Ursula Andress

Ursula Andress

Ursula Andress ca. 1971
Born (1936-03-19) 19 March 1936
Ostermundigen, Switzerland
Nationality Swiss
Occupation Actress
Years active 1954–2005
Spouse(s) John Derek (m. 1957; div. 1966)
Partner(s) Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965-1972)
Fabio Testi (1973-1976)
Harry Hamlin (1979–1983)
Fausto Fagone (1986–1991)
Children Dimitri Hamlin (b. 1980)

Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss film and television actress, former model and sex symbol, who has appeared in American, British and Italian films.[1] She is best known for her breakthrough role as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, Dr. No. She later starred as Vesper Lynd in the Bond-parody Casino Royale. Her other films include Fun in Acapulco, She, The Blue Max, Perfect Friday, The Sensuous Nurse, Slave of the Cannibal God, The Fifth Musketeer and Clash of the Titans.

Background

Andress, the third of six children, was born in Ostermundigen, Canton of Bern, Switzerland to Anna, a gardener, and Rolf Andress, a German diplomat who was expelled from Switzerland for political reasons. He disappeared during World War II.[2] She has a brother and four sisters.

At 18, Andress left Switzerland and went to Rome, Italy where she was a walk-on in three nondescript Italian films.[3] Within a year she came to California and was signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures, but the contract resulted in no acting roles due to her inability to learn English at the time.[4]

Career

Andress became famous as Honey Ryder, a shell diver and James Bond's woman of desire in Dr. No (1962), the first Bond movie.[5] In what became an iconic moment in cinematic and fashion history,[6][7][8] she rose out of the Caribbean Sea in a white bikini sporting a large diving knife on her hip. Due to her heavy Swiss-German accent, the character's voice was provided by Nikki van der Zyl,[9] while the calypso was sung by Diana Coupland.[10] The scene made Andress a "quintessential" Bond girl.[11][12] Andress later said that she owed her career to that white bikini: "This bikini made me into a success. As a result of starring in Dr. No as the first Bond girl, I was given the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially independent."[6][13] The bikini she wore in the film sold at auction in 2001 for £41,125 ($59,755).[14][15] In 2003, in a UK Survey by Channel 4, her entrance in Dr. No was voted #1 in "the 100 Greatest Sexy Moments".[16] Andress won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year in 1964 for her appearance in the film.[17]

Andress co-starred with Elvis Presley in the 1963 musical film Fun in Acapulco, with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in 4 for Texas (1963), opposite Marcello Mastroianni in The 10th Victim (1965), alongside John Richardson in She (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, played by Peter Sellers, to carry out a mission. Later, she worked with fellow former Bond girls Claudine Auger in Anyone Can Play (1968), Barbara Bach in Stateline Motel (1975), and Luciana Paluzzi in The Sensuous Nurse (1975).

In 1965, she posed nude for Playboy; it would be the first of seven times she was pictured in the magazine over the next fifteen years.[3][18] When asked why she had agreed to do the Playboy shoot, Andress replied coolly, "Because I'm beautiful."[19] She went on to appear nude or semi-nude in nearly all of her film roles between 1969 and 1979, earning her the nickname "Ursula Undress."[20]

Other films from this period of her career include the West African diamond-searching adventure The Southern Star (1969) with George Seagal, the crime caper Perfect Friday (1970) with Stanley Baker and David Warner, the western Red Sun (1972) with Charles Bronson and Alain Delon, as Joséphine de Beauharnais in the swashbuckling spoof The Loves and Times of Scaramouche (1976) with Michael Sarrazin, the cult favorite Slave of the Cannibal God (1978) with Stacey Keach, and as Louise de La Vallière in The Fifth Musketeer (1979) with Beau Bridges.

She played Aphrodite in 1981's Clash of the Titans, where she worked with Laurence Olivier. During the making of the film, Andress linked up with leading man Harry Hamlin, who became the father of her child. In 1982, she portrayed Mabel Dodge in the adventure-drama film Red Bells. On television, she participated in the 1986 Emmy-winning miniseries Peter the Great, and joined the cast of the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest for a three-episode arc in 1988 as an exotic foreigner who assists David Selby in retrieving Dana Sparks from a white slave ring.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, her acting appearances have been rare. In 1995, Andress was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars in film history." Her last role to date was playing "Madonna" in the low-budget 2005 Swiss feature Die Vogelpredigt oder Das Schreien der Mönche (English title: The Bird Preachers).

