Ursula Andress Of all the women who have come in and out of James Bond’s life, none can be more memorable than the image of the beautiful Ursula Andress emerging from the ocean, clad in a white bikini, wet blonde hair brushed sexily back, shell in hand, a ten inch shell knife clipped to her waist and singing a calypso. Ursula Andress was born in Berne, Switzerland on March 19th 1936 to a Swiss mother Anna and father, Rolph, who was born in Germany and became a diplomat during the Second World War during which time he disappeared and was never seen again. Ursula was one of six children having one brother and four sisters. Not a dumb blonde, Ursula is fluent in several languages including French, English, Italian and German, but as a free spirit, at the age of just 17, she disappeared from her home in Berne with a French actor, who took her to Rome, where Andress began her career as a model posing for artists. Her parents called Interpol to search for her but Ursula kept herself on course and soon found herself at the Cinecitta studios, where she appeared as an extra for some minor films, mainly comedies which were usually on the raunchy side. After a chance meeting with Marlon Brando, and upon his advice, she moved her life to Hollywood. In 1957, at the age of 20 Ursula married her first and only husband, actor and director John Derek who was ten years her senior, and who would later attract several more of the world’s most beautiful women, including Linda Evans and Bo Derek. The marriage ended in divorce just nine years later after Ursula had an affair with the French actor and star of her movie, Les tribulations d'un chinois en Chine, Jean-Paul Belmondo. She has maintained that Derek was actually the love of her life.
Her big break came in 1962 when she was cast as Honey Ryder in the first James Bond movie, Dr. No, taken from the book of the same name by author Ian Fleming. Her rise from the sea in the movie, as James Bond’s, played at that time by Sean Connery, love interest was thought to have been inspired by Botticelli’s painting, ‘The Birth of Venus.’ In 1963, for her performance in Dr. No, she was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Promising Female Newcomer. As the first ever Bond Girl, Ursula has been considered the best actress to perform the role of James Bond’s love interest. Other famous actresses who have played the role of a Bond Girl are, British actresses Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman, Halle Berry, Eva Green, Maude Adams and Barbara Carrera. Many of the Bond Gils have gone on to appear in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Magazine, such as Halle Berry, Ursula Andress, Maude Adams and Barbara Carrera. In 1963 Ursula starred with Anita Ekberg on the set of ‘4 for Texas’, with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, who played cowboys in this western movie. Her next high profile leading man would be Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco. The next year, she worked for the first time with her husband, John Derek in Nightmare in the Sun and this time her leading man was Sammy Davis Jr. She followed 1963 with another excellent year when she starred in the comedy What's New Pussycat?, with a memorable theme song by Welsh singer Tom Jones and was accompanied by the acting talents of Peter Sellers, Peter OToole and Woody Allen.
In 1967 Ursula made her second appearance as a Bond Girl, In Casino Royale, as Vesper Lynd, later to be played by Eva Green in the 2006 remake of the movie starring Daniel Craig as James Bond. During her single years in Hollywood, Ursula dated several high profile actors including, Warren Beatty, Ryan ONeal, Sean Connery, Marlon Brando, John DeLorean,
Dennis Hopper, James Dean and in 1979 while on the set of Clash of the Titans, starring Sir Laurence Olivier, she met Harry Hamlin, with whom she had a son, Dimitri in 1981. She was 43 and Hamlin was 27 years old at the time. Long after her career as a Bond Girl, Ursula has continued to be recognized as an icon in the role and in 1995 she was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in film history, and in 2003, in a UK Survey, her entrance in Dr. No was voted number one in "the 100 Greatest Sexy Moments." Ursula now divides her time between her homes in Rome and the United States. ABB |
