When John Allen shows up at a local eatery women swoon. When he's in Las Vegas foreigners mob him for photos and autographs. And why all this attention? This Delray Beach resident is a dead ringer for the well known Scottish actor....Sean Connery.

At 57 Allen has become a leading impersonator of the actor at corporate and private parties, in commercials and even used as Connery's stand-in major motion pictures. To honor his achievements The International Guild of Celebrity Impersonators and Tribute Artists presented Mr.. Allen with The "Cloney Award" for the second year in a row, for Best Impersonation of a Legend.

Allen's rise to impersonation stardom began when he was "discovered " by local talent scout, Paul Levine who owns Famous Faces Entertainment, a Fort Lauderdale booking agency of celebrity impersonators.

"About eight years ago I was having dinner at a restaurant in Boca Raton's Misner Park when a man approached, looked curiously at me and said "I can make you a lot of money as James Bond, I want you to beat up a guy and throw him into Donald Trump's swimming pool". I told him," I can do that" and I did Allen recalled. Since then Allen has donned Connery's signature white tuxedo, complete with red carnation, at hundreds of James Bond theme parties, corporate events, fundraisers and special evenings many times accompanied by the Bond Girls.

"I didn't look like Sean Connery when I was younger. It wasn't until I was 49 and grew a gray beard that it happened. It was a gradual transformation. Then the work started coming, and the phone hasn't stopped ringing.

 "I'm booked solid" Allen declares. One of Allen's most moving experiences portraying James Bond came when Allen was in Las Vegas. "This girl came up to me, and she was trembling. She told me," You are my favorite actor in the world. This is the nicest thing that's happened to me in months. I just got out of the hospital for cancer", Allen recalls "I didn't have the heart to tell her differently".

Allen has become so successful in his field that he recently received an award from The International Guild of Celebrity Impersonators. "John is really the epitome of what we want to project as the ideal in membership" says founder of the Guild Phil Jesse. "He talks and walks like the actor is congenial and professional, confident, but not cocky"

Allen has been flown all over the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and even Auckland, New Zealand, which is the only place electronics giant Samsung could charter a jumbo jet to film a commercial. "In America corporations make so much money they want to make their commercials and events the very best" he says "Celebrity Impersonating has become a big business and a lot of people are very good at it. the Neil Diamond guy Rob Garrett gets more work then Diamond himself" Allen recently wrapped shooting on a film "BAMBOO SHARK" in Philadelphia.

Soon, however, Allen will be kept busy with his latest project-impersonating Sean Connery in "Atomic City" a new TV series filming in Las Vegas. Also starring in the series are Elvis and Pam Anderson impersonators. Allen will portray Connery as a evil scientist who hypnotizes women to get information from world leaders-all so he can achieve global domination.