The Tiny Sean Connery Cameo That Cost An Insane Amount Of Money
There's a point in some actors' careers at which they become so successful that they can make enormous bank just for showing up for a tiny cameo. That shouldn't surprise anyone who's seen the power of comic book conventions – some actors can spend one day signing autographs and posting for photos, and net hundreds of thousands of dollars for it.
One actor who was big enough to make a major splash through a brief cameo is the original James Bond himself, Sir Sean Connery. As we cope with the recent death of the iconic Scottish actor, who passed away at the age of 90 on October 31, 2020, we thought we'd look back at one of his smallest roles that made him the most money.
Back in 1976, Connery signed on to star as Robin Hood in the film Robin and Marian, opposite Audrey Hepburn as Lady Marian. Apparently, the former James Bond actor must've maintained a fondness for the story of Robin Hood and his merry band of man because he agreed to appear as a brief cameo in Kevin Costner's 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. We assume Connery enjoyed returning to Sherwood forest, but what we assume even more is that he enjoyed how much money he was paid for his troubles.
Sean Connery made bank as King Richard the Lionheart
As you may recall, Robin Hood's whole "take from the rich and give to the poor" mentality comes as a result of the corrupt Prince John taking rule over England while King Richard the Lionheart is away. A big part of the resolution in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves involves Robin (Kevin Costner) being wed to Marion (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), a union over which King Richard presides. King Richard is played by none other than Sir Sean Connery.
It was originally reported that the scene in which Connery appears net him an enormous $500,000. However, according to Connery's biographer Richard Yule, he made $250,000 for the gig. Either way, that's not too shabby for one day's work and what amounts to four lines of dialogue. The wonderful postscript to the story is that Connery didn't even keep his fee, opting instead to give the entire purse to charity.
Connery's uncredited cameo scene in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is fondly remembered — enough so that it was referenced two years later in 1993, when Mel Brooks created his parody of the film, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, starring Cary Elwes in the title role. Men in Tights also ends on a wedding officiated by King Richard, and Brooks even got another well-known knighted actor to play the part – Sir Patrick Stewart.