True Bond Girls
This is a list of all the Bond Girls that James Bond has had a relationship with, or I should say the ones he has shagged, I put it in that coarse way because it seemed to me that all the Sean Connery and Roger Moore, and to a lesser extent Brosnan and Dalton films, were an exercise in getting laid with as many women as possible, even Lazonby shagged a couple of others on his way to getting married to Diana Rigg. I will also include listings on other memorable women that were in the films, in a notable role whether he had any kind of relationship with or not, there were a few that he did not shag but that were emotionally involved with him in some way such as Moneypenny, these are at the end of the main list.
Some people rate any woman that is in a Bond movie as a 'Bond Girl', and others only the main stars, or young and beautiful women, but do they include women like Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) who was an ugly short Hench woman for SPECTRE in 'From Russia With Love', I don't think so, they just want the sexy ones. To me that's not right, it has to be ones he has had some kind of sexual liaison with regardless of how sexy or attractive she may or may not look, which will rule out Rosa Klebb anyway, but she will be in the latter list of notable's.
I will also include the girls from 'Never Say Never Again' (1983) despite it not being in the main franchise and in opposition to 'Octopussy' it was made in the same style. There are a few other James Bond 007 features around, but the only one with any quality worth noting is the original 'Casino Royale' (1967), the very funny spoof comedy, I will mention the girls from that in the secondary list as none were True Bond Girls except Ursula Andress, and another three which appeared in the usual franchise anyway.
You might find a few surprise entries, of women that you did not realise were either in the film, or didn't realise they had sex with Bond, maybe a few you thought as Bond girls but who are not in the main list due to my criteria, such as Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), also a few names you might never even heard of!
In chronological order, here are the ones I have entered :-
Some people rate any woman that is in a Bond movie as a 'Bond Girl', and others only the main stars, or young and beautiful women, but do they include women like Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) who was an ugly short Hench woman for SPECTRE in 'From Russia With Love', I don't think so, they just want the sexy ones. To me that's not right, it has to be ones he has had some kind of sexual liaison with regardless of how sexy or attractive she may or may not look, which will rule out Rosa Klebb anyway, but she will be in the latter list of notable's.
I will also include the girls from 'Never Say Never Again' (1983) despite it not being in the main franchise and in opposition to 'Octopussy' it was made in the same style. There are a few other James Bond 007 features around, but the only one with any quality worth noting is the original 'Casino Royale' (1967), the very funny spoof comedy, I will mention the girls from that in the secondary list as none were True Bond Girls except Ursula Andress, and another three which appeared in the usual franchise anyway.
You might find a few surprise entries, of women that you did not realise were either in the film, or didn't realise they had sex with Bond, maybe a few you thought as Bond girls but who are not in the main list due to my criteria, such as Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), also a few names you might never even heard of!
In chronological order, here are the ones I have entered :-
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- Eunice Gayson was an English actress best known for playing Sylvia Trench, James Bond's girlfriend in the first two Bond films (Dr. No and From Russia with Love). Originally, Gayson was to be cast as Miss Moneypenny, but that part went to Lois Maxwell instead.
Gayson was originally to have been a regular in the Bond film series, but her character was dropped. Gayson's voice in Dr. No and From Russia with Love was overdubbed by voice actress Nikki van der Zyl, as were the voices of nearly all the actresses appearing in the first two Bond films, though Gayson's real voice can still be heard in original trailers for Dr. No.
As the first female to be seen in Dr. No together with James Bond (Sean Connery), she is officially the very first actress to play a Bond girl.
Decades later, Gayson's daughter appeared in a casino scene in the 1995 Bond film GoldenEye.
She also starred in the Hammer horror film The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958).
Gayson died on 8 June 2018, aged 90.The very first, she played Sylvia Trench, he met her in a casino scene at the start of 'Dr. No' (1962), and not long after they were at it. She became his girlfriend, and she reappeared as the same character at the start of the next film 'From Russia With Love' (1963) (apparently they had not long been at it at the start of that one).
She was supposed to be in the third - 'Goldeneye' (1964) but that director vetoed it, she was very nice and a good choice to be the first. I think it would have been nice if she did all the Sean Connery films with at least a short appearance at the start, as a kind of "Long Suffering Girlfriend" character. An English woman, she had a good career, mostly in British TV and recently passed away in 2018 at the ripe old age of 90, one of the oldest Bond girls. Sean Connery passed away in 2020, also aged 90. - Actress
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Striking, dark-haired beauty Zena Moyra Marshall was born of French (from her mother's side) and English/Irish (her father's) ancestry in Nairobi, Kenya. After the early death of her father, her mother remarried and moved the family to Leicestershire. Zena received her education from St Mary's Roman Catholic School in Ascot. Her interest in the acting profession matured after a wartime theatrical tour with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), while still in her teens. After completing her training at RADA, her exotic looks led to a contract with the Rank Organisation where she was groomed by the so-called 'charm school' as a sultry temptress and second lead in costume films, romantic melodramas and thrillers.
Marshall made her screen debut in the stagey, moribund epic Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) with a bit-part as a handmaiden. Interestingly this film was also a screen bow for future James Bond star Roger Moore, uncredited as a Roman soldier. Marshall's subsequent career was anything but meteoric. For several years she was given only minor supporting roles in productions by Rank affiliates, such as GFD/Two Cities and Gainsborough, including Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948), Snowbound (1948) and So Long at the Fair (1950). A brief sojourn in Hollywood resulted in a lacklustre Allied Artists musical, Let's Be Happy (1957), in which she played an amorous redhead, rivalling star Vera-Ellen for the affections of crooner Tony Martin. During the 1950s she managed to rekindle her theatrical career and, by the end of the decade, went on tour through Germany and the Netherlands with "The Late Edwina Black". Marshall was one of the first actresses to be featured in a British television commercial (for shampoo) on early ITV. Television did, in the end, become her favoured medium; she had some of her better on-screen moments in three episodes of Danger Man (1960), opposite Patrick McGoohan, between 1961 and 1964.
Zena Marshall's main claim to fame rests on her portrayal of the Eurasian double agent, Miss Taro, in the first ever Bond film, Dr. No (1962). Her character was, incidentally, the first woman seduced by Bond, prior to his encounter with Ursula Andress in the part of Honey Ryder. Another noted beauty, the reigning Miss Jamaica, Marguerite LeWars, was originally slated to screen test for Miss Taro. However, LeWars declined for reasons of 'personal modesty' and is merely glimpsed in the film in a bit part as an unnamed photographer. Marshall herself was at first unhappy with the script, but Terence Young, who had previously worked with her on the poorly-received costume biopic The Bad Lord Byron (1949), lightened some of the dialogue with humour. In the end, the bedroom scene with Sean Connery took three days to shoot, because Marshall struggled with the idea of having to spit in her co-star's face, after Bond has her character turned over to the superintendent of police. Miss Taro remains one of the most iconic of Bond villainesses.
Marshall's last roles of note were as an Italian countess in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes (1965), and as a secretary fighting alien enemies (alongside Charles Hawtrey, incongruously cast as an accountant) in the insipid sci-fi outing The Terrornauts (1967). After that, she retired from the screen and settled into domestic life with her third husband, the writer/producer Ivan Foxwell.Zena played the role of Miss Taro in 'Dr. No' (1962), she was a baddie, and Bond started a tradition in the very first film, by shagging the baddie girl before she got killed. Zena was the eldest but most beautiful in the film, pretty good considering the others that were in it. She started movies in 1945 17 years before Dr. No so had a bit of experience and did a few more before retiring from acting in 1967, she was Kenyan although of mixed English, French and Irish but brought up in England. She has also passed away, in 2009 aged 84.
