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Bond Girl




A Bond girl is a character or the Actress portraying a love interest or sex object of James Bond in a film, novel or Video Game . They typically have names that are Double Entendre s, such as " Pussy Galore ."

Bond girls are often victims rescued by Bond, fellow agents or allies, villainesses or members of an enemy organisation; sometimes, they are mere Eye Candy and have no direct involvement in Bond's mission. Other female characters such as Judi Dench 's M and Miss Moneypenny are not thought of as Bond girls.

The role of a Bond girl is typically a high-profile part that 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 major stars for their roles in the Television Series , '' The Avengers ''. Additionally, Halle Berry won an Academy Award in 2002 , an award presented to her while she was filming '' Die Another Day ''.


HISTORY

as Pussy Galore in '' Goldfinger '']]

Ursula Andress is often considered the first Bond girl, playing Honey Ryder in the film '' Dr. No '' ( 1962 ). In fact she was preceded by Eunice Gayson who played the character Sylvia Trench in the same film. Trench is the only Bond girl to appear as the same character in more than one film, appearing again in '' From Russia With Love '' ( 1963 ). Initially, Trench was planned to be a regular girlfriend of Bond's in the series, but she was dropped after the encore appearance.

To date, only one Bond girl has really captured the heart of James Bond. Tracy Di Vicenzo played by Diana Rigg , marries Bond in '' On Her Majesty's Secret Service '' ( 1969 ). At the end of the film, Tracy is gunned down by Bond's nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld . It was initially planned that her death would actually occur in '' Diamonds Are Forever '' ( 1971 ), but this idea was dropped during filming of ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' when current-Bond George Lazenby announced he would step down from the role.

Within the official series, '' and '' Never Say Never Again '', there are a number of other girls who have also played more than one girl. Ursula Andress, for instance returns in 1967 to play Vesper Lynd in the unofficial spoof, ''Casino Royale'' as do a number of other girls who played minor characters such as Angela Scoular (''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'', ''Casino Royale (1967)''), and Valerie Leon ('' The Spy Who Loved Me '' and ''Never Say Never Again'').

In 1995 , Famke Janssen portrayed Xenia Onatopp ; she is considered the only major female character (and villain) whom Bond does not bed.

More frequently, traditional Bond girls that have romantic trysts with Bond are later discovered to be villainesses such as Sophie Marceau 's Elektra King in '' The World Is Not Enough '' ( 1999 ) and Rosamund Pike 's Miranda Frost in ''Die Another Day''.


CRITICISMS

Since the film series began in the early 1960s , Bond girls have been criticized by Feminist s, and others, who feel they generalize women as Bimbo s, damsels in distress, or objectify women as a result of Bond's actions. Through the years, the role of the Bond girl has changed somewhat from the stereotypical Bond girl to women that are Bond's equal, possessing special skills he needs to complete his mission, or even at times women that rescue Bond. These Bond girls are shown to be more headstrong, resourceful, and, in recent films, capable of holding their own. For example, in ''Moonraker'' the character of Holly Goodhead is established as being a trained Space Shuttle commander, a number of years before the first female shuttle commander was appointed in the real world. Wai Lin in '' Tomorrow Never Dies '', is a trained special agent working for People's Republic Of China ; Christmas Jones in ''The World Is Not Enough'' is a nuclear physicist, etc.


FILMS


Official James Bond girls


In addition to those actresses mentioned above, the Bond films traditionally have groups of women in the background whose general purpose is nothing more than eye candy: they include the sunbathing Miami beauties in ''Goldfinger'', the Thai girls at the kung fu school in ''The Man With the Golden Gun'', Tiger Tananka's bathing beauties in ''You Only Live Twice'', and Sheik Hossein's harem in The Spy Who Loved Me . However, in ''Moonraker'', ''For Your Eyes Only'', ''Octopussy'', ''A View to a Kill'', and ''The Living Daylights'' these women were also referred to in the media as fully- fledged Bond girls to provide added publicity for the film through eye-catching magazine and newspaper appearances. In ''Moonraker'' this included members of Drax's "master race" and a group of women encountered by Bond in the jungles of Brazil In ''For Your Eyes Only'' the women were seen frolicking around a villain's pool, while in ''Octopussy'' they served mainly as the title character's underlings. In "A View to A Kill" they adorned Max Zorin's outdoor reception and in "The Living Daylights" they served as decorations at the villain's swimming pool. One "Bond girl" in ''For Your Eyes Only'' was later revealed to be a post-operative Transsexual ( Tula ). Although the Bond films have never stopped making use of feminine "eye candy", such large "Bond girl groups" were not featured after ''The Living Daylights''.


Unofficial James 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 (a.k.a. Robert Markham )



John Gardner



Raymond Benson


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


Charlie Higson



VIDEO GAMES



TRIVIA

  • Vesper Lynd, the Bond girl from Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, is believed to be based on Christine Granville , a real-life SOE agent.

  • In 2002, former Bond girl 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.

  • Halle Berry and Kim Basinger are the only Oscar winners to play a Bond girl. Basinger won her Oscar a number of years after her Bond film appearance, while Berry received hers during production of ''Die Another Day''.

  • After the release of ''Die Another Day'', MGM and EON Productions considered creating a spinoff series featuring Halle Berry's Jinx character. Plans for this were cancelled in 2003.

  • Early drafts of '' Die Another Day '' included an appearance by Wai Lin , but Michelle Yeoh was unavailable.

  • Media reports for '' The World Is Not Enough '' indicated the producers planned to include cameo appearances by every surviving Bond girl actress, ranging from Ursula Andress to Michelle Yeoh , but that did not occur; however, one "eye-candy" Bond girl was played by Eunice Gayson's daughter.



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