Maryam d'Abo

Maryam d'Abo
Maryam d'Abo, 1987
Born	Mariam d'Abo 27 December 1960 (1960-12-27) (age 48) Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom
Other name(s)	Maryam D'Abo
Occupation	Actress, producer, screenwriter
Years active	1983–present
Spouse(s)	Hugh Hudson (2003–present)

Maryam d'Abo (born 27 December 1960) is an English film and television actress, best known as Bond girl Kara Milovy in the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights.

Early life

Born in London, United Kingdom to a Georgian mother and Dutch father, d'Abo was raised in Paris and Geneva.^[1]

She decided to be an actress at the age of 11. She studied at Drama Centre London, while working as a model in commercials.

Career

In 1983, she made her screen debut in the successful low-budget British science fiction horror film Xtro, playing Analise Mercier, a French au pair, who becomes a human incubator for an alien, after a nude love scene. Xtro was briefly vilified as a so-called video nasty, but in fact it was granted an uncut video certificate by the BBFC. Talking to Femme Fatales magazine in 1994, d’Abo remembered it as "a terrible movie".^{[citation needed]}

In 1985, she made a brief appearance as 'French girlfriend', opposite Marc Sinden in Taylor Hackford's White Nights.^[2]

Her most famous role was in 1987 as Kara Milovy, the sweet and vulnerable Czechoslovakian cellist and sniper, who falls for James Bond in The Living Daylights. It remains her personal favourite film. As a tie-in with the film, she also featured in a Bond themed Playboy cover and multi-page pictorial in the September 1987 edition, but later said "I wouldn't do those pictures now... I've learned a lot since then" in an interview with People.^[1]

In 1988, she had a well-received role as Ta'Ra, an alien medical officer in the science fiction TV miniseries Something is Out There, which was followed by a six episode NBC mini-series by the same name.

In 1992, she had a critically acclaimed supporting role as a pretentious stained-glass artist in the quirky, low-budget British comedy Leon the Pig Farmer, which enjoyed a positive reception at film festivals in Venice, London, Edinburgh, and Palm Springs, California. In 1994, she appeared in The Browning Version, directed by Mike Figgis.

Since then, she has had roles in various low-budget, straight-to-video action, horror and fantasy films, as well as guest roles on television shows like Tales From the Crypt (1993), Red Shoe Diaries (1992), Murder, She Wrote (1992), and Tomcat: Dangerous Desires (1992).

She reunited with her James Bond director John Glen for The Point Men (2001). She played Keira Knightley’s mother in the 2002 TV miniseries version of Doctor Zhivago, and she was Queen Hecuba in the Emmy-nominated miniseries Helen of Troy (2003). In 2005, she had a small role in the dark, but well-received French film L’Enfer (Hell), co-written by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski and starring Emmanuelle Beart and Carole Bouquet (also a Bond girl).

In 2002, d'Abo co-wrote the book Bond Girls Are Forever, a tribute to the women, who have played the role of a Bond Girl. The book formed the basis for a documentary, featuring d'Abo and other famed Bond girls, including Ursula Andress. The documentary appeared on the American AMC network in 2002, timed to coincide with the theatrical release of Die Another Day. It was later included as a gift with the purchase of Die Another Day on DVD by some retailers. In 2006, a new version of the documentary, updated to include interviews with cast from Casino Royale (2006) was again aired on the AMC network and later released as a bonus feature on the March 2007 Blu-ray Disc and DVD release.

In 2007, Maryam had surgery for a brain hemorrhage from which she recovered. It inspired her to meet other people who had similar experiences. In 2009, she worked on a documentary on this topic.^[3]

Maryam d'Abo is signed to Models 1.^[4]

Personal life

She is a first cousin of the singer Mike d'Abo, and thus a first cousin once removed of his daughter, actress Olivia d'Abo.^[5] She is also granddaughter of the Georgian general Giorgi Kvinitadze.^{[citation needed]}

Her name d'Abo originates from the Finnish town of Turku (Abo in Latin, Åbo in Swedish).^{[citation needed]}

In November 2003, d'Abo married Hugh Hudson, the Oscar-nominated British director of Chariots of Fire (1981), Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), and Revolution (1985).

References

External links

• Maryam d'Abo at the Internet Movie Database
• Audio interview at BBC Wiltshire