Going by DOB she would have been the oldest Bond girl, if still alive on 1st January 2020 she would have been 95 years old, she was 5 years older than Sean Connery.- Actress
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The quintessential jet-set Euro starlet, Ursula Andress was born in the Swiss canton of Berne on March 19, 1936, one of six children in a strict German Protestant family. Although often seeming icily aloof, a restless streak early demonstrated itself in her personality, and she had an impetuous desire to explore the world outside Switzerland. (For instance, she was tracked down by Interpol for running away from boarding school at 17 years old.) The stunning young woman found work as an art model in Rome and did walk-on parts in three quickie Italian pictures before coming to Hollywood in 1955 and getting nowhere professionally; a four-month fling with rising star James Dean brought her good publicity but not much else. That same year, still just 19, she met and had an affair with fading matinée idol John Derek, who left his wife Pati Behrs and two kids for Ursula even though she spoke almost no English at the time. In 1957 they eloped to Las Vegas, and the new bride put her acting aspirations on hold for a few years thereafter.
1962 saw the relatively unknown Swiss beauty back on the set, playing opposite Sean Connery in the first movie version of Ian Fleming's fanciful "James Bond" espionage novels, Dr. No (1962). Andress' role as bikini-clad Honey Ryder was somewhat brief, and her Swiss/German accent so thick that her entire performance had to be dubbed by a voiceover artist. Nevertheless, her striking looks and smoldering screen presence made a strong impression on moviegoers, immediately establishing her as one of the most desired women in the world and as an ornament to put alongside some of the most bankable talent of the era, such as Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco (1963) and Dean Martin in 4 for Texas (1963). In 1965, she was one of several European starlets to co-star in What's New Pussycat (1965) -- a film that perhaps sums up mid-'60s pop culture better than any other -- written by Woody Allen, starring Allen and Peter Sellers, with music by Burt Bacharach, a title song performed by Tom Jones and much on-screen sexual romping.
Andress appeared in many more racy-for-their time movies in both the United States and Europe, including The 10th Victim (1965), in which she wore a famously ballistic bra, and The Blue Max (1966), where she was aptly cast as the sultry, insatiable wife of an aristocratic World War I German general. She was also featured in Casino Royale (1967), a satirical foray into the world of James Bond, and gave a sparkling performance in the T&A-filled crime caper Perfect Friday (1970). Roles as a prostitute kidnapped by outlaws in Red Sun (1971), a stewardess living on the edge in Loaded Guns (1975), and a bombshell nurse hired to titillate a doddering millionaire to death in The Sensuous Nurse (1975) all provided plenty of excuses to throw her clothes to the wind. In Slave of the Cannibal God (1978), she was notoriously stripped and slathered in orange paint by a pair of nubiles. Then she took on the sophisticated role of Louise de la Valliere, slinky, conspiratorial mistress of King Louis XIV (Beau Bridges) in The Fifth Musketeer (1979).
As for her personal life, Andress separated from Derek in 1964 and got divorced two years later, after falling in love with French superstar Jean-Paul Belmondo on the Malaysian set of Up to His Ears (1965). (Ron Ely, John Richardson and Marcello Mastroianni kept her company during the interim.) The relationship with Belmondo hit a wall in 1972, and she was next attached to her leading man from Stateline Motel (1973), Italian heartthrob Fabio Testi. When that didn't work out, Andress jumped into the dating pool, sporadically involved with a host of Lotharios including (but by no means limited to) Dennis Hopper, Franco Nero, John DeLorean and Ryan O'Neal. In 1979, she began what would be a long-term romance with Harry Hamlin, her handsome young co-star from Clash of the Titans (1981) (in which she was cast, predictably, as "Aphrodite"). While subsequently traveling in India, Andress' belly began to swell out of her clothing, and she felt very nauseous. What at first seemed a severe case of "Delhi Belly" turned out to be pregnancy, her first and only, at age 43. Hamlin encouraged her to have the baby, and on May 19, 1980, the international sex symbol gave birth to a boy named Dimitri Hamlin amid much hoopla.
After the birth of her son, Andress scaled back her career, which now focused on slight European productions, as she was raising Dimitri in Italy. This meant turning down a big-budget Mel Brooks film in lieu of Red Bells (1982) (starring old flame Nero). Occasional television stints on the soap opera Falcon Crest (1981) and critically lauded miniseries Peter the Great (1986) helped maintain her visibility as an actress. Dumped by Hamlin in 1983, she started seeing Fausto Fagone, a Sicilian student three decades her junior, in 1986. In 1991, she met a new man when things dwindled with Fagone -- karate master Jeff Speakman. Since the breakup of that relationship, her love life has gone undocumented. She last worked on a film in 2005. Apparently retired from acting, Ursula makes the rounds of charity events and pops up on foreign talk shows every now and then. She divides her time between family in Switzerland, friends in Virginia and Spain, and her properties in Rome and L.A.Most people seem to think she was the first Bond Girl, and first in 'Dr. No' (1962) but as you can see she was actually the third (fourth if you count Moneypenny), although she was the main Bond Girl in the film. She played Honey Ryder, a bikini clad shell collector, who was a bit naive and innocent, She is the youngest of the 3 Bond Girls from Dr. No, and the only one younger than Connery (by 6 years), she was beautiful but not that sexy to me (Bricklayer's shoulders), but still very attractive, unfortunately she was dubbed in the role, so that lost a bit of authenticity, and not too great an actress in it, however she had a glittering career, and was in some great movies such as the original 'Casino Royale' comedy Bond film from 1967 and one of my favourite films, 'The Blue Max' (1966), she retired in 2005, but is still going strong at 87. Many sources believe she is Swedish but she is Swiss and still partly lives in Switzerland among other places.- Aliza Gur was born Aliza Gross in Ramat Gan, Israel, in 1944. She was Miss Israel of 1960 in the Miss Universe pageant, placing in the top 15. Her parents had fled Germany during the rise to power of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and they eventually settled in Israel, where she and her brother were born.
She emigrated to the US in her 20s and settled in California, where she began her film and television career. Her television credits include guest appearances on Get Smart (1965) and The Wild Wild West (1965), among other shows. Her film credits include From Russia with Love (1963), Kill a Dragon (1967) and the cult vampire film Beast of Morocco (1968) (she was also, at 12 years of age, an extra in The Ten Commandments (1956). Her parents came to the United States and settled in Cleveland, Ohio, for a time. They passed away in the mid-'70s.She played Vida, one of the fighting Gypsy women in the Gypsy camp scene in 'From Russia With Love' (1963, on the left in the picture), after the fight scene, Bond was offered both of the girls for the night to decide who was best, which he gratefully accepted. Not knowing which he bedded first, I chose Aliza first over Martine as she is first in the cast list. She is an Israeli of German descent and won Miss Israel in 1960, she moved to California and had a reasonable career in film and TV, retiring in 1973, and happily still lives in California, now aged 77.
