Actor Sean Connery said Tuesday he had been subjected to character assassination in a row over claims he had been turned down for a knighthood.
Connery, the suave Scot best known for playing James Bond in the 1960s, said he disliked the way remarks he once made about violence toward women and his status as a tax exile had been dredged up in speculation over why he may have lost out on Britain's highest honor."I am fed up being told I don't pay taxes. I pay taxes more than most people in the UK," Connery told BBC radio from his home in the Bahamas.
A Sunday newspaper claimed Connery, 67, had been turned down for a knighthood last year by the Labor government because of his vociferous support for Scottish independence.