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Women - 007

A Bond Girl is a character who portrays a significant supporting role or a love interest in a James Bond film, novel or video game. They typically have unusual names, and are physically attractive. The concept of Bond girls has evolved much over the years, and has proven one of the more controversial tropes of the Bond series - with some arguing that they should be referred to as "Bond Women" rather than girls. Bond girls have also represented the character's womanising, although this too has been toned down in recent years.

Bond girls fall into a number of different categories - sometimes they are women whom Bond rescues, or they are fellow agents and allies. Bond girls can also be opponents, rivals or members of enemy organisations. Bond girls vary greatly in terms of personality, occupation and appearance. Bond girls have included characters who were professional cello players, astronauts, air pilots, psychiatrists, nuclear scientists, tarot readers, marine archaeologists and corporate bosses, as well as the more predictable roles of spies and villains' girlfriends. A Bond girl can be feisty and independent, or docile and helpless. Some are extremely good at physical combat, while others evade it.

Some female characters such as Judi Dench's M, Rosa Klebb, and Irma Bunt are not classified as Bond girls, and are typically more mature and formidable women. Miss Moneypenny, on the other hand, is not usually seen as a Bond girl, but occupies an intermediate point between these two poles, sometimes flirting with him, and sometimes criticising him.

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 on the television series, The Avengers. Additionally, Halle Berry won an Academy Award in 2002, an award presented to her while in the midst of filming Die Another Day. Despite claims of a Bond girl curse, many of them have had successful careers later, and the attitude of past Bond girls to their former roles is as varied as the women who played them.

Names[]

Bond girls often have very unusual sounding names. In the early days of Bond, it was typical for many Bond girls to have names which were smutty double entendres, examples of these would include Honey Ryder, Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Chew Mee, Agent XXX, Holly Goodhead, Onatopp and so on. Some of these originate with Fleming, but some do not. This particular aspect has been parodied many times, especially in Austin Powers.

However, not all Bond girl names have sexual connotations, by any means. For example, Vesper Lynd's name is a pun on "West Berlin", with Berlin being a city known for its divided loyalties in the Cold War. Some are more cryptic - Jenny Flex as a pun on "genuflects"; May Day as a well known distress signal and so on. Tatiana Romanova's name has no such obvious puns or origins, although in the novel, Bond remarks on a possible link with the Romanovs, Russia's royal house (In reality, Romanov is actually a very common Russian surname).

Others are cultural references: Strawberry Fields (a Beatles song); Madeleine Swann (a reference to the novels of Marcel Proust); Tracy Bond is a partial reference to St. Theresa and so on.

Some of Ian Fleming's names (as with those of James Bond himself, Felix Leiter, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Auric Goldfinger and others) are also taken from people who knew, or knew of, in real life.

History[]

Honey Ryder 4

Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder, the first main Bond girl in the official films.

Ursula Andress is often considered the first Bond girl, playing Honey Ryder in the film Dr. No (1962). She was, however, preceded by Eunice Gayson who played the character Sylvia Trench. Trench is the only Bond girl to appear as the same character in more than one film, appearing again in From Russia with Love (1963). Initially, Trench was planned to be a regular girlfriend of Bond's in the series, but was subsequently dropped after the encore appearance.

It should be noted however that Valerie Mathis was the first ever Bond girl to appear on screen in the 1954 television version of Casino Royale. She was played by Linda Christian.

LindaChristian

Linda Christian - the very first Bond girl to appear on screen in 1954.

Even very early on, Bond girls were not necessarily helpless victims by any means, for example in Goldfinger, Pussy Galore is a highly successful and respected gang leader, who has little interest in men (in the book it is openly stated that she is a lesbian, whereas in the film this is only hinted at.) The earliest non-white Bond girl is Miss Taro (Zena Marshall), who is supposed to be Eurasian, but is played by a white actress, with You Only Live Twice featuring an ensemble of East Asian actresses. The first black Bond girl is Rosie Carver in Live and Let Die. In subsequent films, Bond girls come from many different backgrounds and regions, with the Soviet bloc being a frequent origin.