She has the distinction of being the youngest woman to be a Bond Girl on film, She was 19 years, 6 months and 25 days old at release. - Actress
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Brunette bombshell and second-string goddess Jamaican actress Martine Beswick(e) was born on September 26, 1941, to a British father and Portuguese/Jamaican mother in Port Antonio, Jamaica. Some brief modeling and pageant entering came to be before seeking a career in films. She allegedly once won a "Miss Autoville" contest and won a car only to sell it in order to move to and study acting in London.
While finding roles on such British TV series as "Secret Agent," "Love Story" and "Court Martial," a minor break occurred for Martine in the James Bond "007" film series. Director Terence Young cast her twice -- as the gypsy girl Zora in From Russia with Love (1963) and then as the doomed spy Paula in Thunderball (1965). After playing in the well-tanned minority ranks for years, Martine finally got noticed after cat-fighting with Raquel Welch in the cult prehistoric saga One Million Years B.C. (1966), which also starred handsome caveman John Richardson. She also starred in her own back-in-time Neanderthal low-budget Prehistoric Women (1967).
Transporting herself to Hollywood in the late 1960's, Martine guested on such shows as "It Takes a Thief," "Mannix," "The Name of the Game" and "Longstreet." She then made an infamous mark as the distaff evil incarnate in the Hammer Studio horror cult hit Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971). Other films during that time usually had her in various stages of sexy undress, including Ultimo tango a Zagarol (1973), The Kiss of Death (1974) and Seizure (1974).
She later focused on TV with such mini-movie entries as Crime Club (1975), Strange New World (1975), Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978), My Husband Is Missing (1978) and The Tenth Month (1979), plus the mini-series Aspen (1977) and episodes of "The Six Million Dollar Man," "Baretta," "Quincy," "The Fall Guy," "Fantasy Island," "Hart to Hart," "Buffalo Bill" and "Sledge Hammer." In the mid-1980's, Martine also found back-to-back daytime work on the soap operas Days of Our Lives (1965) and Santa Barbara (1984).
On film, she would quicken pulses as Xaviera Hollander as The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980), but not return until the early 1990's with the horror films Evil Spirits (1991) and Trancers II (1991), the comedy Life on the Edge (1992) and the drama Wide Sargasso Sea (1993). After filming Night of the Scarecrow (1995), Martine retired from films.
Since then, she has mainly participated in film documentaries, providing commentary and relating her experiences on the many films in which she has appeared. She owned a removals business in London and is semiretired except for guest appearances at James Bond conventions. She did, however, more recently return (after 25 years) to star with fellow Hammer actors Caroline Munro and Veronica Carlson in a horror "tribute" to Hammer entitled House of the Gorgon (2019).She played Zora the other fighting Gypsy girl in 'From Russia With Love' (1963), to be fair she is equal 4th as I don't know who he was supposed to have bedded first, Martine also appeared in 'Thunderball' (1965) as an assistant to Bond but no sex on that occasion (well not that we know of). She has had a long career, although not famous, and despite supposedly retiring in 1995, she returned for a role in 2019 and is still working at the age of 80, she was born in Jamaica but is English and lives in England.- Daniela Bianchi is an Italian actress, best known for her role of Bond girl Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love (1963). She Finished 1st Runner Up in Miss Universe 1960 Competition, enough to get the attentions of Bond movie producers who chose her over 200 female prospects for the role of Tatiana Romanova.
Bianchi made a number of French and Italian movies after From Russia with Love (1963), the last being The Last Chance (1968). One of her later films was Operation Kid Brother (1967), which was a James Bond spoof filmed in English (though Bianchi was again dubbed) and starring Sean Connery's brother, Neil Connery.
In 2012, Bianchi appeared in a small role in the documentary film We're Nothing Like James Bond.The main Bond Girl and the theme of the title 'From Russia With Love' (1963), she played Tatiana Romanova, the "Russian" clerk who was supposed to lure Bond into a trap by SPECTRE saying she was in love with him before ever knowing him, it was a poor role though, she not only did not look Russian, she was dubbed with an Italian accent, she is Italian and looked it, she might have well used her own voice! And despite being one of the enemy and complicit in the plan to trap Bond, she did not really take the baddies side and helped Bond, before escaping on a train with him. The intention was for her to marry Bond once in England but the film did not get that far, pity it would have looked good if he had married her, however he supposedly still had his girlfriend back in England, Sylvia Trench, so that might be why they terminated the film in Venice, before getting married, to avoid any scandal in the story, it was still a bit old fashioned in those days. It also would have meant that Bond would actually have been married three times (see later entries, and not once as supposed), but we never got there.
Daniela although very pretty was not the most beautiful in the film, for me that went to a stunning Belly Dancer played by Lisa Guiraut (listed in the later section), an English girl who was a real Belly Dancer, but I can't count her as a Bond Girl as she did not have a liaison with Bond. Daniela was a Beauty Contest winner but only had a short career in film, her last was in 1968, she is still with us though, living in Italy aged 81. - This cosmopolitan actress is best remembered for appearing as different characters in two early James Bond films. Multilingual Nadezda "Nadja" Poderegin hailed from Kraljevo, a town in present day Serbia (then Yugoslavia). Her father, a Ukrainian-born scientist and lecturer, was killed during World War II when she was just nine years old. With her mother and sister Nadja subsequently resettled in Yugoslavia's capital. She abandoned plans for a career in journalism after commencing studies at Belgrade's Academy of Dramatic Arts (eventually graduating with a B.A.) and was soon featured in a few locally made films.
Her first major role (after shortening her surname to "Regin") was in Das Haus an der Küste (1954), a German-Yugoslav co-production, filmed around picturesque Dubrovnik. It gained some international exposure via distribution through the Rank Organisation and this led to more substantial film offers in Germany. For much of the 50s, Nadja appeared near the top of the bill in a string of romantic dramas and comedies opposite well-seasoned German and Austrian stars like Curd Jürgens, Rudolf Prack, Theo Lingen and Peter Pasetti.
Following her marriage to a Polish war veteran, Nadja moved to Britain. Having a natural aptitude for picking up languages quickly, she added English to her repertoire within a few months, though (by her own admission) her accent tended to restrict her "to either sexy parts or as a spy". Her own favourite film role was the (typically British) wartime comedy Don't Panic Chaps (1959) (starring Dennis Price and George Cole) in which she provided the romantic spark.
She later had guest spots opposite Patrick McGoohan in Danger Man (1960) and Roger Moore in The Saint (1962) before landing a small role as the girlfriend of MI 6 station chief Kerim Be (Pedro Armendáriz) in From Russia with Love (1963). Arguably, Nadja's best known role was as the double-crossing belly-dancer Bonita in Goldfinger (1964). A memorable scene has James Bond (played by Sean Connery) preempting an assailant's attack by catching his reflection in one of Bonita's eyes (photographed in close-up), then spinning her around and using her as a shield.
