Featured in James Bond film, Sean Connery’s longtime French villa listed at $33.87 million
It may be the ultimate setting for a martini shaken, not stirred: A 1928 Belle Epoque villa that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea.
The longtime French Riviera home where actor Sean Connery lived — an estate famously featured in the James Bond film “Never Say Never Again” — has hit the market for $33.87 million.
Connery moved into the five-bedroom, five bath home in the South of France after “he had already achieved wealth in the hundreds of millions and was turning down roles that would have paid him as much as $450 million for one film,” wrote TopTenRealEstateDeals.com, which shared permission to publish photos of the villa (see video above).
“In 1971, Connery insisted he was through with acting,” the real estate website wrote, “but when he was asked in 1983 to play yet another James Bond film based on Ian Flemming’s novel ‘Thunderball.,’ he couldn’t resist the script and agreed to do the film.”
His wife Micheline Roquebrune named the film “Never Say Never Again” after Connery’s claims he would never do a seventh James Bond movie, TopTenRealEstateDeals wrote in the article.
The home, set on 1.24 acres, features landscaped terraces, green lawn and a path that winds down to the sea. A cliffside saltwater pool provides views over Nice, the Promenade des Anglais and the Old Port.
The property contains a a pair of two-bedroom guest houses. A staff apartment sits above the two-car attached garage.
An elevator serves all five levels of the house. The main level houses a family room and kitchenette. The dining room and kitchen can be found on the lower floor, opening to a garden terrace. The upper-level master suite has his-and-her baths, a dressing room and private balcony. A fitness complex with gym, hammam spa and an indoor swimming pool is located on the lower level.
“Imposing automatic gates, set in stone towers, provide secure and very private access into the property and a gently falling, sweeping drive brings arrivals to the entrance of the main villa,” according to the official listing. “The beautiful, recently re-landscaped gardens are terraced with abundant stone walling and vibrantly coloured plants and shrubbery, gradually falling down to the coastal road by the seafront. The outdoor, salt water swimming pool has the most incredible aspect out to sea.”
The location is all about bragging rights.
“The villa sits just at the edge of Nice in a dominant coastal position halfway between Cannes and Monaco,” writes People magazine. “It’s among the last great seaside villas built by English visitors along the Cote d’Azur between the first and second World Wars.”
The property is listed with Edward de Mallet Morgan, Knight-Frank, Nice, France.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 8:43 AM.
