Investigating the Bond Girl Curse.

icsics Posts: 1,413MI6 Agent
This is taken from mi6 (http://www.mi6forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=51384 thanks to barryt007, i think it is interesting and copy pasted it)

Just found this interesting article on Virgin Media,showing the good old 'Bond Girl curse that has happened to these ladies :

1.Halle Berry
Before emerging from the sea as the fittingly-named Jinx in Die Another Day, Berry had won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a plum role as Storm in the X Men franchise. After that ghastly Bond movie, her life was frequently shaken and stirred. She broke her arm filming Gothika, endured a second divorce, picked up a Razzie for Catwoman and discovered that anything she made without an 'X' in the title was ignored.

2.Denise Richards
Bond Girl Curse + Millennium Bug = Epic Fail. The ludicrous decision to cast busty airhead Richards as nuclear physicist Dr Christmas Jones in 1999's The World Is Not Enough signalled the end of her ascent to stardom. Whereas she once impressed in Starship Troopers and Wild Things, she became tabloid fodder due to a destructive relationship with Charlie Sheen, a desperate Playboy shoot and a tacky reality show.

3.Barbara Bach
Her looks may have won her the role as Russian agent Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me, but her acting left a lot to be desired. Despite attempts to show off her thespian credentials in post-Bond flops like Force 10 From Navarone and Caveman, her career descended into a series of Playboy shoots. Bach gave up 'acting' in 1986 and settled down with hubby Ringo Starr.

4.Izabella Scorupco
The former model impressed in Goldeneye as the assertive programmer Natalya Simonova. She then must have sought career advice from someone with all the benevolence of Blofeld, as she turned down the female leads in LA Confidential and The Mask Of Zorro. What did she do instead? Vertical Limit, Reign Of Fire and Exorcist: The Beginning. She has since plunged off the radar in a similar fashion to Alex Trevelyan.

5.Lois Chiles
Is it any wonder this actress was never taken seriously once the name Holly Goodhead was emblazoned on the top of her CV? After portraying the CIA Agent in 1979's Moonraker she left the acting world for three years following the tragic death of her younger brother and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. Her only notable role after Bond was as JR's lover in one season of Dallas.

6.Shirley Eaton
The obscurity endured by Eaton after her iconic turn as Jill Masterson in Goldfinger is summed up by one popular (but totally false) rumour – that the actress died from 'skin suffocation' while filming her character's golden-painted demise. In 1969, just five years after playing the ill-fated spy, she opted to focus on her family rather than face more fruitless auditions.

7.Tanya Roberts
The career of the former Charlie's Angel star danced into the fire after playing sexy geologist Stacey in A View To A Kill. Her canoodling with the near-decrepit Roger Moore in 1985 was certainly a sign of things to come, as shedding her clothes in a procession of tawdry erotic thrillers (sample title – 1993's 'Sins Of Desire') was the only way to pay the bills.

8.Jill St.John
As a talented youngster, Jill St John was snapped up by Universal Pictures to a contract aged just 16. Several high profile roles ensued, along with a Golden Globe nomination in 1963. Her career defining moment came eight years later as Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever, but from then on it was a downward spiral into TV movies and guest roles in The Love Boat and Dempsey And Makepeace.

9.Tanya Mallet
With one hurl of Oddjob's steel-rimmed hat in Goldfinger, both the life of revenge-fuelled Tilly Masterson and the big screen career of the actress portraying her were effectively over. Unhappy with the meager wages and physical restrictions imposed on her during filming, Mallet returned to the modelling world and was rarely heard from again. Nowadays, she occasionally participates in Bond-related events and signings.

10.Lana Wood
The busty actress briefly emerged from the shadow of her more successful older sister Natalie as the opportunistic siren Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever. Another big project proved elusive and a staple of mundane TV movies followed. Tragedy struck in 1981 when Natalie drowned (eerily, just like O'Toole) and Lana published a controversial memoir four years later that led to an estrangement from her own family.

11.Mie Hama
Before lending her physical presence (if not vocals) to the role of Kissy Suzuki in You Only Live Twice, Hama was a darling of Japanese cinema. Unable to secure work in the Western world due to her poor English, she returned home to find the nation's movie industry in turmoil. She later became an environmental activist, so at least she found her own voice in the end.

12.Maryam D'Abo
The diminutive blonde made her mark as Kara in The Living Daylights by plunging down a mountain with Timothy Dalton on a cello. But she was soon presumably relying on public transport as her career dissipated into a series of guest roles in The Red Shoe Diaries and Murder, She Wrote. In 2007 she suffered a brain haemorrhage from which she thankfully recovered.

