Sean Connery returns to modelling with Annie Leibowitz photo shoot

In his younger days, in 1952, the 22-year-old Sean Connery was in such peak physical condition he happily stripped off to just a posing pouch as a life model for drawing classes at the Edinburgh College of Art - reports The Telegraph.

The following year, proudly displaying the body that would later turn female fans weak at the knees, he came third in a Mr Universe competition.

These days, the former Agent 007, who has just turned 78, prefers to go undercover.

The world's most famous James Bond has returned to modelling for a special portrait by Annie Leibowitz, the American who photographed the Queen in March 2007 and who is widely regarded as the world's top portrait photographer.

Sir Sean is pictured, at 10.07 one sunny morning, lounging on an old wooden jetty near his home in the Bahamas.

He is wearing a Panama hat, long-sleeved, polo-neck sweater which reveals not an inch of torso and chinos rolled up to show just a glimpse of hairy leg. At his feet lies a waterproof version of the Louis Vuitton iconic 'Keepall' travel bag.

"There are journeys that turn into legends," reads the tagline, referencing Louis Vuitton's long history of association with exceptional people from Empress Eugénie to Ernest Hemingway and Audrey Hepburn.

Sir Sean is the latest in a distinguished line-up of world figures who have posed for Leibowitz to promote Louis Vuitton's 'Core Values' campaign, which is benefitting The Climate Project, spearheaded by Al Gore.

Others include Andre Agassi and his wife Steffi Graf; Catherine Deneuve; the Rolling Stone Keith Richards; Sofia Coppola and her father Francis Ford Coppola; and Mikhail Gorbachev. In Gorbachev's case, Louis Vuitton made its donation to Green Cross International, the environmental organisation the former leader of the Soviet Union founded in 1993.

Discuss this news here...