She swapped the acting profession in the 1970s to work behind the cameras as a script reader/consultant for Rank and Hammer studios. In tandem with her sister, she set up a publishing company (Honeyglen Publishing Ltd) in 1980 and latterly published her own e-book novel "The Victims and the Fools" under the name Nadja Poderegin.Nadja is the first in 'Goldfinger' (1964), she is playing a Belly-Dancer called Bonita (Belly Dancers were popular themes in the early Bond movies) in the intro, the inclination is that he has already shagged her before the scene starts. She actually appeared in the last film 'From Russia With Love', but not as a Bond Girl, in that she played Kerim Bey's mistress, a love interest but not for Bond. She was very pretty, Nadja was a Serb born when it was Yugoslavia in 1931, later moving to England in the 1950's and staying, she had a short acting career in Yugoslavia which continued in England until 1968, when she retired from acting to work behind the camera, unfortunately she passed away in 2019, in London aged 87. - Born in 1943 in Hampstead, London, Margaret Nolan had a career as a glamour model under the name of Vicky Kennedy, even posing for Playboy magazine. Entering films in 1963 in Saturday Night Out (1964) saw her catapulted into Goldfinger (1964). Often cast mainly for her fabulous buxom figure and good looks, Margaret was perfectly cast in Carry on Girls (1973), made six "Carry On..." performances in all and was very successful in all of her roles, displaying good comedy acting skills. Nolan is probably best remembered for her role as 'Dink' in Goldfinger (1964), and for her "Carry On..." film roles. Margaret Nolan died on October 5, 2020, aged 76, in London from cancer.Blink and you might miss it, Margaret appeared in a very short scene as "Dink" in 'Goldfinger' (1964), on a beach bed beside the pool with Bond, the inclination being she was his girlfriend at the time, something which did not appear to concern Bond too much as he was shagging Shirley Eaton a few mins later, she was only on screen for a short time but it is assumed that he had been shagging her. Margaret is English and had a good acting career, she also did several Carry-On films, being athletic, curvaceous and with big boobs she fit the bill, she was also very pretty and a good actor, she retired from acting in the 80's but came back in 2011 for one film, unfortunately she passed away in 2020 aged 76.
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Long before Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty and company showed up in 1980s TV households, Hollywood had, in effect, its own original "Golden Girl"...literally...in the form of stunning British actress Shirley Eaton. Although she found definitive cult stardom in 1964 with her final golden moment in a certain "007" film, Shirley was hardly considered an "overnight success". For nearly a decade, she had been out and about uplifting a number of 1950s and early 1960s British dramatic films and slapstick farce. Shirley became quite a sought-after actress internationally but, by the end of the decade, the dark-browed blonde beauty intentionally bade Hollywood and her acting career a fond and permanent farewell. She has never looked back.
Born in Edgware, Middlesex, England on January 12, 1937 (some references incorrectly list her birth year as 1936), Shirley Jean Eaton began on stage as a youth, making her debut at age 12 in "Set to Partners" (1949) and following it up the following year with Benjamin Britten's "Let's Make an Opera". Her first on-camera work was on TV in 1951, but it didn't take long before the pretty teen began to provide fleeting, decorative interest on film. Under contract to Alexander Korda in her early career, she found an encouraging break with minor parts in such comedies as Doctor in the House (1954) and The Love Match (1955). She quickly rose to co-star status in the droll features, Panic in the Parlor (1956), Three Men in a Boat (1956), Your Past Is Showing (1957) and Doctor at Large (1957), while appearing opposite such top stars as Peter Sellers and Dirk Bogarde, among others.
Upon Korda's death in 1956, Shirley briefly joined the Rank Organization. Every once in awhile, she relished playing a fetching villainess in a drama, such as in The Girl Hunters (1963) when not playing it straight as the beautiful foil caught up in some of Britain's finest madcap farces, which included the highly popular "Carry On" movies. Trained also in ballet and voice, Shirley was afforded a great chance to sing and dance with the film, Life Is a Circus (1960), and managed to grace the BBC as well in a few of their musical formats of the 1950s.
Shirley's career hit international status, of course, when she played "Jill Masterson", one of a bevy of beauties linked to titular archvillain Gert Fröbe in the film, Goldfinger (1964). And like many of the Bondian girls before and since, her character dearly paid for her furtive romantic clinches with Sean Connery's magnetic "James Bond". Shirley's memorable 24-karat gold death scene (She was found by Bond, painted head to toe in gold paint, and had "died of skin suffocation".), became the eye-catching draw for the movie. The image was splattered everywhere -- on movie posters, in press junkets and in publicity campaigns. Despite the formidable attention the movie received in the form of Honor Blackman's high-kicking "Pussy Galore" character and Shirley Bassey's famous rendition of the title song playing the airwaves, it was Eaton's gilded visuals that became THE iconic image of not only the movie but the whole "007" phenomena.
In its wake, Hollywood beckoned and Shirley immediately won a number of female leads in melodrama, crime yarns, war stories and rugged adventures. Adding to the mesmerizing Ivan Tors scenery in such movies as Rhino! (1964) and the underwater epic, Around the World Under the Sea (1966), she appeared opposite some of Hollywood best-looking and talented leading men, including Harry Guardino and Robert Culp of the afore-mentioned Rhino! (1964), and Hugh O'Brian in the classic whodunnit, Ten Little Indians (1965). During this highly productive time, her co-stars ranged from comedy legend Bob Hope in Eight on the Lam (1967) to horror icon Christopher Lee in The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968). Shirley's film career ended with her participation as "Sumuru", the ambitious leader of an all-woman's society called "Femina", in both The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967) and Mothers of America (1969). Many of her movies remain interesting to the public today as they are a product reflective of their times, and a number of them, like she, have achieved cult status.
After Shirley's self-imposed retirement, she, first and foremost, dedicated herself to her family. The widow of building contractor Colin Rowe (they were married in 1957; he died in 1994), she has two sons, Grant and Jason, and is the proud grandmother of five. She also developed a special knack for writing and, in 1999, published her autobiography entitled "Golden Girl". In 2006, she marketed an "intimate diary" of poems. These days, the spectacular Shirley can be glimpsed from time to time at film festivals that very much appreciate her cult celebrity. She also enjoys painting and has made a return to the stage in recent years.One of the best looking actresses in British Film Industry, Shirley was playing Jill Masterson, Auric Goldfinger's Binocular Spy when he was cheating at cards, Bond finds her and seduces her within seconds, although not a true baddie, she dies soon after anyway, in the most famous screen death, covered in gold paint, I did not include her because of that, but because Bond shagged her. Shirley was easily the most beautiful girl in the film and in all the early Bond films. She also did a few Carry-On's but before this film rather than after like in Margaret Nolan's case. Born in England, she started acting in British TV in 1950 and had a good career before retiring from it in 1968, although she did a small role in 2001. She still lives in England, now aged 84 and still very pretty.- Actress
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One of four children, Blackman was born in London's East End, to Edith Eliza (Stokes), a homemaker, and Frederick Thomas Blackman, a statistician employed with the Civil Service. She received elocution lessons for her 16th birthday (at her own request), and later attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which she paid for by working as a clerical assistant in the Civil Service. She was also a dispatch rider for the Home Office during World War II, playing an important role in the war effort.
Blackman received her first acting work on stage in London's West End as an understudy in "The Guinea Pig". She continued with roles in "The Gleam" (1946) and "The Blind Goddess" (1947), before moving into film. She debuted with Fame Is the Spur (1947), starring Michael Redgrave.
Blackman suffered a nervous breakdown following her divorce from Bill Sankey, a man 12 years her senior, who's jealousy, fraudulent business practices, and emptying of her bank accounts took it's toll. After hospitalisation Blackman began counselling, which would last for years, and began rebuilding her career.
TV series work also came her way again, most notably the highly popular The Avengers (1961), co-starring Patrick Macnee as John Steed. As the leather-clad "Catherine Gale", Blackman showcased her incredible beauty, self-confidence, and athletic abilities. Her admirable qualities made her not only a catch for the men, but also an inspirational figure for the 1960s feminist movement.
