Sir Sean Connery’s Oscars acceptance speech: Patience truly is a virtue

Sir Sean Connery won his first and only Oscar in 1988 for his role as a tough Irish cop in The Untouchables.

The Brian De Palma film, released in 1987, saw him mentor Kevin Costner’s Eliot Ness and he won the best supporting actor Academy Award, beating Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Albert Brooks and Vincent Gardenia.

Collecting his gong from Cher and Nicolas Cage, he addressed the crowd of “ladies and gentlemen, friends, a few enemies”.

Noting it was the 60th anniversary of the ceremony, he added: “I just realised myself the other day, my first and one and only attendance was 30 years ago.

“Patience truly is a virtue.”

He continued: “In winning this award, it creates a certain dilemma because I had decided that if I had the good fortune to win, that I would give it to my wife, who deserves it.

“But, this evening, I discovered backstage that they’re worth 15,000 dollars and now I am not so sure.

“Micheline, I am only kidding. It’s yours.”

Sir Sean added that if the gong came with a wish, his would be for the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike to end.

The strike eventually finished on August 7 of that year.