Being chosen as the latest Bond girl - playing sultry Solange opposite the new James Bond, Daniel Craig, in
Casino Royale - is considered 'the big break' for Italian model-turned-actress Caterina Murino
(right).
Since Ursula Andress surfaced dripping wet in 1962's Dr No
- judged cinema's sexiest moment ever in a recent poll - no Bond film
has been complete without one or two objects of desire for 007. But how
big a break did it turn out to be for the actresses involved?
Andress, who this year celebrated her 70th, received a Golden Globe as
Best Promising Newcomer shortly after portraying Honey Ryder in Dr No. She worked on a score of mostly light European comedies - among them the spoof Bond film Casino Royale - until her film career 'ended with a bang' in 1980 when she became pregnant by her co-star while playing Aphrodite in Clash Of the Titans.
The secondary Bond Girl in Dr No - Zena Marshall, who played Miss Taro - has never been seen since Act Of Betrayal, a TV play, back in 1971.
Britt Ekland considers playing Mary Goodnight in The Man With The Golden Gun "one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done... but it did nothing for my career". Daniela Bianchi - Tatiana Romanova in From Russia With Love - would agree; she subsequently worked on the "excruciating" Operation Kid Brother (starring Sean Connery's brother Neil).
Lynn-Holly Johnson - Bibi in
For Your Eyes Only
- was awarded the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress
in her following film and has since preferred to busy herself
"nautically theming" a 2,500 sq/ft beach house designed by her
architect husband.
Shirley Eaton, who played her famously gold-painted Jill in
Goldfinger, soon abandoned her career to raise a family, while Barbara Bach - Major Anya Amasova in 1977's
The Spy Who Loved Me - abandoned her acting career to marry Ringo Starr.
By contrast, at least four Bond girls - Maud Adams (Man With The Golden Gun), Jane Seymour (Live & Let Die), Karin Dor (You Only Live Twice) and Lois Chiles (Moonraker) - ditched their husbands within a year of completing their Bond girl roles.
Maud Adams has the distinction of returning to play a second Bond Girl (the title role in Octopussy) and has since hosted a 'psychic' Swedish TV show and married a judge.
After
playing the CIA's Holly Goodhead, and having zero-gravity sex with
Roger Moore, Lois Chiles found no other roles coming her way so decided
to go and study drama.
But her cameo appearance in 1997's Bond parody Austin Powers was cruelly edited out of the US release.
Jill St John, since portraying Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever, has been most notable as an in-house cooking expert on TV's Good Morning America, as a girlfriend to Henry Kissinger and wife to Robert Wagner.
Since portraying Pussy Galore in Goldfinger,
Honor Blackman has undertaken roughly one TV acting role a year,
including that of wife-swapped Rula Romanoff in three episodes of Coronation Street, and been a prominent Lib Dem supporter.
Maryam D'Abo - Kara Milovy in
The Living Daylights - produced a book and documentary entitled
Bond Girls Are Forever! and married film director Hugh Hudson. Carey Lowell - Pam Bouvier in
Licence To Kill - became Mrs Richard Gere in real life and Tom Hank's barely-seen dead wife in
Sleepless In Seattle.
Since playing Solitaire in
Live and Let Die, Jane Seymour has played TV's
Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman
and marketed a collection of self-designed Wearable Art Handbags. This
year she served as honorary chairperson for 'National Boating &
Fishing Week'.
But the true success stories? Famke Janssen - Xenia Onatopp in Goldeneye
- is hugely popular in the X-Men films, alongside Halle Berry, who was
also a Bond girl. While Berry was playing Jinx Johnson in Die Another Day
she is said to have learnt her husband was having orgies at home,
leading eventually to divorce. She is now one of Hollywood's highest
paid actresses ($10m-plus per film) and is the face of Versace.
Diana Rigg (right) in On Her Majesty's Secret Service was reckoned one of the classiest Bond girls (opposite the worst-ever Bond, George Lazenby).
Already famous for her TV role in The Avengers, she went on to become such a grand stage actress that she was created a Dame in 1994.
Teri Hatcher, who played Paris Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies, is currently paid $380,000 per episode of Desperate Housewives
and has released a book - her manifesto on life, love and happiness -
along with a line of apparel and other merchandising.
Sophie Marceau - Elektra King in
The World Is Not Enough - has continued her success with
Telling Lies
(a semi-autobiographical novel) and numerous films, albeit all in
French. Entering an award ceremony last year, the shoulder strap on
Marceau's dress fell off, exposing to countless cameras what was still
considered "the perfect bosom".
What Happened To Bond Girls?