Blackman took on the role of Greek goddess Hera in popular movie adventure Jason and the Argonauts (1963) with Ray Harryhausen and melodrama Life at the Top (1965) with Laurence Harvey. She then played "Pussy Galore" in the classic James Bond film Goldfinger (1964). Blackman went toe to toe with Sean Connery's womanizing "007" and created major sparks on screen.
Blackman continued to work consistently in films and tv, while also appearing on stage where she earned rave reviews as the blind heroine of the thriller "Wait Until Dark" as well as for her dual roles in "Mr. and Mrs.", a production based on two of Noël Coward's plays. She also enjoyed working with her second husband, actor Maurice Kaufmann, in the play "Move Over, Mrs. Markham" and the film thriller Fright (1971). She proved a sultry-voiced sensation in various musicals productions such as "A Little Night Music", "The Sound of Music", "On Your Toes", and "Nunsense."
In the new millennium, Honor was seen in such films as Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Color Me Kubrick (2005), Reuniting the Rubins (2010), I, Anna (2012) and Cockneys vs Zombies (2012), as well as the British TV serieses Water, Water, Everywhere (1920) The Royal (2003) Coronation Street (1960), long running series Casualty (1986) and finally You, Me & Them (2013), her last role after her retirement several years earlier.
Divorced from Kaufmann in 1975 (although they remained friends until his death, Blackman even cared for him during his 13 year battle with cancer), Blackman never remarried, revealing in an interview that she simply preferred single life, "Basically I'm a shy person and I like my own company". Unable to conceive, the couple adopted two children, Lottie and Barnaby, in '67 and '68 respectively.
The ever-lovely and eternally glamorous star continued to find regular work into her 90s, including co-starring in the long-running English hit comedy series The Upper Hand (1990) and performing her one-woman stage show, "Wayward Women"
Honor Blackman died on April 5, 2020, in Lewes, Sussex. She was 94.The main Bond Girl in 'Goldfinger' (1964), she played Pussy Galore, one of the baddies, as a Pilot, spraying poison, Bond nailed her quite quickly, and turned her so she helped the good guys, usually a baddie dies in the film but she didn't, I never considered her to be beautiful, she had a kind of an odd angular face. However she had style, sexuality and was a great actor and had a stellar career starting in 1947, her last role was in 2015, so 68 years an actor. She was born in London in 1925 and lived most of her life in England. Unfortunately just after I started this list (2020), I heard on the News that she had passed away in Sussex, England aged 94. She will be sadly missed.
Honor was the oldest to play a Bond Girl in the usual franchise at 39 Years and 28 days at release, Valerie Leon was about 1 year older than her in 'Never Say Never Again' (1983) but that was not in the official franchise (in 2015 Monica Belucci eclipsed both of them). She has also lived the longest (to date).- Molly Peters was a gorgeous and voluptuous British blonde bombshell actress and model who alas only appeared in a handful of films and TV shows during her regrettably fleeting acting career in the mid 60s. Molly was born in 1942 in Walsham-le-Willows, Suffolk, England. Peters started out as a model; among the men's magazines she graced the covers of and/or posed in pictorials for are "Playboy," "Modern Man," "Calvalcade," "Beau," "Ace," "Parade," "Best for Men," "Dapper," and "Escapade." Molly achieved her greatest enduring cult cinema popularity with her memorably sensuous portrayal of Patricia Fearing, the fetching masseuse who gets seduced by James Bond at the Shrubland health club in "Thunderball." She was discovered by director Terence Young and has the distinction of being the first Bond girl to be seen taking her clothes off on screen. In the wake of her 007 stint Peters acted in two more movies and popped up on episodes of the TV shows "Armchair Theatre" and "Baker's Half-Dozen." Molly Peters had her acting career abruptly cut short after reportedly having a falling out with her agent.Molly was the first Bond shagged in 'Thunderball' (1965), she played Patricia one of the nurses in the clinic Bond was recuperating in, he had her in the shower and again in her room, and who can blame him she was very sexy. Molly was English, born in Suffolk, she was a model for nude magazines and only had a short career in film, sadly she passed away in 2017, aged 75.
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Luciana Paluzzi's an Italian actress, best known for playing SPECTRE assassin ,Fiona Volpe, in the fourth James Bond film, Thunderball.
In the film, Thunderball she had auditioned for the part of the lead Bond girl, Dominetta "Domino" Petacchi, but producers cast Claudine Auger, changing the Domino character from an Italian to a Frenchwoman and renaming her Dominique Derval.
Paluzzi's first film was an uncredited walk-on part in Three Coins in the Fountain (1954).Luciana played a baddie in 'Thunderball' (1965), Fiona Volpe, who seduced Bond (she did not have to try too hard) in a way to set him up for being killed, and almost did it, but Bond got away and she got killed instead, she was the most beautiful in the film. She was born in Italy but later moved to California, she had a long acting career starting in 1953, she retired in 1978 and still lives happily in California now aged 84, and still looks fantastic.- Actress
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Claudine Auger, a former Miss France 1st Runner-up (1958), received her dramatic training at the Paris Drama Conservatory and is best known to US / UK audiences as the stunning brunette "Domino" opposite Sean Connery in the James Bond thriller Thunderball (1965), She has kept fairly busy since her Bond days, acting in a number of Italian, French and Spanish films including The Bermuda Triangle (1978), Credo (1983), and La bocca (1991).She was the main Bond Girl in 'Thunderball' (1965) and quite beautiful, although her dialogue was dubbed, a French woman she also had a long acting career, from 1957-1997, unfortunately she passed away in 2019, in Paris aged 78.- Actress
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Tsai Chin, pinyin Zhou Caiqin is an actor, director, teacher and author, best known in America for her film role as Auntie Lindo in The Joy Luck Club. The third daughter of Zhou Xinfang, China's great actor in the last century, she was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art London (first Chinese student) and later earned a Master Degree at Tufts University, Boston. Her career spans more than five decades working in UK, USA and recently in China. She starred on stage on both sides of the atlantic, (a first for a Chinese actor) in London's West End,The World of Susie Wong and on Broadway, Golden Child; played the two most powerful women of 20th century China; for television, in The Subject of Struggle; for stage Memories of Madame Mao; was twice in Bond films, as Bond girl in You Only Live Twice, and later in Casino Royale. Her single The Ding Dong Song recorded for Decca was top of the charts in Asia. She was the first to be invited to teach acting in China after the Cultural Revolution when universities re-opened. She is now celebrated in China for her portrayal of Jia Mu in the recent TV drama series, The Dream of The Red Chamber. Her international best-selling autobiography, Daughter of Shanghai is to be a stage play by David Henry Hwang which will be produced by the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Perfoming Arts in Beverly Hills.She played a Hong Kong woman who had just been shagged by Bond in the intro to 'You Only Live Twice' (1967), when she let baddies in to kill him, she got away, but it was a set up anyway, so Bond could pretend to be dead. She also had another appearance in a Bond film, almost 40 years later! She had a small role in 'Casino Royale' (2006) in two casino scenes. Tsai was born in Shanghai, but lived in England mostly and still does so, she has had a long career, in China, England and Hollywood starting in 1957 and has yet to stop, going strong at 88 years old.