13.Daniela Bianchi
Three years after landing second spot at the 1960 Miss World contest, Bianchi was signed up as Russian agent Tatiana and tasked with seducing James Bond in From Russia With Love. A car crash during filming wounded her face, but her voice was the real problem as it had to be dubbed. Bianchi was forced to seek work in obscure Italian and French movies and retired from acting in 1970.

14.Molly Peters
As Patricia Fearing - the voluptuous nurse who quite literally gives Bond a helping hand at a health farm in Thunderball – Peters was the first Bond girl to take her clothes off on screen. That distinction proved to be her career highlight, as just two years later in 1967 a reported row with her agent saw Peters leave the movie industry – never to return.

15.Maud Adams
The Swedish actress received a double dose of the curse by playing two different Bond girls. Her turns as Andrea in The Man With The Golden Gun and the title role in Octopussy led to zilch, unless you count her role as an extra in A View To A Kill as career progression. Paradoxically though, the double curse became her fortune as she now plies her trade talking about it.


Any comments out there peeps ?

Comments

  • russianhatrussianhat Posts: 10MI6 Agent
    edited February 2011
    perhaps 'the curse' is related to how women were portrayed in the Bond movies. Prior to being someone to be bedded by womanising Bond, they had some successes, afterwards the image of being a bit of big-breasted fluff stuck and thus that was the defining imagery that stuck in producers/directors minds and thus 'the curse', never to go on to win a gold Oscar...
  • thesecretagentthesecretagent CornwallPosts: 2,151MI6 Agent
    It is very notable. I responded recently to a thread in the same vien. It seems that once a woman does the Bond girl thing, then it's almost a plummet down hill everafter. To be honest, the same goes for Bonds themselves. When was Dalton's, Moore's or Brosnan's truly big post Bond hit?
    Amazon #1 Bestselling Author. If you enjoy crime, espionage, action and fast-moving thrillers follow this link:

    http://apbateman.com
  • Thunderbird 2Thunderbird 2 East of Cardiff, Wales.Posts: 2,818MI6 Agent
    Here is a dollop of mud.

    I am throwing it at the wall. (Splat)

    Look! The mud has stuck to the wall!

    (Cut to the wall, which has one stuck dollop, and about thirty on the ground.)

    The film / tv industry is a nightmare - esp if you have had a high profile role and there is nothing more high profile thatn Bond. Many od the womn listed have had personal matters to deal with, and its unfortunate that if an actor or actress is in a notable film then they disappear - its assumed they have fallen off the radar. - Many of them focus on their stage careers instead, or are ready for something else and go for a career change.

    They say that all that glitter's isn't gold. - In film production the gold is never actually Gold in the first place! - That is a tough industry to work in. - Not to mention the press will report every financial crisis, divorce, and fart if you are a well known face.

    Counter examples - Honor Blackman, Judi Dench, Samantha Bond, Famke Janssen, Michelle Yeoh, Rosa Pike, Eva Green and Gemma Arterton! :007)
    This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
  • Ricardo C.Ricardo C. Posts: 916MI6 Agent
    The problem with trying to analyze someone's film career in general is you don't know what the actor or actress intended for their future. Not everyone wants to be a big star and are perfectly content on where they are or they don't even maintain their interest in film. Some just sick of it and retire; Sometimes years at a time and sometimes permanently. The example of Shirley Eaton clearly indicates that she was not a victim of a "curse" but as I stated before, a desicion that the actress made.
  • thesecretagentthesecretagent CornwallPosts: 2,151MI6 Agent
    Here is a dollop of mud.

    I am throwing it at the wall. (Splat)

    Look! The mud has stuck to the wall!

    (Cut to the wall, which has one stuck dollop, and about thirty on the ground.)

    The film / tv industry is a nightmare - esp if you have had a high profile role and there is nothing more high profile thatn Bond. Many od the womn listed have had personal matters to deal with, and its unfortunate that if an actor or actress is in a notable film then they disappear - its assumed they have fallen off the radar. - Many of them focus on their stage careers instead, or are ready for something else and go for a career change.

    They say that all that glitter's isn't gold. - In film production the gold is never actually Gold in the first place! - That is a tough industry to work in. - Not to mention the press will report every financial crisis, divorce, and fart if you are a well known face.

    Counter examples - Honor Blackman, Judi Dench, Samantha Bond, Famke Janssen, Michelle Yeoh, Rosa Pike, Eva Green and Gemma Arterton! :007)

    Apart from Judi Dench and Gemma Arterton, are you sure all of those actresses have been in bigger films than their respective Bond's?
    Amazon #1 Bestselling Author. If you enjoy crime, espionage, action and fast-moving thrillers follow this link:

    http://apbateman.com
  • Thunderbird 2Thunderbird 2 East of Cardiff, Wales.Posts: 2,818MI6 Agent
    Here is a dollop of mud.

    I am throwing it at the wall. (Splat)

    Look! The mud has stuck to the wall!

