It’s not often that tragedy strikes one family twice in one year, yet Sean Connery’s family is grieving all over again following the death of the Bond star’s younger brother, Neil Connery, just seven months the legendary Scottish actor passed.
Neil died aged 83 on May 11, after a long illness.
News of his death was shared on social media by one of his close friend’s, Steve Begg, who wrote, “My good friend and Edinburgh drinking buddy Neil Connery passed away early this morning I’m sad to report,” he wrote. “He considered me a lackluster [sic] challenge when it came to the drinking stakes but I considered [sic] him with respect.
“He looked and sounded like his big bro so going out with him was always interesting to say the leasht [sic] . Mish you Neil.”
My good friend and Edinburgh drinking buddy Neil Connery passed away early this morning Im sad to report. He considered…
Posted by Steve Begg on Monday, 10 May 2021
Neil was also an actor and appeared in spoof films based on James Bond, including Operation Kid Brother (1967) in which he played 007’s sibling. He was also known for the 1969 movie The Body Stealers and featured in an episode of Taggert in 1989.
According to The Daily Mail, Neil leaves behind his wife Eleanor, plus two daughters Martine and Leone. The Daily Mail reports that Eleanor had recently revealed the extent of Neil’s grief after Sean’s passing. She said his sense of loss was compounded by the pandemic as he was unable to travel to be at his brother’s side when he died. “He’s just very upset at losing his only brother,” she said. “He would’ve gone but, of course, given the times we’re in, nobody can travel anywhere for any reason so that’s upsetting too.”
There have been just a few other celebrities couplings tarnished with the same cruel fate of passing so close together. Possibly one of the most memorable was the passing of Debbie Reynolds and her daughter Carrie Fisher in 2016. Fisher suffered a heart attack aboard a flight on December 23 and died four days later. The following day, Reynolds passed away from a stroke.
In 2018, former US First Lady Barbara Bush passed away aged 92. Only a week later her husband, former president George H.W. Bush, was hospitalised and died just a month after his wife aged 94. At the time his granddaughter, Barbara Pierce Bush spoke to People and explained the pair hadn’t been apart for Christmas since World War II, saying: “He was ready to be with her again. He never said it, but my thought is that he wanted to be with her for the holiday.”
Kirk Douglas and his wife Anne also died within a relatively close time frame. Kirk died on Feb 5, 2020 at the age of 103, while Anne, a producer known for her philanthropy work, died in April 2021, aged 102.