To date, only three Bond girls have captured the heart of James Bond. The first was Tracy di Vicenzo played by Diana Rigg, who marries Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). At film's end, Tracy is gunned down by 007's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld. It was initially planned that her death would actually occur in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), but this idea was dropped during filming of On Her Majesty's Secret Service when current-Bond George Lazenby announced he would step down from the role. The next girl was Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale (2006) who was secretly working for Bond's enemies and shared the same fate. Lastly, in the film Spectre, Bond rides off into the sunrise with Dr Madeleine Swann who returns in No Time to Die. In that film, she and Bond are happy and in love until he starts questioning her innocence in the bombing of Vesper's grave leading to their breakup. Five years later they reunite and it's revealed she had his child, Mathilde Swann, and the film ends with Bond sacrificing himself for them.

Within the Eon series, Maud Adams is the only actress to portray a main character as two different Bond girls in two different films, starting as Andrea Anders in The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974 and again as the title character in Octopussy (1983). She also appears as an extra in a third Bond film, A View to a Kill in 1985. Two other girls, Martine Beswick (Thunderball) and Nadja Regin (Goldfinger) also appear in a second adventure, appearing first in From Russia with Love. Tsai Chin appeared in two Bond films as well You Only Live Twice (1967) as a Ling and later as Madam Wu in Casino Royale (2006).

Pussy Galore

Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger

(Ursula Andress who appears in Dr. No, also plays Vesper Lynd in the non-Eon spoof Casino Royale (1967 film))

In 1995 Famke Janssen, who portrayed Xenia Onatopp, was considered the only major female character (and villain) whom Bond does not bed. However in 2008, lead Bond Girl Camille Montes also shows a restraint to Bond's usually forward charms.

Becoming more frequent, traditional Bond girls that have romantic trysts with Bond, are later discovered to be villainesses starting with Sophie Marceau's Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Miranda Frost portrayed by Rosamund Pike in Die Another Day (2002).

In late 2014, it was announced that Monica Bellucci will play Lucia Sciarra in Spectre (2015). At age 50, Bellucci made record as the oldest Bond girl in the film series. Previously, Honor Blackman held record, playing Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, aged 39 in 1964. Both actresses play the unlikely role, of being a Bond girl older than James Bond. (Casino Royale (1967) also had the 45 year old Agent Mimi)

Films[]

Eon series James Bond girls[]

Film Sexual encounters Actress Main Bond girl
Dr. No Sylvia Trench

Miss Taro

Honey Ryder

Eunice Gayson

Zena Marshall

Ursula Andress

Honey Ryder
From Russia with Love Sylvia Trench

Vida

Zora

Tatiana Romanova

Eunice Gayson

Aliza Gur

Martine Beswick

Daniela Bianchi

Tatiana Romanova
Goldfinger Bonita (implied)

Jill Masterson

Pussy Galore

Nadja Regin

Shirley Eaton

Honor Blackman

Pussy Galore
Thunderball Patricia Fearing

Paula Caplan (implied)

Fiona Volpe

Domino Derval

Molly Peters

Martine Beswick

Luciana Paluzzi

Claudine Auger

Domino Derval
You Only Live Twice Ling

Aki

Helga Brandt

Kissy Suzuki

Tsai Chin

Akiko Wakabayashi

Karin Dor

Mie Hama

Kissy Suzuki
On Her Majesty's Secret Service Tracy Bond (Teresa di Vicenzo)

Ruby Bartlett

Nancy

Diana Rigg

Angela Scoular

Catherine Von Schell

Tracy Bond (Teresa di Vicenzo)
Diamonds Are Forever Tiffany Case

Plenty O'Toole

Jill St. John

Lana Wood

Tiffany Case

Live and Let Die Miss Caruso

Rosie Carver

Solitaire

Madeline Smith

Gloria Hendry

Jane Seymour

Solitaire
The Man with the Golden Gun Andrea Anders

Saida

Mary Goodnight

Maud Adams

Carmen du Sautoy

Britt Ekland

Mary Goodnight
The Spy Who Loved Me Martine Blanchaud

Harem Tent Girl

Anya Amasova

Sue Vanner

Dawn Rodrigues

Barbara Bach

Anya Amasova

Moonraker Corinne Dufour

Manuela

Holly Goodhead

Corinne Cléry

Emily Bolton

Lois Chiles

Holly Goodhead
For Your Eyes Only Countess Lisl von Schlaf
Melina Havelock
Cassandra Harris

