"I was with him all the time and he just slipped away."

Sean Connery's wife Micheline Roquebrune has described her late husband's final moments, revealing that he was living with dementia in his final years. The Moroccan-French painter, who was married to the late Connery for 45 years, shared a tribute to the actor this week saying that he died peacefully.

"It was no life for him," she said. "He was not able to express himself latterly. At least he died in his sleep and it was just so peaceful.

"I was with him all the time and he just slipped away. It was what he wanted. He had dementia and it took its toll on him. He got his final wish to slip away without any fuss."

Connery, who passed away last week aged 90, was the first to bring James Bond to movie screens. He later starred in the likes of The Untouchables, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Hunt for Red October and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. "He was gorgeous and we had a wonderful life together," Roquebrune continued. "He was a model of a man. It is going to be very hard without him, I know that. "But it could not last for ever and he went peacefully." Connery starred as Michael McBride in Darby O'Gill and the Little People in 1957, but he shot to fame five years later when he took on the role of Bond in Dr. No. He later won an Oscar for his role in The Untouchables in 1988, as well as two BAFTAs and three Golden Globes. Connery was married to actor Diane Cilento between 1962 and 1973. He married Roquebrune in 1975.