Charisma Breakdown

What made Sean Connery’s James Bond so compelling? Connery’s relaxed, provocative, self-amused style gave his characters a charismatic air unlike any other actor’s.

I've always liked Sean Connery.

The way he carries himself and interacts with women has always impressed.

It's no coincidence that Connery (as we've covered on Girls Chase before) even into his 80s still had admiring female fans in their teens, twenties, and thirties talking about how sexy they found him. You can go click on that link and read a few screenshots I took of it if you want evidence.

What made Connery so sexy? He had good looks, and he had his leading man roles, and the wealth, fame, and status that came with those. But there are plenty of men like that in Hollywood -- more classically good-looking, with bigger roles, more wealth, fame, and status -- who don't command close to the kind irresistible charm Connery did.

That special something Connery had that set him a head above his peers was charisma -- in particular, charisma embodying the Father archetype from our four Charismatic Archetypes, covered far more in-depth in my upcoming course, Charisma in a Bottle.

If you're just tuning in, here are our prior three entries in the Charismatic Breakdown series:

1. John Wayne: King Archetype charisma
2. Russell Brand: Savior Archetype charisma
3. Errol Flynn: Hero Arcehtype charisma

Now let's have a look at just how Sean Connery did it.

Hollywood’s most prolific, charismatic womanizer of all time, Errol Flynn was a magnetic force unlike any other. Just what made Flynn so utterly irresistible?

Welcome to the third installment in this Charisma Breakdown series.

For the series, I've been breaking down the mannerisms and behaviors of wildly charismatic individuals, along the lines of the four Charismatic Archetypes we discuss in greater depth in my soon-to-be-rereleased course, Charisma in a Bottle.

You can see the previous two installments here:

1. Charisma Breakdown: John Wayne (King Archetype)

2. Charisma Breakdown: Russell Brand (Savior Archetype)

It was my intention to do the Father Archetype next, then the Hero, but it's been a bit of a challenge finding good Father Archetype charismatics who also fit a seductive role. I think I'll most likely do Sean Connery for that, who fits the Father Archetype, and for whom I've promised to do a charisma breakdown for a while.

Meantime though, I'm just too eager to get to Errol Flynn... so we're going to jump ahead here to do the Hero.

Today we cover cinema's most legendary swashbuckler and Hollywood's biggest ever real-life charismatic womanizer: the magnetic, the charming, the irresistible Errol Flynn.

Russell Brand oozes electric charisma, of a very specific archetype: he is the Savior, who will sweep you away from dreary ordinary life to a world of fun, enlightenment, and orgasms.

Ready for another charisma breakdown?

Last time we discussed John Wayne, who exemplifies the 'King' charismatic archetype.

Today we'll be looking at a different charismatic archetype... the Savior. Our Savior will be Russell Brand.

Russell Brand, a Savior?

Oh yes. Russell Brand uses his charisma to lead people toward salvation. It's no fluke he's jumped into the political space, casting light on issues of he believes need leadership and encouraging people to be free (like in his recent short, fun video highlighting the military-industrial complex operating within American news media).

With Brand's beard and long hair, he even looks like a certain famous Savior (and indeed, has his own filmed performance on the subject entitled Messiah Complex).

If we look at how he interacts with women, we'll see that there, too, he embodies the role of the Charismatic Savior.

Let's have a closer look.

John Wayne was an icon of American cinema. In this piece, we break down his charisma, and show what his behavior and the behavior of others around him says about his characters.

We're gearing up to rerelease my course on charisma, Charisma in a Bottle.

In advance of the rerelease, I thought I'd do some 'charisma breakdowns' on a variety of leading men and other figures where we look at clips of the man and discuss what he does that makes him so charismatic.

Our focus will be on nonverbal (fundamentals-based) charismatic signals he puts out, social signals, and some of the charismatic subtext in his verbal communication.

To kick off the series, I'd like to start with John Wayne.