Detailed Biography

A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres, such as "Pussy Galore," "Plenty O'Toole," "Xenia Onatopp," and "Holly Goodhead."

Bond Girls are often victims rescued by Bond, fellow agents or allies, villainesses or members of an enemy organization, most typically the villain's accomplice, assistant or mistress. Some are mere eye candy and have no direct involvement in Bond's mission; other Bond Girls play a pivotal role in the success of the mission. Other female characters such as Judi Dench's M, and Miss Moneypenny are not typically thought of as Bond Girls.

In novels

Nearly all of Ian Fleming's Bond novels and short stories include one, or sometimes more than one, female characters who qualify as Bond Girls, most of whom have been adapted for the screen. While having some individual traits, the Fleming Bond Girls, at least in their literary forms, also have a great many characteristics in common. One of these is age: The typical Bond Girl is in her early to mid-twenties, roughly ten years younger than Bond, who seems to be perennially in his mid-thirties. Examples include Solitaire , Tatiana Romanova , Vivienne "Viv" Michel , and Kissy Suzuki . The youngest Bond Girl may be Gala Brand; she is named for the cruiser in which her father is serving at the time of her birth. If this were the Arethusa-class Galatea launched in 1934, than Gala is possibly as young as 18 at the time she meets Bond and certainly no older than 20, though since she and Bond do not sleep together, going no further than a few kisses, the thirty-something Bond here narrowly avoids bedding a teenager. If on the other hand the Galatea in question is the cruiser sold for scrap in 1921, Gala is possibly the oldest of the Bond Girls, being in her mid- to late-30s and possibly as old as 40. The indications are, however, that she is young, so a 40-year-old Bond Girl is unlikely in this case.

Bond girls follow a fairly well-developed pattern of beauty. They possess splendid figures and tend to dress in a slightly masculine, assertive fashion, with few pieces of jewelry and that in a masculine cut, wide leather belts, and square-toed leather shoes. They often sport light though noticeable sun-tans , and they generally use little or no makeup and no fingernail or toenail polish, also wearing their nails short. Their hair may be any color ranging from red , to blonde to auburn to brown to blue-black to black ,, though they typically wear it in a natural or casual cut that falls heavily to their shoulders. Their features, especially their eyes and mouths, are often widely spaced . Their eyes are usually blue , and sometimes this is true to an unusual and striking degree: Tiffany Case's eyes are chatoyant, varying with the light from gray to gray-blue, while Pussy Galore has deep violet eyes, the only truly violet eyes that Bond had ever seen. The first description of a Bond Girl, Casino Royale's Vesper Lynd, is almost a template for the typical dress as well as the general appearance of later Bond Girls; she sports nearly all of the features discussed above. In contrast, Dominetta "Domino" Vitali arguably departs to the greatest degree from the template, dressing in white leather doeskin sandals, appearing more tanned, sporting a soft Brigitte Bardot haircut, and giving no indication of widely-spaced features. Even Domino, however, wears rather masculine jewelry.

The best-known characteristic of Bond Girls except for their uniform beauty is their pattern of suggestive names . Some of these, but not all, have explanations in the novels. While Solitaire's real name is Simone Latrelle, she is known as Solitaire because she excludes men from her life; Gala Brand, as noted above, is named for her father's cruiser, HMS Galatea; and Tiffany Case received her name from her father, who was so angry that she was not a boy that he gave her mother a thousand dollars and a compact from Tiffany's and then walked out on her. Conjecture is widespread that the naming convention began with the first Bond novel Casino Royale, in which the name "Vesper Lynd" is a pun on West Berlin, signifying Vesper's divided loyalties as a double agent under Soviet control. Several Bond Girls, however, have normal names .

Most Bond Girls are apparently sexually experienced by the time they meet Bond . Not all of their experiences, however, are positive, and many Bond girls have a history of sexual violence that often alienates them from men . This darker theme is notably absent from the early films. Tiffany Case was gang-raped as a teenager; Honey Ryder, too, was beaten and raped as a teenager by a drunken acquaintance. Pussy Galore was subjected at age 12 to incest, and rape, by her uncle. While there is no such clear-cut trauma in Solitaire's early life, there are suggestions that she, too, avoids men because of their unwanted advances in her past. Kissy Suzuki reports to Bond that during her brief career in Hollywood when she was 17 "They thought that because I am Japanese I am some sort of an animal and that my body is for everyone."The abuse and violence facing the women is also evident in the films, such as Lupe Lamora being abused by her lover Franz Sanchez in License to Kill as was Andrea Anders in The Man with the Golden Gun who sent a golden bullet to Bond in the hope he would track down her cold lover Francisco Scaramanga and "set her free", later saying "he's a monster, I hate him". The inference is that these episodes often turn the Bond Girls in question against men, though upon encountering Bond they overcome their earlier antipathy and sleep with him not only willingly but eagerly. The cliché reaches its most extreme level in Goldfinger. In this novel Pussy Galore is clearly a practicing lesbian when she first meets Bond, but at the end of the novel she sleeps with him. When, in bed, he says to her "They told me you only liked women," she replies "I never met a man before."

Many Bond Girls have some sort of independent job or even career, and often it is not a particularly respectable one for 1950s women. Vesper Lynd, Gala Brand, Tatiana Romanova, Mary Ann Russell, and Mary Goodnight are in intelligence or law enforcement work. By contrast, Tiffany Case and Pussy Galore are very independent-minded criminals, the latter even running her own syndicate. Most other Bond Girls, even when they have more conventional or glamorous jobs, show an investment in their independent outlook on life. While the Bond Girls are clearly intended as sex objects, they nevertheless have a degree of independence that the Bond films tended to dispense with until nearly 1980. It was the films, therefore, that turned the Bond Girl into purely a sex object.

