It was 70 years ago this month that superspy James Bond leaped into action for the first time.
He began his dazzling undercover career chasing evil mastermind Julius No through the pages of Ian Fleming’s debut novel Casino Royale on April 13, 1953.
But it wasn’t until nine years later in, 1962, that dashing Agent 007 truly became a household name, bursting out of cinema screens across the land in the swaggering, suave shape of Sean Connery. Now, as millions of fans across the world know, every big-screen Bond since then has liked his martinis shaken – and his female leads stirringly glamorous.
The first was Swiss-German blonde Ursula Andress as pouting Honey Ryder – and since then our hero has been entangled with 79 Bond girls (20 of them British), from one-night stands to budding romances that ended in tragedy for 33 of them.
Meanwhile, 007 himself has had several facelifts in a series that has made more than £5.7billion at the box office. There have been 25 official movies, in which Connery was followed by George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig as Bond.
David Niven played 007 in one of two unofficial adventures, 1967’s Casino Royale, with Connery reprising the role in 1983’s Never Say Never Again.
Now, speculation is rife over who will be the next Bond after Craig, 55, bowed out in No Time to Die. But whoever lands the job looks likely to face a thoroughly modern kind of no-nonsense Bond girl as 007 moves with our changing times.
Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge was brought in to work on the script of No Time to Die, wanting to change the way women were portrayed. And This Country comedian Daisy May Cooper is being tipped to play M in the next film. But former Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi, 85, reckons one thing won’t change – and that’s the fame of being with James.
She played assassin Fiona Volpe alongside Connery in 1965 romp Thunderball.
She says: “It was incredible. You were suddenly on every cover of every magazine in the world. There was nowhere afterwards where I wasn’t recognised. Sean was a pleasure to work with. We stayed friends. He’s my favourite Bond. I never imagined it would go on this long.”
No Time to Die made £96m in the UK in 2021 and £575m globally – all those years after a former personal assistant to Britain’s director of naval intelligence in the Second World War decided to “write a spy novel to end all spy novels”.
Fleming was living in Jamaica, in a house called GoldenEye, after a mission when he knocked out Casino Royale. His biographer, Andrew Lycett, says: “It was quite racy for the time and was even branded a sort of pornography.”
After that, Fleming wrote a Bond novel a year – then Dr No, from 1958, was made into a film shot in London and Jamaica. Audiences lapped up the exotic locations.
Ian Kinane, of the International Journal of James Bond Studies, says: “The Bond films marketed sex, foreign travel and international intrigue. And Bond is part of the British psyche, a national icon.”
Now, however, he’s learned the importance of staying relevant.
Ian adds: “The No Time to Die script promised to revolutionise Bond’s misogyny. This film represented the ‘live or let die’ moment of the franchise.”
So 007 will live on – but facing a different era of Bond girls.
Of the 79 Bond girls to grace our screens, 20 have been British. Here are six of the most memorable ones...
TERESA DI VICENZO (DIANA RIGG)
Diana Rigg, star of 60s TV hit The Avengers, played Teresa di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in 1969.
In a BBC interview, the actress, who died in 2020 aged 82, responded to feminist outrage by saying: “Quite why the feminists are up in arms about it, I don’t know. The character I played had a central role in the film and was not just a piece of fluff.”
JILL MASTERSON (SHIRLEY EATON)
Shirley, now 86, suffered one of the strangest Bond girl deaths as Jill Masterson in 1964 film Goldfinger.
Her character died from “skin suffocation” after being covered head to toe in gold paint.
Shirley recalled: “Producer Harry Saltzman’s main concern was whether I’d mind being painted gold and appearing semi-nude for the death scene less than 20 minutes into the film. It was only a week’s work.
“I never imagined the film and my role would have such a lifelong iconic existence.”
PUSSY GALORE (HONOR BLACKMAN)
Honor Blackman was 39 when she played Pussy Galore in 1964’s Goldfinger.
The star, who died in 2020 aged 94, said of the role: “Most of the Bond girls have been bimbos but I have never been a bimbo.
“Pussy Galore was quite a character. It was a feminist role.”
SOLITAIRE (JANE SEYMOUR)
In 1973’s Live and Let Die, Jane Seymour, now 72, played a psychic medium working for baddie Dr Kananga.
Reflecting on her role, she once said: “I was a woman, a virgin, who ran three paces behind a man with a gun, wearing actually a lot for a Bond girl.
“I was deflowered and then deposited. I’d lost all my power, so I was useless. It was awful.”
MIRANDA FROST (ROSAMUND PIKE)
In 2002’s Die Another Day, Rosamund Pike, 44, plays a fencing champion and traitorous M16 agent, winning the Empire Award for Best Newcomer.
She refused to strip at her audition. She said: “Something in me thought, ‘No, if you’re going to see me in my underwear, you can give me the part.’”
STRAWBERRY FIELDS (GEMMA ARTERTON)
Gemma’s performance in 2008’s Quantum of Solace won her the film magazine Empire Award for Best Newcomer. Funny Woman star Gemma, 37, said: “I get criticism for accepting the Quantum of Solace role.
“But I was 21, as poor as a church mouse, I had a student loan and, you know, it was a Bond film.”
