Britt Ekland is not one for celebrating her birthday. "Usually it's just another day for me. But this year definitely called for champagne."
That’s because, on Thursday, the Swedish actress turned 80. And the Britt Ekland of today is still very much the Bond bombshell, albeit a mature one.
"I don’t think there are many people who get to my age and can work and run around and take care of things and enjoy life and feel healthy and happy," she says. "That is something I am very thankful for."
It is a big week for birthdays with her 80th coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the first Bond movie, Dr No.
And Britt admits her role in 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun opposite Roger Moore certainly made a lasting impression on fans around the world.
"People who meet me still call me a Bond Girl. And they find it so exciting – like I made the made the film yesterday. But 007 is almost as old as me now."
The actress is neither shaken nor stirred by becoming an octogenarian. And she seems as lithe and energetic as she did dodging bombs and destroying Scaramanga's hideout. And defiantly blonde.
There's not a hint of grey in her flowing, golden hair. "I will be dyeing my hair till the day I die," she says. "Vanity is my best friend."
And as a Bond Girl she feels there is a certain standard to keep to.
It was set when the world saw Ursula Andress ' Honey Rider emerge from the sea in Dr No in 1962 – the first and, for Britt, ultimate Bond Girl.
"Ursula was magnificent. The best Bond Girl without question. An action heroine I so wanted to emulate," she says.
Britt achieved her goal playing Mary Goodnight. "There is nothing that makes me prouder professionally than to know I am part of film history."
She says: "There is no character that is so universally loved as James Bond was. Great looking, great gadgets, great clothes, great locations. Even the fighting was stylish!
"Bond is an icon that will never die and, as a Bond Girl, I'm part of that legacy.
"Now they are Bond women and we have to move with the times but I very much represented the Bond Girl of old and I'm very happy with that."
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When Britt won the role she was already a well-known actress, having appeared in blockbusters Get Carter and The Wicker Man.
Then 32, Britt spent most of Golden Gun in a bikini, as did her fellow Swedish Bond girl Maud Adams, who remains a good pal to this day.
Britt appeared on set within a year of giving birth to her second child and 007 producer Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli was aghast that she had lost the curves she had when he hired her. "He thought I looked too thin, so he tried to fatten me up.
"There was a great Italian restaurant in Hong Kong where we were filming, and we always went there for dinner after shooting.
"Cubby would insist I ate two plates of spaghetti every time we went there. And I would sit there mortified, thinking about how I had to be in a bikini the next day."
She remembers Roger Moore as the perfect gentlemen, even if he did call her Bert.
"Roger was funny, charming but very professional. There were no flirtations of any kind or inappropriate behaviour. Maud and I were half-dressed all the time, which was the Bond Girl uniform back then.
"But he made us feel comfortable, which was not easy. It's different now. Everyone is on Instagram or out at clubs wearing next to nothing but it wasn't what you did then. Sit at a table and eat dinner in a bikini! Doing things other people do fully dressed!
"Roger made it a lot easier. And he was so very funny, which also relaxed me. He used to call me Bert!"
Away from the big screen, Britt's life has also given her much to reflect on. She married twice, first at the age of 22 to actor Peter Sellers, within a month after meeting him.
The couple had a daughter, Victoria, before Britt filed for divorce on the grounds of cruelty.
She went on to have a relationship with producer Lou Adler and became a mother again to son Nicholai.
After dating Rod Stewart in the mid-1970s, she married Stray Cats drummer Jim Phantom in 1984 and they had son TJ four years later.
The couple divorced in 1992 and for the past 30 years Britt, who is based in Los Angeles and retains a home on the coast outside of Stockholm, has been "happily single".
She was in Paris for a champagne birthday lunch with friends on Thursday. And the grandmother-of-three - a Patron of the Alzheimer's Society - makes sure she earns her daily glass of rosé by exercising.
"I go for a walk every day. It is really more like marching. I also do weightlifting. It’s important to look after yourself but the main thing in life is not to stress too much."
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