I always had the impression he enjoyed his life and his work, and never took himself too seriously. So what if he never won an Oscar? He worked steadily in a cutthroat business for 50-odd years, was a household name (at least when he played Bond), and kept his sense of humor about it all.
Beau Maverick, Simon Templar, James Bond, and more. Good resume for any actor. And he truly embodied The Saint, "the Robin Hood of crime," as Charteris pictured him, I think -- something nobody has been able to do since.
I hope I look half as good as he did when I'm 89.