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Ursula Andress
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Ursula Andress was a major sex symbol of the 1960s. She appeared as "Honey Ryder", James Bond's object of desire in Dr. No (1962), the first James Bond film. Her stunning good looks served her well, as her introduction in Dr. No became one of the most famous Bond moments. Rising out of the Caribbean Sea singing a beautiful calypso and tossing back her beautiful blonde hair, she spots Bond. "What are you doing here?" she asks. "Looking for shells?" "No," replies Bond, admiring her suntanned body hardly covered in a white bikini, "I'm just looking." (The combination of sea, shells, and a stunning blonde has led some critics to trace the inspiration for this scene to Botticelli's Birth of Venus.)
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From All Movie Guide: Born in Switzerland to German parents, Ursula Andress first sought out film work while on a holiday to Rome (she later insisted that the producers came to her first). After a string of cheap films, Andress was brought to the U.S. as the New Dietrich, although the only things she actually had in common with Marlene Dietrich were German heritage and a magnificent legs. In 1957, Andress married American actor John Derek, who supervised every aspect of her career in much the same way that he'd later mold Bo Derek. The marriage ended unhappily, although the couple remained friends. She became an international sensation through her bikini-clad appearance as Honey Rider in the first James Bond movie Dr. No (1962), a role for which she was paid 10,000 dollars. Within a year, Andress was sharing billings with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in Four for Texas, and Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco (both 1963); she ... posed for a now much-sought-after nude layout in Playboy magazine.
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An international star of German and Swiss descent, Ursula Andress became famous for being the first Bond girl, Honey Ryder, in Dr. No (1962), opposite Sean Connery. Andress’ glowing presentation in the first Bond movie won her two Golden Globe Awards. The smoldering blonde player is ... known for playing roles in such films as What’s New, Pussycat? (1965), Casino Royale (1967) and The Clash of the Titans (1981). Her TV credits include Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders (1989).
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Ursula Andress was born in Switzerland in March 1936. Her mother was half Swiss and Half Italian, and her father was a German diplomat who went missing during the war. She went on holiday to Rome, and after getting some work as an art model, she decided to venture into the film industry. She was given a few minor roles in low budget Italian films, and was later sent out to America to further her career. In 1957 she had a short-lived marriage to John Derek, who helped her out considerably, advising her on her career. The advice was well taken and a few years later she was given the biggest break of her career.
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The quintessential jet-set Euro starlet, Ursula Andress was born in the Swiss canton of Berne on March 19, 1936, one of seven children in a German Protestant family. Although often seeming icily aloof, a restless streak early demonstrated itself in her personality, and she had a desire from an early age to explore the world outside Switzerland. For instance, she ran away with an Italian actor at the tender age of 17, then returned home after her parents intervened. The stunning young woman started her movie career with small roles in Italian farces which invariably focused on her impressive physical attributes. Eventually, due in part to the patronage of her paramour Marlon Brando, she signed a contract to make movies for Columbia Pictures and came to the US, but met rising star John Derek and married him in 1957, dropping out of movie-making for several years thereafter.
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[T]he Swiss actress herself was not a fan of her beach attire: "I never thought I looked sexy in the white bikini," Andress reveals. "What I did, I think, is to show a new way women could be.
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