Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Bond girl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Bond Girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest or sex object of James Bond in a film, novel or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres, such as "Pussy Galore", "Holly Goodhead" and "Xenia Onatopp."
Bond Girls are often victims rescued by Bond, fellow agents or allies, villainesses or members of an enemy organisation. Some are mere eye candy and have no direct involvement in Bond's mission; other Bond Girls play a pivotal role in the success of the mission. Other female characters such as Judi Dench's M and Miss Moneypenny are not typically thought of as Bond Girls.
The role of a Bond Girl is typically a high-profile part that can give a major boost to the career of unestablished actresses, although there have been a number of Bond girls that were well-established prior to gaining their role. For instance, Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman were both Bond Girls after becoming major stars for their roles in the television series, The Avengers. Additionally, Halle Berry won an Academy Award in 2002 - the award was presented to her while she was filming Die Another Day.
Legend has it that appearing as a Bond Girl will damage an actress' subsequent career. Notable exceptions to this "curse" (actresses who went on to experience fulfilling careers) include Carey Lowell, Famke Janssen, Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg. Casting for the female lead in Casino Royale was hindered by the fears of potential actresses.[1]
Ursula Andress as 'Honey Ryder' in Dr. No (1962) is often considered the first and quintessential Bond Girl, although Eunice Gayson, as 'Sylvia Trench', and Zena Marshall as 'Miss Taro' are seen in that film before her and therefore preceded her as Bond Girls. The character of Sylvia Trench is the only Bond Girl character who recurs in a film, (Dr. No and From Russia with Love (1963)) - she was meant to be Bond's regular girlfriend but was dropped after her appearance in the second film.
To date, only two Bond Girls have captured James Bond's heart. The first, Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) was married by Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), though she is shot dead by Ernst Stavro Blofeld at story's end. Initially, her death was to have begun Diamonds Are Forever (1971); but that idea was dropped during filming of On Her Majesty's Secret Service when George Lazenby renounced the James Bond role.
The second was Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) in Casino Royale (2006). James Bond professes his love to her and resigns from MI6 to live a normal life with her, yet later he learns that she used him to free her true lover who is imprisoned in Algeria; she drowns in a canal in Venice.
In the series of films, three actresses have made reappearances as different Bond girls: Martine Beswick and Nadja Regin both first appeared in From Russia with Love, and then appeared in Thunderball and Goldfinger respectively. Maud Adams played 'Andrea' in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and the title character in Octopussy (1983); she also is an extra in A View to a Kill (1985).
Including the unofficial James Bond films, Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again, several actresses also have been a Bond Girl more than once; Ursula Andress in Casino Royale (1967); Angela Scoular, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and Casino Royale (1967); Valerie Leon in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Never Say Never Again (1983).
Often Bond Girls who have trysts with James Bond are later discovered as villainesses, e.g. Fatima Blush (Barbara Carrera) in Never Say Never Again (1983), Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) in The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) in Die Another Day (2002).
There have been many attempts to break down the numerous Bond Girls into a top 10 list for the entire series; characters who often appear in these lists include Anya Amasova, Teresa di Vicenzo and Honey Ryder, who is often at Number 1 on the list.[2][3]
Contents |
In addition to those actresses mentioned above, the Bond films traditionally have groups of women in the background whose general purpose is nothing more than eye candy: they include the sunbathing Miami beauties in Goldfinger, the Thai girls at the kung fu school in The Man With the Golden Gun, Tiger Tananka's bathing beauties in You Only Live Twice, and Sheik Hossein's harem in The Spy Who Loved Me. However, in Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, and The Living Daylights these women were also referred to in the media as fully- fledged Bond girls to provide added publicity for the film through eye-catching magazine and newspaper appearances. In Moonraker this included members of Drax's "master race" and a group of women encountered by Bond in the jungles of Brazil In For Your Eyes Only, the women were seen frolicking around a villain's pool, while in Octopussy they served mainly as the title character's underlings. In A View to A Kill, they adorned Max Zorin's outdoor reception and in The Living Daylights, they served as decorations at the villain's swimming pool. One "Bond girl" in For Your Eyes Only was later revealed to be a post-operative transsexual (Tula). Although the Bond films have never stopped making use of feminine "eye candy", such large "Bond girl groups" were not featured after The Living Daylights.
EON Productions call themselves the "official" producer of the James Bond film series, having produced 21 films between 1962 and 2006 as listed above. However, other James Bond productions have been made over the years by other producers and studios. These productions are described as "unofficial" by EON Productions and as such, so are the Bond girls featured therein.
| Film | Bond girl | Actress |
|---|---|---|
| Casino Royale (1954 television production) |
Valerie Mathis | Linda Christian |
| Casino Royale 1967 film |
Vesper Lynd Miss Goodthighs Miss Moneypenny Agent Mimi/Lady Fiona McTarry The Detainer Mata Bond Buttercup |
Ursula Andress Jacqueline Bisset Barbara Bouchet Deborah Kerr Daliah Lavi Joanna Pettet Angela Scoular |
| Never Say Never Again 1983 film |
Domino Petachi Fatima Blush Patricia Fearing Lady in Bahamas |
Kim Basinger Barbara Carrera Prunella Gee Valerie Leon |
| Novel | Bond girl |
|---|---|
| Casino Royale | Vesper Lynd |
| Live and Let Die | Solitaire |
| Moonraker | Gala Brand |
| Diamonds Are Forever | Tiffany Case |
| From Russia with Love | Tatiana Romanova |
| Dr. No | Honeychile Rider |
| Goldfinger | Pussy Galore Jill Masterton Tilly Masterton |
| "From a View to a Kill" | Mary Ann Russell |
| "For Your Eyes Only" | Judy Havelock |
| "Quantum of Solace" | No Bond girl |
| "Risico" | Lisl Baum |
| "The Hildebrand Rarity" | Liz Krest |
| Thunderball | Dominetta "Domino" Vitali |
| The Spy Who Loved Me | Vivienne Michel |
| On Her Majesty's Secret Service | Teresa di Vicenzo |
| You Only Live Twice | Kissy Suzuki (main girl) Marico Ichiban unnamed girl |
| The Man with the Golden Gun | Mary Goodnight |
| "The Living Daylights" | No Bond girl |
| "The Property of a Lady" | No Bond girl |
| "Octopussy" | No Bond girl |
| "007 in New York" | Solange |
Mary Goodnight was a supporting character in several Bond novels before graduating to full Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun. The short stories "Quantum of Solace", "The Living Daylights" and "The Property of a Lady" feature female characters in prominent roles, but none of these women interact with Bond in a romantic way.
