between those who know about movies and those who green-light movies. The one thing you can’t say in Hollywood is ‘I don’t know’.”

Previously Connery, star of seven 007 films, has hinted that he might appear with Harrison Ford in a new Indiana Jones caper, but he used the interview to declare there are no remaining roles he covets.

As a last service to film, Connery said he yearns to found a studio between Edinburgh and Glasgow and claims to have offered the government £1m towards the project. However, the SNP donor accused ministers of dragging their feet, perhaps because of his refusal to endorse Labour.

In the interview he spoke of feeling used by Tony Blair to campaign for Scottish devolution after he and his wife were wooed at a Chequers lunch.

Connery denied there was a problem in pronouncing on Scottish affairs from the Caribbean. “I pay more tax in the UK than most MPs put together,” he said.

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