The James Bond that almost killed Sean Connery is airing on TV tonight

The movie that 'almost killed' legend is airing on TV tonight (Friday, May 30). The legendary actor was the first to play 007, but just a year after his first appearance, the star 'almost died' filming the second.

will be taking fans all the way back to 1963 tonight, as they air the second film in the James Bond franchise, From Russia With Love. Out of the 27 James Bond movies, many fans name this one as one of their favourites, as does actor Sean Connery.

The movie will be airing at 22.45 tonight, shortly after the ITV News at Ten. The movie will play into Saturday morning, wrapping up at 0.40, allowing times for adverts.

Despite being one of Connery's favourite James Bond films, it was revealed that the actor, who did a lot of his own stunts in this film, almost died during filming.

It was the helicopter scene near the end of the movie that gave all a fright. The pilot in the scenes was reportedly inexperienced, and flew too close to Connery, causing him to nearly fall to his death.

It wasn't the only near miss during filming of the movie. Director Terrance Young was involved in a helicopter crash while filming one of the film's thrilling scenes.

Young was being carried across a body of water shooting a scene when the vehicle crashed. He was then reportedly trapped underwater in an air bubble, while those around tried to rescue him.

Not even letting a near death experience stop him, a relentless Young came back to finish off the picture.

In the 1963 film, which follows on from Dr. No, James Bond is sent to Istanbul on a mission to obtain a highly sought-after Lektor decoder device from Russian defector Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi).

However, she's actually a ruse devised by crime cartel SPECTRE as an attempt to gain revenge for the killing of Dr. No.

Connery originated the role of 007 in 1962's Dr. No, and then went on to star in fan favourite, From with Love just a year later. After a break following Diamonds Are Forever in 1971, the star's final movie was Never Say Never Again in 1983.

. The star died peacefully in his sleep in the Bahamas, having been "unwell for some time", his son said.

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