Most of the novels focus on one particular romance, as some of them do not occur for a while into the novel . However, three exceptions have been made: In Goldfinger, the Masterton sisters are considered Bond girls , and after their deaths, Pussy Galore becomes the primary Bond girl. In Thunderball, Bond romances Patricia Fearing, followed by Domino Vitali. In You Only Live Twice, Bond has relationships with Kissy Suzuki, mainly, but also romances Mariko Ichiban, and a girl so insignificant that she is unnamed.

Several Bond girls have obvious signs of inner turmoil , and others have traumatic pasts. Most Bond girls that are allowed to develop are flawed, and several have unhappy sexual backgrounds . It is perhaps this vulnerability that draws them to Bond, aside from Bond himself being irresistable to women.

On film

Ursula Andress starring as 'Honey Ryder' in Dr. No is often considered the quintessential Bond Girl, while Eunice Gayson, as 'Sylvia Trench', and Zena Marshall as 'Miss Taro' appear earlier in the same film and therefore preceded her as Bond Girls.

There have been many attempts to break down the numerous Bond Girls into a top 10 list for the entire series; characters who often appear in these lists include Anya Amasova, Teresa di Vicenzo and Honey Ryder, who is often at Number 1 on the list.

Roles and impact

Often Bond Girls who have trysts with James Bond are later discovered as villainesses, e.g. Fatima Blush in Never Say Never Again , Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough and Miranda Frost in Die Another Day .

To date, only two Bond Girls have actually captured James Bond's heart. The first, Tracy di Vicenzo , married Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service , though she is shot dead by Irma Bunt and Ernst Stavro Blofeld at story's end. Initially, her death was to have begun Diamonds Are Forever ; but that idea was dropped during filming of On Her Majesty's Secret Service when George Lazenby renounced the James Bond role. The second was Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale . James Bond professes his love to her and resigns from MI6 so they can have a normal life together. Later, he learns that she was actually a double agent, working for his enemies. The enemy organization Quantum had ostensibly kidnapped her former lover and was blackmailing her to secure her cooperation. Apparently, she did truly fall in love with Bond, but as Quantum closed in on her, she committed suicide by drowning herself in a canal in Venice.

With the exception of "doomed" Bond girls, there is no explanation offered as to why the love interest is gone by the next film and is never mentioned or alluded to again.

Effect on career

The role of a Bond Girl, as it has evolved in the films, is typically a high-profile part that sometimes 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 stars in England for their roles in the television series, The Avengers. Additionally, Halle Berry won an Academy Award in 2002 - the award was presented to her while she was filming Die Another Day. Teri Hatcher was a star as well, having starred in the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and her photographs were an internet sensation before being cast in Tomorrow Never Dies. A few years after playing a Bond girl, she became one of the highest paid actresses on television by starring in Desperate Housewives. Kim Basinger has perhaps had the most successful post-Bond career. After her breakout role in Never Say Never Again, Basinger has since won Academy Award for her performance in L.A. Confidential and starred in the blockbuster films Batman and 8 Mile.

Legend has it that appearing as a Bond Girl will damage an actress' subsequent career. Lois Chiles is often cited as another example, although her career did not suffer as a result of portraying Holly Goodhead. In fact, Chiles had lost her younger brother to Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and decided to take a three year break from acting, from which her career never recovered. Notable exceptions to the so-called "curse" include Jane Seymour, Famke Janssen, Teri Hatcher, Halle Berry, Diana Rigg, and Kim Basinger. Casting for the female lead in Casino Royale was hindered by the fears of potential actresses; before Casino Royale, the Bond series was thought by some to have become stagnant and therefore less desirable to young actresses. The role of Vesper Lynd nevertheless went to the up-and-coming actress Eva Green.

Multiple appearances

The character of Sylvia Trench is the only Bond Girl character who recurs in a film, ) - she was meant to be Bond's regular girlfriend, but was dropped after her appearance in the second film.

In the series of films, three actresses have made reappearances as different Bond girls: Martine Beswick and Nadja Regin both first appeared in From Russia with Love, and then appeared in Thunderball and Goldfinger respectively. Maud Adams played Andrea Anders in The Man with the Golden Gun and the title character in Octopussy ; she also is an extra in A View to a Kill .

Including the unofficial James Bond films, Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again, several actresses also have been a Bond Girl more than once; Ursula Andress in Dr. No and Casino Royale ; Angela Scoular, in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Casino Royale ; Valerie Leon in The Spy Who Loved Me and Never Say Never Again .

Lists of Bond Girls

Novels

Ian Fleming

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 a romantic way.

Kingsley Amis

John Gardner

Raymond Benson

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

Charlie Higson

Sebastian Faulks

Films

The most prominent Bond Girl is featured first, followed by the rest in order of appearance.

Unofficial films

EON Productions call themselves the "official" producer of the James Bond film series, having produced 22 films between 1962 and 2008 as listed above. However, other James Bond productions have been made over the years by other producers and studios. These productions are described as "unofficial" by EON Productions and as such, so are the Bond girls featured therein.

Video games

Documentary

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. The featurette was included on the DVD release of Casino Royale with an updated segment referencing the newest film.