Personal life

Andress dated film icon James Dean shortly before his death in 1955.[21] That same year, she began an affair with actor/director John Derek,[22] a married father-of-two who walked out on his wife, Pati Behrs, and their family to be with 19-year-old Andress.[22] They wed in 1957 in Las Vegas, but separated in 1963[23] and officially divorced in 1966, by which time Andress was cohabiting with French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, her co-star from Up to His Ears, for whom she left Derek.[21] Andress and Belmondo broke up in 1972.[24] One of her longest romances was with Italian actor Fabio Testi.[4] The two lived together for several years beginning in 1973 and had a torrid love scene in Stateline Motel. She was also reportedly linked with Gerardo Amato, Helmut Berger, Daniel Gelin, Dennis Hopper, Ricci Martin, Marcello Mastroianni, Franco Nero, Ryan O'Neal and Nels Van Patten.[21][25][26][27]

Andress was in a relationship with American actor Harry Hamlin after meeting on the set of Clash of the Titans in 1979.[28] She gave birth to their son, Dimitri Hamlin, on 19 May 1980.[25] Although an engagement was announced,[29] the couple never married.[25] In 1983, Hamlin broke up with her.[30] Andress was then involved in successive relationships with Brazilian soccer player Paulo Roberto Falcão, real estate developer Stan Herman (second ex-husband of her close friend Linda Evans[31]) and singer Julio Iglesias.[32] In 1986 she began dating Fausto Fagone, an economics student from Sicily who was three decades her junior and later moved in with her.[33] By 1994, they were no longer together and Andress was having a relationship with an older man–only two decades her junior.[34]

On 18 May 2006, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Swiss Consulate General in Scotland, Andress celebrated her 70th birthday on board the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh in the company of an international crowd of celebrities, including TV host Michelle Hunziker and former Miss Switzerland Lauriane Gilliéron, as well as Andress's ex-partner Harry Hamlin.

Filmography

Andress in the 1950s
Andress in the 1960s
Andress with Elvis Presley and Elsa Cárdenas in Fun in Acapulco (1963).
Andress in Loaded Guns (1975)
Andress in 2004
Andress surrounded by TV crews on board the Royal Yacht Britannia celebrating her 70th birthday in 2006
Film Year Role Notes
Un americano a Roma 1954 Astrid Uncredited
La catena dell'odio 1955 N/A
Le avventure di Giacomo Casanova 1955
Thriller 1962 Luana TV series; episode: "La Strega"
Dr. No 1962 Honey Ryder Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress
Fun in Acapulco 1963 Marguerita Dauphin
4 for Texas 1963 Maxine Richter
Nightmare in the Sun 1965 Marsha Wilson
She 1965 Ayesha
What's New Pussycat? 1965 Rita
Up to His Ears 1965 Alexandrine Pinardel
The 10th Victim 1965 Caroline Meredith
Blue Max, TheThe Blue Max 1966 Countess Kaeti von Klugermann
Once Before I Die 1966 Alex
Casino Royale 1967 Vesper Lynd/007
Anyone Can Play 1968 Norma
Southern Star, TheThe Southern Star 1969 Erica Kramer
Perfect Friday 1970 Lady Britt Dorset
Red Sun 1971 Cristina
Loaded Guns 1974 Nora Green
Stateline Motel 1975 Michelle Nolton
Africa Express 1975 Madeleine Cooper
The Sensuous Nurse 1975 Anna
The Loves and Times of Scaramouche 1976 Joséphine de Beauharnais
Sex with a Smile II 1976 Marina
Safari Express 1977 Miriam
Double Murder 1978 Principessa Dell'Orso
Slave of the Cannibal God 1978 Susan Stevenson
Fifth Musketeer, TheThe Fifth Musketeer 1979 Louise de La Vallière
Tigers in Lipstick 1979 The Stroller/The Widow
Clash of the Titans 1981 Aphrodite
Red Bells 1982 Mabel Dodge
Manimal 1983 Karen TV series
The Love Boat 1983 Carole Stanton TV series
Liberté, Égalité, Choucroute 1985 Marie Antoinette
Peter the Great 1986 Athalie TV mini-series
Falcon Crest 1988 Madame Malec TV series
Il Professore – Diva 1988 Susy Kaminski TV movie
Klassezämekunft 1988 Agnes
Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders 1989 Betty Starr TV movie
Ti ho adottato per simpatia 1991 TV movie
Fantaghirò 3 1993 Xellesia TV movie
Fantaghirò 4 1994 Xellesia TV movie
Alles gelogen 1996
Cremaster 5 1997 Queen of Chain
Die Vogelpredigt oder Das Schreien der Mönche 2005 Madonna