Technically the second appearance makes her the oldest Bond Girl by a very wide margin, as she was 73 when she did Casino Royale, although no sex with Bond in that. If she lives until 2028 she will become the oldest Bond Girl.- Akiko Wakabayashi was born on August 26, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan. During her work in movies, she became one of Japan's most popular actresses of their cinema's "Golden Age", ranking with actresses Kumi Mizuno and Mie Hama. One of her first films was Akiko (1961), which was named after her. Interestingly, the movie title shares both her real and character names. Her career took off when she came to Toho Studios, appearing in a host of sci-fi films, including that of the sexy gangster moll in Dogora (1964) and the bewitching alien-possessed princess in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964). However, in the Western Cinema, she is probably best-known for her role as Bond girl "Aki" in the 007 epic, You Only Live Twice (1967), appearing alongside actor Sean Connery. When production of the 007 film began, Wakabayashi was originally chosen to play Bond girl "Kissy Suzuki" and her co-star, Mie Hama, is to play Bond girl "Suki". As Hama had a difficult time mastering the English language, the two actresses switched roles. In addition, Wakabayashi suggested her character name be Aki instead of Suki.
In the late 1960s to early 1970s, Japan's movie industry experienced an economic slump, which resulted in severe budget cuts. During that time, Wakabayashi made a rather abrupt end to her acting career, and has never been seen on the big screen since. Whether or not the economic slump played a factor, Wakabayashi remains one of the most memorable actresses of Japan, especially to Toho Studios' sci-fi fandom.Stunning Japanese actress as Aki, she was working for the Japanese Secret Service in 'You Only Live Twice' (1967) and lured Bond into a trap, but soon hooked up with him in more ways than one, she was one of two main Bond girls and the most beautiful and gets my vote for the most beautiful of all the Bond films to date, shes was a goodie but still got killed whilst on the mission with Bond. She had a middling career in Japan starting in 1958, this was her only western film and last one altogether, she retired from acting in 1971, she still lives in Japan happily married since having had 6 children, now aged 80. - Actress
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Born Kätherose Derr in Wiesbaden, Karin Dor studied acting and ballet at school and began in films as an extra. The attractive redhead made an indelible impression on Austrian director Harald Reinl (who became her first husband in 1954) and this paved the way to higher profile roles. Her first significant featured appearance was in Reinl's melodrama Der schweigende Engel (1954). Karin subsequently shared top billing in a classroom drama about wayward matriculation students, Ihre große Prüfung (1954). During the initial segment of her career she played nice girls, mainly wide-eyed ingénues, innocent victims and assorted naive juveniles in war and period dramas (As Long as You Live (1955)), Heimatfilms (Almenrausch und Edelweiß (1957)) and operettas (The White Horse Inn (1960)).
By 1960, a more glamorous, lithe and sensual Karin had graduated to juicer roles as heroines in Edgar Wallace potboilers (beginning with Der grüne Bogenschütze (1961)) and a series of Karl May European westerns, invariably directed by Reinl and co-starring Tarzan actor Lex Barker (a combination which proved equally successful for other crime/sci-fi franchises, including The Invisible Dr. Mabuse (1962)). Many of these pictures enjoyed only limited release and were rarely exhibited outside Germany.
Karin succeeded at last to break her stereotyping by playing a pathological serial killer wielding a cutthroat razor in another Wallace/Reinl outing, Room 13 (1964), and - for a total change of pace -- essayed Brunhilde in a two-part filming of the epic 'Die Nibelungen' (also directed by Reinl). With her international appeal now widening, she appeared in The Face of Fu Manchu (1965), a British-West German co-production, as a scientist's daughter menaced by the titular villain. To follow was arguably her best-known international role as an early 'Bond girl', Helga Brandt (alias Number Eleven), a SPECTRE operative whose failure to eliminate J.B. results in her being dropped into a piranha-infested pool by super villain Blofeld (Donald Pleasence) in You Only Live Twice (1967). She was then engaged by Alfred Hitchcock for the part of Cuban resistance leader Juanita de Cordoba in Topaz (1969) in which her character came to a similarly sticky end. Karin's career never quite recovered from this director's rare box-office aberration. British Times reviewer and Hitchcock specialist John Russell Taylor described the picture as "generally flat, undistinguished, and lacking in any sign of positive interest or involvement on his (Hitchcock's) part". In the wake of Topaz, Karin's screen appearances became infrequent, except for a couple of guest spots on American crime shows, followed by an of unsuccessful feature film comeback attempt in the incongruous thriller Warhead (1977). She was latterly seen on German television in several episodes of Rosamunde Pilcher (1993). Karin's third husband was actor and stuntman George Robotham who predeceased her in 2007.Played Miss Brandt in 'You Only Live Twice' (1967) for SPECTRE, she got together with Bond in an attempt to set him up, he in turn was trying to turn her, it didn't work, she left him in a plane about to crash. but he got away and it was her that was killed later, she was a very good looking woman and normally would be the best in the film if it not for Aki and Mie Hama. A German actor who did most of her work in Germany, she had a long career working up to her death in 2017 aged 79.- Mie Hama was born in Tokyo, Japan on November 20, 1943 in a blue-collar Tokyo family whose small cardboard factory burned down in World War II. She grew up poor. She first started out working as a bus fare collector. While working, she was spotted by producer Tomoyuki Tanaka when she was only sixteen years old, and was soon employed at Toho Studios. She appeared in a bevy of drama and sci-fi films, including King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963), where she became the Giant Ape's "Damsel in Distress." She is probably best known in Western Cinema as Bond girl Kissy Suzuki, starring alongside actor Sean Connery in the 007 film You Only Live Twice (1967). That same year, King Kong Escapes (1967) was released, thus, she portrayed the spellbinding "Bond-girlish" villainess Madamn Piranha. Her extended wardrobe and enchanted bed chambers contributed to the film's "James Bond-ish" atmosphere. In addition, Hama would sometimes be referred to as "Funny Face," due to her appearances in Japan's "Crazy Cats" movies.
She became one of the most popular actresses in Japan's "Golden Age" of Cinema, but has done little acting when Japan's cinema world experienced severe financial problems. However, she did return to appear in a few films in the 1970s and 1980s, and she is seen, most recently, working as an active environmentalist, radio and television talk show host. She also married a television executive with whom she has four children.Another noted Japanese actor, and one of my favourites, this is also her only western film, one of two main Bond Girls with Aki in 'You Only Live Twice' (1967) she was the girl chosen to marry Bond in order for him to infiltrate the SPECTRE base on her island, Bond got disguised (not by much-he still looked like a Jock) to look Japanese, Bond was told the choice of brides for him were all ugly but he was made up when he saw Mie, who played Kissy Suzuki (not named in the film) who was stunning in her wedding dress. They got married but she refused his advances, however he nailed her at the end.
And about that marriage, Bond is supposed to have only been married once, not true, he got married in this to Kissy, although it is supposed to be fake the wedding ceremony was performed correctly, so technically he was married before the other one to Tracy in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', and since there is no record or scene shown that the marriage was annulled (he did have a fake name and documents), he would still have been married when he got married (again) to Tracy in OHMSS, so committing Bigamy!
Mie Hama had a similar career and life to Aki, retiring from acting in 1975 and settling down, she was married for 49 years until her husband passed away, she has 4 children and she is still going strong at 77 years old. - Actress
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British actress Dame Diana Rigg was born on July 20, 1938 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England. She has had an extensive career in film and theatre, including playing the title role in "Medea", both in London and New York, for which she won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.