| Novel | Bond girl |
|---|---|
| Colonel Sun | Ariadne Alexandrou |
| Novel | Bond girl |
|---|---|
| Licence Renewed | Lavender Peacock Ann Reilly |
| For Special Services | Cedar Leiter Nena Bismaquer Ann Reilly |
| Icebreaker | Paula Vacker Rivke Ingber |
| Role of Honour | Percy Proud Freddie Fortune Cindy Chalmer |
| Nobody Lives For Ever | Sukie Tempesta Nannie Norrich |
| No Deals, Mr. Bond | Ebbie Heritage Heather Dare |
| Scorpius | Harriet Horner |
| Win, Lose or Die | Beatrice Maria da Ricci Clover Pennington Nikki Ratnikov |
| Brokenclaw | Sue Chi-Ho |
| The Man from Barbarossa | Nina Bibikova Stephanie Adore |
| Death is Forever | Elizabeth St. John Praxi Simeon |
| Never Send Flowers | Flicka von Grusse |
| SeaFire | Flicka von Grusse |
| COLD | Beatrice Maria da Ricci Toni Nicolleti |
| Novel | Bond girl |
|---|---|
| "Blast from the Past" | Cheryl Haven |
| Zero Minus Ten | Sunni Pei |
| The Facts of Death | Niki Mirakos |
| "Midsummer Night's Doom" | Lisa Dergan |
| High Time to Kill | Helena Marksbury Gina Hollander Hope Kendall |
| "Live at Five" | Janet Davies Natalia Lustokov |
| Doubleshot | Heidi Taunt Hedy Taunt |
| Never Dream of Dying | Tylyn Mignonne |
| The Man with the Red Tattoo | Reiko Tamura Mayumi McMahon |
Playboy Playmate Lisa Dergan is, to date, the only real-life person to be featured as a Bond girl in any literary Bond story.
| Novel | Bond girl |
|---|---|
| SilverFin | Wilder Lawless |
| Blood Fever | Amy Goodenough |
| Double or Die | Kelly Kelly |
| Hurricane Gold | Precious Stone |
| Game | Bond girl | Actress (if applicable) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agent Under Fire | Zoe Nightshade | Caron Pascoe (voice) | |
| Nightfire | Dominique Paradis Zoe Nightshade Alura McCall Makiko Hayashi |
Lena Reno (voice) Jeanne Mori (voice) Kimberley Davies (voice) Tamlyn Tomita (voice) |
|
| Everything or Nothing | Serena St. Germaine Dr. Katya Nadanova Miss Nagai Mya Starling |
Shannon Elizabeth Heidi Klum Misaki Ito Mya |
|
| From Russia with Love | Tatiana Romanova Eva Elizabeth Stark |
Daniela Bianchi (likeness) Kari Wahlgren (voice) Maria Menounos Natasha Bedingfield |
|
| GoldenEye: Rogue Agent | Pussy Galore Xenia Onatopp |
Jeannie Elias (voice) Jenya Lano (voice) |
 |
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In 2002, former Bond girl Maryam d'Abo co-wrote the book Bond Girls Are Forever: The Women of James Bond. This book later became a DVD exclusive documentary featuring d'Abo and other Bond girls, including Ursula Andress. In some locations, the documentary was released as a gift with the purchase of Die Another Day on DVD. The featurette was included on the DVD release of Casino Royale (2006) with an updated segment referencing the newest film.
- Halle Berry and Kim Basinger are the only Oscar winners to play a Bond girl. Basinger won her Oscar a number of years after her Bond film appearance, while Berry received hers during production of Die Another Day.
- After the release of Die Another Day, MGM and EON Productions considered creating a spinoff series featuring Halle Berry's Jinx character. Plans for this were cancelled in 2003.
- Early drafts of Die Another Day included an appearance by Wai Lin, but Michelle Yeoh was unavailable.
- Media reports for The World Is Not Enough indicated the producers planned to include cameo appearances by every surviving Bond girl actress, ranging from Ursula Andress to Michelle Yeoh, but that did not occur; however, one "eye-candy" Bond girl was played by Eunice Gayson's daughter.
- Ursula Andress has the singular distinction among movie Bond Girls of having actually appeared in the narrative of a Fleming novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, written after Fleming was present during filming of Dr. No. She is pointed out to Bond by Irma Bunt while they are dining at Piz Gloria.
- Maud Adams, who played Francisco Scaramanga's girlfriend in The Man With the Golden Gun also played the title character in Octopussy.
- Halle Berry and Famke Janssen, another Bond girl, are also known for their respective roles in the three X-Men films as the characters Storm and Jean Grey/Phoenix.
- Cult Sirens: Bond Girls
- Complete list of Bond girls on the ultimate James bond Community
- Bond Girl Tribute Section
- What happens to Bond Girls? Article on the fate of the actresses that played the iconic Bond Girls
|
|
|---|
|
Characters |