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Martine Beswick as Paula Kaplan in "Thunderball".

Martine Beswick, was born on September 26, 1941 in Port Antonio, Jamaica to British parents. In 1958, when she was only 17, she entered a beauty pageant, won it, sold the prize (a brand new car) and used the money to move to England where she was determined to fulfil her teenage dream of becoming an actress. She went on to become a model and Miss Jamaica.

Beswick is best known for her two appearances in the James Bond film series. Although she auditioned for the first Bond film Dr. No , she was cast in the second film From Russia with Love as the fiery gypsy girl Zora. She engaged in the famous "cat-fight" scene with her rival Vida (played by former Miss Israel Aliza Gur). She was incorrectly billed as "Martin Beswick" in the title sequence. Beswick then appeared as the ill-fated Paula Kaplan in Thunderball. She had been away from the Caribbean so long, that she was required to sunbathe constantly for two weeks before filming, in order to look like a local.

Martine went on to appear in One Million Years B.C. opposite Raquel Welch. She then appeared in various Hammer Studio "classics", most notably Prehistoric Women, and the gender-bending Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde. She played Adelita in the well-regarded spaghetti western A Bullet for the General in 1967 opposite Klaus Kinski and Gian Maria Volonte. In the 1970s, Beswick moved to Hollywood and regularly appeared on both the big screen and small screen. She made numerous guest appearances in TV series including Sledge Hammer!, Fantasy Island, The Fall Guy, Mannix, The Six Million Dollar Man and Falcon Crest.

Beswick's career was active well into the 1990s. In recent years she has mainly participated in film documentaries, providing commentary and relating her experiences on the many films she has appeared in. She also owns a successful removals business in London.

Contrary to speculation recorded elsewhere Martine Beswick never married and was not one of the silhouetted dancing girls in the opening credits to Dr No.

• Martine Beswick at the Internet Movie Database