Connery – a true star still setting a shining example

OVERDOSING on movies is easy at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, from which I've just returned.

I look forward to going north of the border every summer. There's always something new to discover and, if this year's EIFF was a tad shy of stand-out flicks, there was always the luminosity of the star wattage provided by its principal patron, Sir Sean Connery.

Such is Connery's appeal and accessibility that he can wander the streets of Edinburgh without being accosted by gawping fans. Sure, he signs autographs and poses for pictures but, by and large, he can come and go with an impressive amount of freedom.

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Connery is of the old school. He's a genuine movie star who radiates charisma. I've met him several times over the years, on and off the red carpet, and he always turns it on for the crowds. Then again, he possesses that effortless charisma – the type which today's wannabe stars struggle to emulate.

I witnessed it last Sunday night at a screening of a 35-year-old picture being presented as a birthday tribute to Connery, who turns 80 in August. The film was 1975's The Man Who Would Be King, co-starring Connery with Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer and the Indian actor, Saeed Jaffrey, who was on hand to lend his own charm to the proceedings.

The event took place in the Edinburgh Festival Theatre, the city's multi-million-pound revamp of a vast Victorian building.

Before a packed house, Connery took to the stage to thunderous applause

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and cheering and gave an introduction that was low-key, self-deprecating and funny.

The night's lump-in-the-throat moment came when Connery recalled meeting his wife, French artist Micheline Roquebrune, during filming in Morocco. He said "She's my anchor, my compass, and I love the lass."

It's more than 60 years since Connery first took to that particular stage – he recalled he was an extra in a production starring Anna Neagle.

The years since have seen him conquer the movies, win an Oscar and metamorphose into what's known as "a living legend". At 79 he was thinner, slower and that famous voice had lost some of its power. But Connery can still hold an audience in thrall. And his enduring movie proved that they don't make 'em like him anymore.

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It was nostalgia before it was over – a memorable moment forever trapped in time. The auditorium seats 1,500 people – not the biggest theatre in the world, but far from the smallest. Yet it was a unique gathering and I'm proud to say that I was there.

Connery is stepping down as EIFF patron. He's retired from movies. All that's left are the films he's made, the characters he's created, the indelible impression he's made on cinema.

Give me old movies – and old movie stars – any time. What a night. What a knight. What an actor. What a star.

Memories are made for moments like that.