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Ursula Andress

 
Actor: Ursula Andress
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  • Born: Mar 19, 1936 in Berne, Switzerland
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '60s-'80s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Comedy
  • Career Highlights: Perfect Friday, The Blue Max, 10th Victim
  • First Major Screen Credit: Dr. No (1962)

Biography

Born in Switzerland to German parents, Ursula Andress first sought out film work while on a holiday to Rome (she later insisted that the producers came to her first). After a string of cheap films, Andress was brought to the U.S. as the New Dietrich, although the only things she actually had in common with Marlene Dietrich were German heritage and a magnificent legs. In 1957, Andress married American actor John Derek, who supervised every aspect of her career in much the same way that he'd later mold Bo Derek. The marriage ended unhappily, although the couple remained friends. She became an international sensation through her bikini-clad appearance as Honey Rider in the first James Bond movie Dr. No (1962), a role for which she was paid 10,000 dollars. Within a year, Andress was sharing billings with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in Four for Texas, and Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco (both 1963); she also posed for a now much-sought-after nude layout in Playboy magazine. After this her burst of super-celebrity, Andress settled into a series of increasingly humdrum films. During the making of 1981's Clash of the Titans, she linked up with the film's much younger leading man Harry Hamlin, who became the father of her child. Although Andress continued to make movies in the 1980s and '90s, she remained what she was in 1962: a stunning beauty of modest talents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Ursula Andress

Andress in her iconic Dr. No scene
Born March 19, 1936 (1936-03-19) (age 73)
Ostermundigen, Switzerland
Years active 1954–2005
Spouse(s) John Derek
(1957-1966)
Domestic partner(s) Harry Hamlin
(1978-1982)
Lorenzo Rispoli
(1983-present)

Ursula Andress (born March 19, 1936) is a Swiss actress and a major sex symbol of the 1960s.[1] She is best known for her roles as Bond girl Honey Rider in Dr. No and as Vesper Lynd in the 1967 James Bond parody Casino Royale.

Contents

Early life

Andress was born in Ostermundigen, Bern, Switzerland, the daughter of Anna, who was Swiss, and Rolf Andress, a German diplomat who was expelled from Switzerland for political reasons.[2] Andress has four sisters and one brother. She is fluent in English, French, Italian, and German. The young Andress started her career as an art model in Rome, which led to her first roles in the Italian movie industry.

Career

Andress became famous as Honey Rider, a shell diver and James Bond's object of desire in Dr. No (1962), the first Bond movie.[3] In a well-known scene, she rises out of the Caribbean Sea in a white bikini. The scene made Andress the "quintessential" Bond girl,[4] and is now considered iconic.[5] "My entrance in the film wearing the bikini on that beautiful beach made me world famous as 'the Bond girl'", she said, and the bikini from this "classic moment in cinema and Bond history" sold for £35,000 at auction in 2001.[6] In 2003, in a UK Survey by Channel 4, her entrance in Dr. No was voted #1 in "the 100 Greatest Sexy Moments".[7] In 2007, Australian series 20 to 1 ranked her entrance in Dr. No as the #2 Sexiest Movie Moment.

Andress won a 1964 Golden Globe award for New Star of the Year for her performance in Dr. No.[8] Her voice was provided by Nikki van der Zyl while the famous calypso was sung by Diana Coupland.[9] In 1965, she posed nude for Playboy.

Andress co-starred with Elvis Presley in the 1963 film, Fun in Acapulco, with Frank Sinatra in 4 for Texas (1963), opposite Marcello Mastroianni in The 10th Victim (1965), and as the countess in The Blue Max (1966). She also appeared in the Bond satire Casino Royale (1967) as Vesper Lynd, an occasional spy who persuades Evelyn Tremble, as played by Peter Sellers, to carry out a mission. Her heavy accent was dubbed over in Dr. No, but she used her own voice in Casino Royale.

In 1981's Clash of the Titans, she starred opposite legendary English actor Laurence Olivier. In 1995, Andress was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in film history."