Carole Bouquet

Melina Havelock
Octopussy Bianca (implied)

Magda

Octopussy

Tina Hudson

Kristina Wayborn

Maud Adams

Octopussy
A View to a Kill Kimberley Jones

May Day

Pola Ivanova

Stacey Sutton

Mary Stavin

Grace Jones


Fiona Fullerton

Tanya Roberts

Stacey Sutton
The Living Daylights Linda

Kara Milovy

Kell Tyler

Maryam d'Abo

Kara Milovy
Licence to Kill

Pam Bouvier
Lupe Lamora

Carey Lowell
Talisa Soto

Pam Bouvier
GoldenEye Caroline

Xenia Onatopp

Natalya Simonova

Serena Gordon

Famke Janssen

Izabella Scorupco

Natalya Simonova
Tomorrow Never Dies Prof. Inga Bergstrom

Paris Carver

Wai Lin

Cecilie Thomsen

Teri Hatcher

Michelle Yeoh

Wai Lin
The World Is Not Enough Dr. Molly Warmflash

Elektra King

Dr. Christmas Jones

Serena Scott Thomas

Sophie Marceau

Denise Richards


Dr. Christmas Jones
Die Another Day Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson
Miranda Frost
Halle Berry
Rosamund Pike

Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson

Casino Royale
2006 version
Solange Dimitrios

Vesper Lynd

Caterina Murino

Eva Green

Vesper Lynd

Quantum of Solace Camille Montes

Strawberry Fields

Olga Kurylenko

Gemma Arterton

Camille Montes
Skyfall Unnamed Girl

Sévérine

Tonia Sotiropoulou

Berenice Marlohe

Sévérine
Spectre Estrella (implied)

Lucia Sciarra

Madeleine Swann

Stephanie Sigman

Monica Bellucci

Léa Seydoux

Madeleine Swann

No Time to Die Madeleine Swann Léa Seydoux Madeleine Swann

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 and Pussy Galore's Flying Circus 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 Sheikh Hossein's harem in The Spy Who Loved Me. However, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, 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 full fledge Bond girls to provide added publicity for the film through eye-catching magazine and newspaper appearances.

In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, they include Ernst Stavro Blofeld's Angels of Death. In Moonraker (1979) this included members of Hugo Drax's "master race" and a group of women encountered by Bond in the jungles of Brazil, in For Your Eyes Only (1981) many women were seen frolicking around a villain's pool, while in Octopussy (1983) they served mainly as the title character's servants and guards. In A View to a Kill (1985) they adorned Max Zorin's outdoor reception and in The Living Daylights (1987) they served as decorations at the villain's swimming pool and later Bond overpasses a harem in Tangiers. Although the Bond films haven't stopped making use of feminine "eye candy" completely, such large "Bond girl groups" have not featured again since The Living Daylights.

Non-Eon films[]

There are a number of notable Bond girls in the non-Eon productions. In fact, as stated above, the very first Bond girl was Valerie Mathis in the 1954 Casino Royale, before Dr. No was even made. Ursula Andress became a Bond girl for a second time in the 1967 Casino Royale and Caroline Munro can also be spotted in a bit part in it before she became an "official" Bond girl. The '67 Casino Royale also features Sir James Bond's daughter Mata Bond as a Bond girl.

Whereas Casino Royale has a massive ensemble of Bond girls, there are only two main ones in Never Say Never Again.