References

  1. ↑ Tom Lisanti, Louis Paul (2002). Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962–1973. McFarland. p. 38. ISBN 0-7864-1194-5.
  2. ↑ Mark Anstead (7 December 2002). Bond girl who made a killing. The Guardian. Accessed 30 June 2008.
  3. 1 2 Logan Bentley (5 May 1980). Urged by Her 28-Year-Old Lover, Harry Hamlin, Ursula Andress Faces Motherhood at 44. People. Accessed 14 December 2010.
  4. 1 2 James Bacon (22 June 1977). Ursula Andress Lonely, Living Like a Saint. Sarasota Journal.
  5. ↑ Dr No bikini for sale (12 January 2001). BBC News. Accessed 16 February 2008.
  6. 1 2 "Former Bond girl to sell Dr No bikini". The Daily Telegraph. 13 January 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  7. ↑ Bensimon, Kelly Killoren (2006). The bikini book. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-51316-3.
  8. ↑ Lindner, Christoph (2009). The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-8095-1.
  9. ↑ Wright, Stephen. (21 September 2012) Bond's secret girl: Unknown artist dubbed the voices of 007's best-known beauties – but now she's banned from the movies spy's 50th birthday party! | Daily Mail Online. Dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved on 2015-07-09.
  10. ↑ Actress Diana Coupland dies at 74 (10 November 2006). BBC News. Accessed 16 February 2008.
  11. ↑ Rebecca Thomas (19 November 1999). One girl is not enough. BBC News. Accessed 16 February 2008.
  12. ↑ Kathryn Westcott (5 July 2006). The bikini: Not a brief affair. BBC News. Accessed 16 February 2008.
  13. ↑ Weekes, Karen (2007). Women know everything!: 3,241 quips, quotes, & brilliant remarks. Quirk Books. p. 419. ISBN 978-1-59474-169-2.
  14. ↑ Bond bikini sells for £35,000 (14 February 2001). BBC News. Accessed 16 February 2008.
  15. ↑ Christie's Auction Result (14 February 2001). Christie's Auction. Accessed 16 June 2012.
  16. ↑ Andress scene voted 'most sexy' (30 November 2003). BBC News. Accessed 16 February 2008.
  17. ↑ Ursula Andress. GoldenGlobes.org. Accessed 18 February 2008.
  18. ↑ Ursula Andress Playboy.co.uk.
  19. ↑ Julie Burchill (10 October 2011). Selling sex... why be coy about it?. The Independent. Accessed 10 October 2011.
  20. ↑ Dan Lewis (29 August 1972). 'Andress on Undress: Hollywood Overdoes It. Sarasota Journal. Accessed 18 March 2015.
  21. 1 2 3 Page Six (9 January 1986). Kiss & Tell. New Straits Times.
  22. 1 2 Derek, Sean Catherine (1982). Cast of Characters. Tower & Leisure Sales Co. ISBN 0843911263.
  23. ↑ "Friendly Divorces". People. February 13, 1995.
  24. ↑ Earl Wilson (16 July 1972). It Happened Last Night. Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
  25. 1 2 3 David Wallace (4 July 1983). 'I Want to Be with Him,' Says Ursula Andress, but Harry Hamlin Just Wants to Be on His Own. People. Accessed 14 December 2010.
  26. ↑ Larry Fields (September 4, 1978). "The Sporting Life". Philadelphia Daily News.
  27. ↑ Kerry Peters (February 17, 1981). "The Van Patten boys are sowing their wild oats – and scaring dad". Weekly World News.
  28. ↑ Hutchings, David. "For Harry Hamlin, Life After Ursula Andress Is a Time to Awake and Sing".9 April 1984. Retrieved on 8 March 2015.
  29. ↑ Associated Press (April 28, 1980). Ursula to wed after baby is born in May. The Free Lance-Star.
  30. ↑ Vince Leonard (29 June 1983). Ursula, Hamlin Split. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  31. ↑ Camilli, Doug (September 1, 1983). "Names In The News". The Montreal Gazette.
  32. ↑ "Fans depress Iglesias". The Daily Journal. December 13, 1988.
  33. ↑ Allis, Tim (September 14, 1987). "Chatter". People.
  34. ↑ Liz Smith (January 18, 1994). "Hopalong Cassidy gallops back to the Silver Screen". Courier-Post.
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