Personal life

Andress surrounded by TV crews on board the Royal Yacht Britannia celebrating her 70th birthday in 2006

In 1957, Ursula Andress married actor/director John Derek. The marriage ended in divorce in 1966. Andress dated many of Hollywood's leading men including co-stars Marlon Brando and James Dean. In 1980, she had a son, Dimitri, with American actor Harry Hamlin, her co-star in the film Clash of the Titans. On May 18, 2006, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Swiss Consulate General in Scotland, Ursula Andress celebrated her 70th birthday on board the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh in the presence of an international crowd of celebrities.

Filmography

Year Film Role Other notes
1954 Un americano a Roma
1955 La catena dell'odio
Le avventure di Giacomo Casanova
1962 Dr. No Honey Ryder
1963 Fun in Acapulco Marguerita Dauphin
4 for Texas Maxine Richter
1965 Once Before I Die Alex
Nightmare in the Sun Wife
She Ayesha
What's New, Pussycat? Rita
Les Tribulations d'un chinois en Chine Alexandrine Pinardel
La decima vittima Caroline Meredith English title: The 10th Victim
1966 The Blue Max Countess Kaeti von Klugermann
1967 Casino Royale Vesper Lynd/007
1968 Le dolci signore Norma
1969 The Southern Star Erica Kramer
1970 Perfect Friday Britt
1971 Soleil rouge Cristina English title: Red Sun
1972 Five Against Capricorn
1973 L'ultima chance Michelle Nolton
1974 Colpo in canna Nora Green English title: Loaded Guns
1975 L'infermiera Anna English title: The Sensuous Nurse
Africa Express Madeleine Cooper
Le avventure e gli amori di Scaramouche Josephine De Beauharnais
1976 Safari Express Miriam
Spogliamoci così senza pudor English title: Sex With A Smile 2
1978 La montagna del dio cannibale Susan Stevenson English title: The Mountain of the Cannibal God
Doppio delitto Principessa Dell'Orso English title: Double Murder
1979 The Fifth Musketeer Louise de la Vallière
Letti selvaggi The Stroller and the Widow English title: Tigers in Lipstick
1981 Clash of the Titans Aphrodite
1982 Krasnye kolokola, film pervyy - Meksika v ogne Mabel Dodge
1983 Manimal Karen TV
1985 Liberté, égalité, choucroute Marie-Antoinette
1986 Peter the Great Athalie TV Series
1987–1988 Falcon Crest Madame Malec TV series
1988 Klassäzämekunft
1989 Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders Betty Starr TV
Il Professore - Diva Susy Kaminski TV
1993 Fantaghirò 3 Xellesia TV series
1994 Fantaghirò 4 Xellesia TV series
1996 Alles gelogen
1997 Cremaster 5 Queen of Chain
2005 Vogelpredigt, Die

References

  1. ^ Lisanti, Tom; Paul, Louis. Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962-1973. McFarland. p. 38. ISBN 0786411945. 
  2. ^ Mark Anstead (December 7, 2002). Bond girl who made a killing. The Guardian. Accessed 2008-06-30.
  3. ^ Dr No bikini for sale (12 January 2001) BBC. Accessed 2008-02-16.
  4. ^ Rebecca Thomas (19 November 1999). One girl is not enough BBC. Accessed 2008-02-16.
  5. ^ Kathryn Westcott (5 July 2006). The bikini: Not a brief affair BBC Accessed 2008-02-16.
  6. ^ Bond bikini sells for £35,000 (14 February 2001) BBC. Accessed 2008-02-16.
  7. ^ Andress scene voted 'most sexy' (30 November 2003) BBC. Accessed 2008-02-16.
  8. ^ The 21st Annual Golden Globe Awards (1964). Golden Globes. Accessed 2008-02-18.
  9. ^ Actress Diana Coupland dies at 74 (10 November 2006) BBC. Accessed 2008-02-16.

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