Rigg made her professional stage debut in 1957 in the Caucasian Chalk Circle, and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959. She made her Broadway debut in the 1971 production of "Abelard & Heloise". Her film roles include Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1968); Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper (1981); and Arlene Marshall in Evil Under the Sun (1982). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the BBC miniseries Mother Love (1989), and an Emmy Award for her role as Mrs. Danvers in the adaptation of Rebecca (1997). In 2013, she appeared with her daughter Rachael Stirling on the BBC series Doctor Who (2005) in an episode titled "The Crimson Horror" and plays Olenna Tyrell on the HBO series Game of Thrones (2011).
From 1965 to 1968, Rigg appeared on the British television series The Avengers (1961) playing the secret agent Mrs. Emma Peel. She became a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), playing Tracy Bond, James Bond's only wife, opposite George Lazenby. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) at the 1988 Queen's New Years Honours for her services to drama. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) at the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to drama.
Dame Diana Rigg died of lung cancer on September 10, 2020, she was 82 years old.She played Tracy (or Theresa - a split personality thing) in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (1969), the only one who Bond loved, but not the only one he married, he could have been committing Bigamy when he married her! (see last entry), although not for long.
Bond met her in the intro and then a bit later, they quickly got down to business, her Dad tried to palm her off to Bond in an arranged marriage, but Bond went off to do his espionage stuff (long distance relationships eh!), she found him later and rescued him from a sticky situation and then it was all back on again. After a bit of action, which she was involved in, they married, but not because it was arranged, but as he loved her (debatable), he still got a good payoff though.
But its a Bond movie, she had to die which she did at the end, shot by a SPECTRE hench-woman. It would never have worked anyway, apart from it possibly being a bigamous marriage, she was one of the most nutty Bond Girl in the history of Bond films, more so than the hench women! Also as we all know long separations in a marriage don't work. Diana Rigg (English) was a classic British actor, she had a stellar career in Film and TV, but unfortunately passed away in 2020 aged 82, not long after I made this entry.- Angela Scoular was born on 8 November 1945 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Casino Royale (1967) and You Rang, M'Lord? (1988). She was married to Leslie Phillips. She died on 11 April 2011 in Maida Vale, London, England, UK.Played Ruby Bartlett (not Barrett as some people seem to think) in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (1969), she was one of the 12 models in the clinical institute for allergies run by Blofeld, she was most forward, and famously wrote her room number on the inside of Bond's thigh under the table at dinner, her character was supposed to be from Morecambe Bay, England, but the actor was from London and had a dodgy northern accent (I am from Morecambe Bay, and nobody in that area says that, they just say the town they are from), she was not the best looking Bond girl, but Bond had her anyway, he tried again but was ambushed. You may not have heard of Angela, but she did have a long career, she was also in the original 'Casino Royale' (1967), the spoof Bond film. She started in 1953, doing mostly British TV work, and in some of the most popular series, she seemed to keep under the radar of most?, she married the more famous actor Leslie Phillips in 1982 (star of many British sex comedies) and retired in 1996, but she had problems, and committed suicide in 2011 aged 65.
- Born in Budapest, Hungary, her true name is Katherina Freiin Schell von Bauschlott, the scion of a once wealthy German patrician family. Her father, the Baron Paul Schell von Bauschlott, was a well-respected diplomat until the Nazis confiscated their estates during WWII, while her mother was Countess Katharina Maria Etelka Georgina Elisabeth Teleki de Szék. Her family was living in poverty until 1948 when they sought asylum in Vienna and Salzburg as the communist regime began to take hold in Hungary. In 1950, her family emigrated to the States and Baron von Schell Bauschlott renounced his title in order for his family to gain citizenship. Catherine entered a convent school in New York's Staten Island area. In 1957, her father joined Radio Free Europe, taking the family to Munich where she developed an interest for acting and trained at the prestigious Falconberg School. Her inauspicious debut (sometimes billed as Catherine von Schell) was in the German film Lana, Queen of the Amazons (1964). While filming Amsterdam Affair (1968), she met and married actor William Marlowe, subsequently moving to London. She went on to appear in Moon Zero Two (1969), the James Bond feature On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Callan (1974) and The Black Windmill (1974), but is best known at that time for the slapstick comedy The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), which marked Peter Sellers' cinematic revisiting of his "Inspector Clouseau" character. Extremely visible on TV with frequent work in such series as The Persuaders! (1971), The Adventurer (1972) and the cult sci-fi series Space: 1999 (1975) starring Barbara Bain and Martin Landau playing the role of "Maya", an alien, for which she is best known. Her marriage to actor Marlowe had run its course by 1977, and she met director Bill Hays that same year, who had two children from a previous marriage. They married in 1982, together working on a TV production of A Month in the Country (1985). Her career began to wane by the time she did the series Wish Me Luck (1987) and she retired shortly thereafter, running a small guest hotel in France. Catherine is often mistakenly thought of as a sister of actors Maximilian Schell, Maria Schell, Immy Schell and Carl Schell, but she is not. One of her two brothers, Paul von Schell, is, however, the widower of actress Hildegard Knef.She played Nancy another one of the 12 models in Blofelds institute in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' (1969), and definitely the most beautiful in the film, Bond also slipped into her room to shag her, and who can blame him. Catherine was born an Hungarian (not German as most seem to think, but of mostly German descent and partly German Royalty), but she moved to USA with her family aged 4 (via Austria) because the Nazi's had taken all their wealth and property. She had a long career, starting in 1964, she did not retire until 1996 (however she still does a bit now and then), mostly British TV, she was a star of the famous sci-fi series 'Space 1999', she is still going strong, living in France now, at the age of 75 and has just appeared in a Dracula TV series, still looking gorgeous. For me she was one of the most beautiful Bond Girls ever, despite her brief appearance. They missed a trick by not giving her more screen time or in another film!
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An incredible piece of 1960s eye candy, Jill St. John absolutely smoldered on the big screen, a trendy presence in lightweight comedy, spirited adventure and spy intrigue who appeared alongside some of Hollywood's most handsome male specimens. Although she was seldom called upon to do much more than frolic in the sun and playfully taunt and tempt as needed, this tangerine-topped stunner managed to do her job very, very well. A remarkably bright woman in real life, she was smart enough to play the Hollywood game to her advantage and did so for nearly two decades before looking elsewhere for fun and contentment.
Jill St. John was actually born Jill Oppenheim in 1940 in Los Angeles. On stage and radio from age five, she was pretty much prodded by a typical stage mother. Making her TV debut in The Christmas Carol (1949), Jill began blossoming and attracting the right kind of attention in her late teens. She signed with Universal Pictures at age 16 and made her film debut as a perky support in Summer Love (1958) starring then-hot John Saxon. Moving ahead, she filled the bill as a slightly dingy love interest in such innocuous fun as The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959), Holiday for Lovers (1959), Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963), Who's Minding the Store? (1963) and Honeymoon Hotel (1964).
Whether the extremely photogenic Jill had talent (and she did!) or not never seemed to be a fundamental issue with casting agents. By the late '60s she had matured into a classy, ravishing redhead who not only came equipped with a knockout figure but some sly, suggestive one-liners as well that had her male co-stars (and audiences) more than interested. She skillfully traded sexy quips with Anthony Franciosa in the engaging TV pilot to the hit series The Name of the Game (1968) and scored a major coup as the ever-tantalizing Tiffany Case, a ripe and ready Bond girl, in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) opposite Sean Connery's popular "007" character. She also co-starred with Bob Hope in the dismal Eight on the Lam (1967), but the connection allowed her to be included in a number of the comedian's NBC specials over the years. A part of Frank Sinatra's "in" crowd, she worked with him on both Come Blow Your Horn (1963) and Tony Rome (1967).