    (Cut to the wall, which has one stuck dollop, and about thirty on the ground.)

    The film / tv industry is a nightmare - esp if you have had a high profile role and there is nothing more high profile thatn Bond. Many od the womn listed have had personal matters to deal with, and its unfortunate that if an actor or actress is in a notable film then they disappear - its assumed they have fallen off the radar. - Many of them focus on their stage careers instead, or are ready for something else and go for a career change.

    They say that all that glitter's isn't gold. - In film production the gold is never actually Gold in the first place! - That is a tough industry to work in. - Not to mention the press will report every financial crisis, divorce, and fart if you are a well known face.

    Counter examples - Honor Blackman, Judi Dench, Samantha Bond, Famke Janssen, Michelle Yeoh, Rosa Pike, Eva Green and Gemma Arterton! :007)

    Apart from Judi Dench and Gemma Arterton, are you sure all of those actresses have been in bigger films than their respective Bond's?

    No - because that is not the point I am making. I am simply saying the fact they may "drop off the radar" is not necessarily a bad thing for them, or their career choices. - The nature of the topic seems to imply its been hell in a hand basket for all of them since Bond? (Shrugs)
    This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,485MI6 Agent
    Yeah, but Thunderbird2, remember that the women who have gone on to make it pretty big starred in films after the post-modern reinvention of Bond with Brosnan, under the auspices of Babs Broccoli.

    That Italian actress who played Fiona in TB was denied roled from a big name Italian director (can't remember, was it the classic Italian horror guy?) because of her association with Bond.

    I do think the old style Bond flicks did away with that sense of mystery and power that an actress needs.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • I think it goes for a lot of actors. Don't think it has anything to do with 007 in particular. Haven't seen the guy who plays Sam in LOTR in anything since. Now I just thought of him. There are others of course. The Bond producers just like to use none-famous actors to avoid a Hollywood splash... And they never really become famous. Maryam Dabo was never ever famous. Izabella Scorupco - That was her own fault. Maud Adams I don't understand. She was very good and her two female characters are fantastic. I think Ursulla Andress, Rosamund Pike and Jane Seymour and others kills the myth... It must be their own fault in the long run. Maybe some of them don't want to be famous.
    Some of Brosnans Post Bond movies became very famous. Dalton was never really popular in the movies but he is a theatre man. I think that if you go theatres in Britain, he is a big name and a very good reputation. Roger Moore almost retired after Bond. That I think was his own choice.
  • PPK 7.65mmPPK 7.65mm Saratoga Springs NY USAPosts: 1,256MI6 Agent
    Famke Janssen, has done pretty well post Goldeneye. She was in the X men films and Taken to name some of the work she has done. This whole Bond girl curse to me is a lot of nonsense drummed by tabloid writers to sell newspapers. An individual actor or actress is responsible for their project choices at the end of the day, wither good or bad. Also I have noticed that it seems that a lot of talented people get passed over the acting biz all the time because one person has the power to get people to watch them on a regular basis. Also some entertainers would rather not headline something, rather they perfer smaller projects with some bigger stuff now and again (Look at Timothy Dalton, I get the feeling he would rather concentrate on smaller projects rather than see his name in lights),
  • RJJBRJJB United StatesPosts: 346MI6 Agent
    I don't think there's is any curse. There are plenty of actors and actresses that hit a pinnacle, have their time in the limelight and then continue to have a career that often does not repeat that high point. Just take a look the Best Actor and Actress nominees for the past 20 years. There are plenty of names that are included just once. Fame does not last forever and not having a sustaining wave to surf is not the end of a career.
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,912Chief of Staff
    Here's someone else who has bucked the "curse:" Gemma Arterton. When she was first cast in QOS I said, "Who?", but now every time you turn around there she is--big-budget films, little arthouse flicks, TV productions, you name it. I think the problem is that, early on, the producers cast models--Daniela Bianchi and Tania Mallet come to mind--who ultimately weren't that interested in acting and so left it; they also have a history of casting other actresses, such as those from YOLT, who really worked only in their own countries and some, like Shirley Eaton and Tonya Roberts, who were riding their own waves of popularity.
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • broadshoulderbroadshoulder Acton, London, UKPosts: 1,363MI6 Agent
    Honor Blackman said "I was an actress before Bond...and I was an actress after.."

    If you are established before ie Honor, Carole Bouquet, Jane Seymour, Eva Green and Diana Rigg then you tend to get work afterwards.

    If you were a model/actress and this was your first big break ie Britt Ekland, Maryam D'Abo, Claudine Auger, Talisa Soto etc then you struggle.
    1. For Your Eyes Only 2. The Living Daylights 3 From Russia with Love 4. Casino Royale 5. OHMSS 6. Skyfall
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