Film Bond girls Actresses
Casino Royale (1954 TV) Valerie Mathis Linda Christian
Casino Royale (1967 film) Vesper Lynd

Mata Bond
Agent Mimi
Fang Leader
Eliza
Heather
Peg
Meg
Buttercup
Jag
Control Girl
Miss Moneypenny
Lorelei
Ting Ling
The Detainer
Shirley
Giovanna Goodthighs
Captain of the Guards
Keystone Kop
Michele
Guard Girl

Ursula Andress

Joanna Petett
Deborah Kerr
Tracy Reed
Gabriella Licudi
Tracey Crisp
Elaine Taylor
Alexandra Bastedo
Angela Scoular
Mireille Darc
Penny Riley
Barbara Bouchet
?
?
Daliah Lavi
?
Jacqueline Bisset
Jeanne Roland
Geraldine Chaplin
Frances Cosslett
Caroline Munro

Omnibus: The British Hero Various

Various

Gabrielle Drake

Katya Wyeth

Never Say Never Again Fatima Blush

Domino Petachi
Patricia Fearing
Lady in the Bahamas

Barbara Carrera

Kim Basinger
Prunella Gee
Valerie Leon

Group Galleries[]

Novels[]

Ian Fleming[]

Year released Novel Bond girl
1953 Casino Royale Vesper Lynd
1954 Live and Let Die Solitaire
1955 Moonraker Gala Brand
1956 Diamonds Are Forever Tiffany Case
1957 From Russia with Love Tatiana Romanova
1958 Dr. No Honeychile Ryder
1959 Goldfinger Jill Masterton
Tilly Masterton
Pussy Galore
1960 "From a View to a Kill" Mary Ann Russell
1960 "For Your Eyes Only" Judy Havelock
1960 "Quantum of Solace" Rhoda Llewellyn
1960 "Risico" Lisl Baum
1960 "The Hildebrand Rarity" Liz Krest
1961 Thunderball Patricia Fearing
Dominetta "Domino" Vitali
1962 The Spy Who Loved Me Vivienne Michel
1963 On Her Majesty's Secret Service Ruby Windsor
Teresa di Vicenzo
1964 You Only Live Twice Kissy Suzuki
1965 (posthumously) The Man with the Golden Gun Tiffy
Mary Goodnight
1966 (posthumously) "Octopussy" No Bond girl
1966 (posthumously) "The Living Daylights" "Trigger"
1966 (posthumously) "The Property of a Lady" Maria Freudenstein
1966 (posthumously) "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 any sort of romantic fashion.

Kingsley Amis[]

Year released Novel Bond girl
1968 Colonel Sun Ariadne Alexandrou

John Gardner[]

Year released

Novel Bond girl
1981 Licence Renewed Lavender Peacock
Mary Jane Mashkin
1982 For Special Services Cedar Leiter
Nena Bismaquer
1983 Icebreaker Paula Vacker
Rivke Ingber
1984 Role of Honour Persephone Proud
Freddie Fortune
Cindy Chalmer
1986 Nobody Lives For Ever Sukie Tempesta
Nannie Norrich
1987 No Deals, Mr. Bond Ebbie Heritage
Heather Dare
1988 Scorpius Harriet Horner
1989 Win, Lose or Die Beatrice Maria da Ricci
Clover Pennington
Nikki Ratnikov
1990 Brokenclaw Sue Chi-Ho
1991 The Man from Barbarossa Nina Bibikova
Stephanie Adore
1992 Death is Forever Easy St. John
Praxi Simeon
1993 Never Send Flowers Flicka von Grüsse
1994 SeaFire
1996 COLD Sukie Tempesta
Beatrice da Ricci
Toni Nicolleti

Raymond Benson[]

Year released Novel Bond girl
1997 "Blast From the Past" Cheryl Haven
1997 Zero Minus Ten Sunni Pei
1998 The Facts of Death Niki Mirakos
1999 "Midsummer Night's Doom" Lisa Dergan*
1999 High Time to Kill Helena Marksbury
Gina Hollander
Hope Kendall
1999 "Live at Five" Janet Davies
Natalia Lustokov
2000 Doubleshot Heidi Taunt
2001 Never Dream of Dying Tylyn Mignonne
2002 The Man with the Red Tattoo Reiko Tamura
Mayumi McMahon

*Playboy Playmate Lisa Dergen is, to date, the only real-life person to be featured as a Bond girl in any literary Bond story.