On camera, Jill's glossy femme fatales had a delightfully brazen, tongue-in-cheek quality to them. Off-camera, she lived the life of a jet-setter and was known for her romantic excursions with such eligibles as Jack Nicholson, David Frost, Joe Namath, Bill Hudson, Roman Polanski and even Henry Kissinger. Of her four marriages, which included laundry heir Neil Dubin, the late sports car racer Lance Reventlow, son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, and easy-listening crooner Jack Jones, she seems to have found her soulmate in present husband Robert Wagner, whom she married in 1990 after an eight-year courtship. Jill first met Wagner when they were both just beginning their careers as contract players at 20th Century Fox. The couple share credits on several productions, notably Banning (1967) as well as the top-tier TV movies How I Spent My Summer Vacation (1967) and Around the World in 80 Days (1989).
Abandoning acting out of boredom, she has returned only on rare occasions. She played against type as a crazed warden in the prison drama The Concrete Jungle (1982) and has had some fun cameos alongside Wagner both on film (The Player (1992)) and even TV (Seinfeld (1989)). In the late 1990s they started touring together in A.R. Gurney's popular two-person stage reading of "Love Letters." Jill's lifelong passion for cooking (her parents were restaurateurs) has turned profitable over the years. She has written a cookbook and appeared as a TV chef and "in-house" cooking expert on Good Morning America (1975). She also served as a food columnist for the USA Weekend newspaper. On the philanthropic front, she is founder of the Aunts Club, a Rancho Mirage-based group of special women who contribute at least $1,000 per year to provide financial support for a child.
She was glimpsed more recently in the films The Calling (2002) and The Trip (2002) and she and Wagner had small roles as Santa and Mrs. Claus in the TV movie Northpole (2014). The Wagners make their home in Aspen.Who played Tiffany Case, the only woman Bond actually shagged in 'Diamonds Are Forever' (1971), so a low point for Bond, she played a feisty character, who Bond soon bedded (Connery had her in real life), but did not die and stayed in the film almost throughout, somewhat of a first for 007. Jill is an American, and was a child actress, she had a wonderful career, retiring in 2014, she married the famous actor Robert Wagner and still lives happily with him in the USA now aged 80. She had a stunning body and was the most beautiful in the film.- Shapely, dark haired British actress who appeared in a number of sensual film and TV roles that showcased her beauty. She is probably best recognizable as Miss Caruso, the beautiful young Italian agent sleeping with James Bond in the opening of Live and Let Die (1973) whose blue dress zipper meets its match in Bond's magnetic watch. Prior to this, she had worked with Roger Moore in an early TV appearance and he recommended her for the role.Madeline played Miss Caruso, the Italian Secret Service Agent that had gone missing, she was shacked up with Bond in the intro of 'Live and Let Die' (1973) and had to hide in the wardrobe when M arrived, her famous scene was when Bond lowered her dress zip with his magnet watch, she was very pretty, maybe the best in the film. However Madeline was not Italian she was English and dubbed, but she looked the part. She still acts, mostly in English TV, and looking good despite being 72 years old.
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Born in Florida and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Gloria's first job was as an assistant to the legal secretary in the New York office of the NAACP. She also became a model around this time and worked at the Playboy Club as a "Bunny." This exposure led to her being cast in her first movie, For Love of Ivy (1968). In the 1970s, she became a popular star of black actioners such as Black Caesar (1973) and Black Belt Jones (1974). She has completed her first CD and also produced The Paul Robeson Story.Famous for the biggest (fake) afro in Bond history, she played Rosie in 'Live and Let Die' (1973) an assistant to Bond who turned out to be a baddie, not long after he shagged her she was killed. She was not the best looking but had a great body, Gloria is from the USA, born in Florida and still acts today, she has just turned 72 as well.- Actress
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Jane Seymour was born as Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg in 1951 in Middlesex, England, to a nurse mother and gynaecologist/obstetrician father. She is of Polish Jewish (father) and Dutch (mother) descent. She adopted the acting name of "Jane Seymour" when she entered show business as it was easier for people to remember (and the name of one of King Henry VIII's wives). She attracted the attention of the James Bond film producers when they saw her on British television. She was cast as the main Bond girl, "Solitaire", in Live and Let Die (1973). The role gained her international recognition but she was in danger of losing it all like the previous Bond girls, so she came to the U.S.
A casting director advised her to lose her English accent and acquire an American accent to land roles on American television. She did and started getting roles, earning five Emmy nominations, resulting in one win for Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988) for playing Maria Callas. She won Golden Globe awards for both East of Eden (1981) and the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993), where she played the title role for 5 years. She occasionally appeared in feature films, memorably in Somewhere in Time (1980) and in Wedding Crashers (2005).
Married and divorced four times, she gave birth to four children and is a stepmother to two. They have children of their own, making her a grandmother. As of 2018, she has been acting in television movies and making guest-appearances.One of the beauties of British TV and Movies, she was the main Bond Girl in 'Live and Let Die' (1973), Bond tricked her into sex with him by cheating with the Tarot cards, then got her to abandon helping Kananga. She went off with him at the end on the train, it would of been nice if they had got married, the screenplay was heading that way and they looked good together despite Moore looking like her father, but if they did she would have to be killed off, so maybe not in retrospect. Jane was born in England but of Dutch/Polish heritage, and is a prolific actor, mostly in American TV and still looking great and going strong today aged 70. She was one of the younger Bond Girls, aged 22 at release.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Britt Ekland was born in Sweden and grew up to be the poster girl for beautiful, big-eyed Scandinavian blondes. She attended a drama school and then joined a traveling theater group. With her looks as her passport, Britt entered films and became a star in Italy. When Peter Sellers met her in a hotel, he fell hard for her and they soon married. The combination of Sellers' stardom and her stunning beauty contributed to her fame (the fact that Sellers suffered a heart attack in bed on their wedding night did not hurt, either). She appeared in two films with her husband: After the Fox (1966), written by Neil Simon, and the forgettable The Bobo (1967). Her claim to fame would come as the young girl who invented the striptease in The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968). After that, she appeared in a string of movies that were built around her looks and not much else. She did appear in some first-rate productions over the years, though, two of them being Get Carter (1971) and the cult classic The Wicker Man (1973). The high point in her career would be her role as Bond girl Mary Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). After her much publicized breakup with rocker Rod Stewart in 1977, Britt continued to make movies--both features and made-for-TV films--and tried the stage. By that time, the quality of her film projects had decreased markedly, and she was reduced to appearing in things like Fraternity Vacation (1985) and Beverly Hills Vamp (1989).Goodnight was her character in 'The Man With The Golden Gun' (1974), she turned up as an assistant to Bond in Hong Kong, then in Thailand, apparently he had already had her, but just to prove it he shagged her at the end. Britt would normally be the most beautiful in any film, but in this she was up against fellow Swede Maud Adams who looked stunning, but Britt had the better body. Britt was already a star, and famous for several high profile failed relationships, she continued working for may years, now in semi-retirement and living back in her native Sweden now aged 78 and still beautiful.