Bond Divas

The character of James Bond has been depicted as one of a quintessential seducer and womaniser and as such girls always have an important role in all Bond movies. A Bond girl is not essentially a heroine as there are no set rules as to what kind of a person a Bond girl will be or what role she plays. She can be an ally of Bond or an enemy. Pivotal to the mission or simply there for her looks. She is a character who is attractive, love interested or companion of James Bond.

Ursula Andress is supposed to be the first Bond girl who appeared in the first film ‘Dr No’ The Swiss actress plays Honey Rider, the love interest of Bond, who dazzled the audience, stepping out of the Caribbean Sea in a white bikini, carrying a large hunting knife at her side She became immensely popular as a sex symbol and set the tone for all the future Bond girls. Never known for her acting prowess, Ursula Andress became a big star on the on the strength of her sex appeal.

In Dr No, there was another British actress Eunice Grayson who played Sylvia Trench, Bond’s girlfriend. She was also the Bond girl in the next two movies. It became a running joke that Bond was called away on a mission just as things were heating up .

There was a third Bond girl in ‘Dr No’ Miss Taro and the character was played by another British actress Zena Marshall. She is a spy working for the antagonist Dr No, who gets a job at a government house in Kingston, Jamaica, so that she could steal secret files detailing Dr No and his Crab Key Island. She invites Bond over her house for dinner so that she can lay a trap for him for his assassination. But Bond proves too smart for him to fall prey and arrests her instead to capture the assasin.

In the next film From Russia With Love released in 1963, the Bond girl was played by Italian actress Daniela Blanchi, who plays Tatiana Romaniva, working for the Soviet Embassy in Istanbul and is coerced by the deadly Rosa Klebb into a mission to seduce Bond and unknowingly lead him to his death . But she is attracted to Bond and helps him steal a Lektor decoding machine, and the pair escapes on the Orient Express train. When the assassination attempt by his henchman Red Grant fails, Klebb personally tries to kill Bond but Tatiana develops loyalty to Bond and helps him win out. (to be continued….)

Courtesy : Mr. N Bohra