Sebastian Faulks[]

Year released Novel Bond girl
2008 Devil May Care Scarlett Papava

Jeffrey Deaver[]

Year released Novel Bond girl
2011 Carte Blanche Felicity Willing

Ophelia Maidenstone

William Boyd[]

Year released Novel Bond girl
2013 Solo Bryce Fitzjohn

Efua Ogilvy-Grant

Anthony Horowitz[]

Year released Novel Bond girl
2015 Trigger Mortis Jeopardy Lane

Logan Fairfax

Pussy Galore

2018 Forever and a Day Joanne Brochet

Monique de Troyes

Young Bond Novels[]

Charlie Higson[]

Novel Bond girl
SilverFin Wilder Lawless
Blood Fever Amy Goodenough
Double or Die Kelly Kelly
Hurricane Gold Precious Stone
By Royal Command Roan Powers

Steve Cole[]

Novel Bond girl
Shoot to Kill Boudicia "Boody" Price
Heads You Die Jagua
Maritsa
Strike Lightning Unknown

Comic strips[]

Comic strip Bond girl
River of Death Kitty Redwing
The Golden Ghost Velvet Lee
Fear Face Briony Thorne
Double Jeopardy Lalla Sadub
Starfire -
Trouble Spot Gretta
Isle of Condors Crystal Kelly

Video games[]

Game (production company) Bond girl Actress (if applicable)
Agent Under Fire (Electronic Arts) Zoe Nightshade Caron Pascoe
Nightfire (Electronic Arts)

Dominique Paradis
Zoe Nightshade

Alura McCall

Makiko Hayashi

Lena Reno
Jeanne Mori

Kimberly Davies
Tamlyn Tomita

Everything or Nothing (Electronic Arts) Serena St. Germaine
Dr. Katya Nadanova
Miss Nagai
Mya Starling
Shannon Elizabeth
Heidi Klum
Misaki Ito
Mýa Harrison
From Russia with Love (Electronic Arts) Tatiana Romanova
Eva Adara
Elizabeth Stark
Daniela Bianchi (likeness)
Maria Menounos
Natasha Bedingfield
Quantum of Solace (Activision) Camille Rivera
Vesper Lynd
Olga Kurylenko
Eva Green
GoldenEye 007 (2010) (Activision) Natalya Simonova Kirsty Mitchell
Blood Stone (Activision) Nicole Hunter Joss Stone
007 Legends (Activision)

Pussy Galore
Tracy Bond
Pam Bouvier
Jinx
Holly Goodhead

Honor Blackman (likeness)/ Natasha Little (voice actor)
Diana Rigg (likeness)
Carey Lowell (likeness/voice)
Gabriela Montaraz (likeness)/ Madalena Alberto (voice actor)
Jane Perry (likeness)/ Lois Chiles (voice)

TheGirlsofBondTimeilne

An out of date timeline of Bond Girls (1962-2012).

Trivia[]

  • After the release of For Your Eyes Only (1981) a background actress in a pool scene, Tula, was revealed to be a transsexual, although it does not seem that (most of) the film production crew were aware of this. She is not a major character and has no dialogue, but nonetheless this revelation did generate tabloid interest in the following year, with the now defunct British tabloid newspaper the News of the World outing her.
  • Vesper Lynd, the Bond girl from Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, is believed to have been based on Christine Granville, a real-life SOE agent.
  • 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. An updated version was included on the original Casino Royale DVD..
  • Halle Berry and Kim Basinger are the only Oscar winners to play a Bond girl.
  • 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 and Maud Adams remain, to date, the only actresses to have played more than one major Bond girl, although several other actresses have appeared more than once as "eye-candy" Bond girls.
  • It is interesting to note that while Jill is listed as an enemy on the Bond girl timeline, Pussy Galore was more of an antagonist to Bond.
  • Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann is the only Bond girl to be the main Bond girl twice in the films, Spectre and No Time to Die.

See also[]

External links[]

Wikipedia logo 1024x684 This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Bond girl. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with the James Bond Wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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