Sean Connery’s longtime home in South of France--where he filmed James Bond--is for sale. This news comes less than a week after the news that the famed actor passed away at the age of 90.
The French Riveria home is a six-story Belle Epoque villa dating from 1928, set in exquisite surroundings with views of the city of Nice and the Mediterranean Sea.
Of course, the 30 million euro ($33.87 million) price tag is high, but the property comes with undeniable bragging rights on top of the beautiful features and prime location, having actually played a role in the actor’s final turn as James Bond in 1983’s Never Say Never Again.
One veteran film writer for local newspaper Nice-Matin recalls how the 1983 film--shot all around Nice and neighboring Villefranche and Monaco--featured the home.
© GrosbyGroup“Even at the villa itself. I had a set visit to the house,” he tells PEOPLE, ”It was a long time ago but it made an amazing impression. The entire day was Sean Connery, Kim Basinger and the most incredible views of the Mediterranean I‘ve ever seen.”
Connery ended up purchasing the house--known as La Roc Fleuri--after his 1970 marriage to painter Micheline Roquebrune. The newlywed couple lived there for “a dozen or so years,” and it is still referred to as ”Sean Connery‘s house” by neighbors, according to realtor Mikael Zwaans.
Zwaans describes the cliffside property “a unique and astonishingly beautiful location.” Overlooking the old harbor at Nice, it faces west with sweeping views of the Bay of Angels.
“The physical layout is phenomenal,” says Knight Frank Cap Ferrat CEO Fredrik Lilloe. ”The lawn edge descends downward, close to a very small road below but the house itself is very high up on the cliff so it‘s remarkably quiet location and sunset there is just magic.”
© GrosbyGroupDescribing it as “one of a kind,” Lilloe goes on to suggest that the property possesses an almost literary quality.
”There‘s definitely some Bondness to it. Even some Gatsby. There’s nothing like it and very few properties anywhere with this style, this size, with as large a plateau garden as this or the flows.”
He continued, saying, “Once you‘ve visited, you can easily imagine yourself standing in the long drive when friends come by, greeting them with a bottle of champagne in your hand like Mr. Gatsby.”
Sean Connery passed away on October 31 at the age of 90. He died peacefully in his sleep in the Bahamas, having been “unwell for some time,” according to his son. The Scottish actor was best known for his portrayal of James Bond, being the first to bring the role to the big screen and appearing in seven of the films.
