Hollywood actor Sir Sean Connery, who died recently, was popularly known for the portrayal of the role
- (a)Rocky
- (b)Captain Jack Sparrow
- (c)Terminator
- (d)James Bond
Correct — D, James Bond. Sean Connery was the first actor to play Ian Fleming's secret agent on screen, in Dr. No in 1962, and returned in From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever and, outside the main series, Never Say Never Again in 1983. He died at his home at Lyford Cay near Nassau in the Bahamas on 31 October 2020, aged 90 — three months before this paper was set, which is why the stem says recently. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Untouchables in 1987 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Holyrood Palace on 5 July 2000.
- (a)Rocky — Rocky Balboa is Sylvester Stallone's role, from the 1976 film and its sequels.
- (b)Captain Jack Sparrow — Captain Jack Sparrow belongs to Johnny Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
- (c)Terminator — The Terminator is Arnold Schwarzenegger's, from the 1984 film and those that followed.
Current-affairs papers regularly carry an obituary question, and the shape is always the same: a name that was in the news, and four roles or offices of which one belongs to that person. The knighthood and the Oscar are the details examiners add when they want a harder version — Connery is one of only a handful of actors to be both knighted and an Academy Award winner, and the award was for a supporting role rather than for the part he is famous for.
The item is timed to the news cycle, so anchoring the fact to the exam date is the whole method: this paper was written in February 2021 and the death was on 31 October 2020. When a stem says recently, ask what was in the papers in the six months before the exam. The other three roles are each firmly attached to a living actor, so a candidate who knows any two of them can reach the answer by elimination without knowing Connery at all.
- Sean Connery died on 31 October 2020 at Lyford Cay, Nassau, in the Bahamas, aged 90.
- He was the first actor to play James Bond on screen, in Dr. No in 1962.
- He appeared in seven Bond films, the last being Never Say Never Again in 1983.
- He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Untouchables in 1987.
- He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II on 5 July 2000 at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh.
- Treating an obituary item as unanswerable trivia; three of the four roles here belong to actors who are still alive and well known.
- Losing the date — recently in an exam paper means within a few months of the exam, not the year before.
- Confusing the Academy Award, which Connery won for a supporting role, with a Best Actor award for the Bond films.
As a single-line item on a figure who was recently in the news, sometimes extended to the honours the person held.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
In which film did Sean Connery first appear as James Bond?
- (a)Goldfinger
- (b)Dr. No
- (c)Thunderball
- (d)From Russia with Love
Answer(b) Dr. No — released in 1962, the first film in the series.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Sean Connery received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in which one of the following films?
- (a)The Untouchables
- (b)The Hunt for Red October
- (c)Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- (d)The Rock
Answer(a) The Untouchables — the award was made in 1987.