Althouse: "Every Bond Girl, with followup recent photos."

December 4, 2012

"Every Bond Girl, with followup recent photos."

A chart.

Strangely, the first was always — and remains! — the most beautiful.

39 comments:

edutcher said...: Time is a great leveler, although Honor Blackman shows us the importance of good bones.; 12/4/12, 6:27 AM
Old RPM Daddy said...: Well, it's a tough call, but for some reason, Maryam d'Abo in The Living Daylights kind of did it for me.

Oh, by the way, am I one of maybe four people on the planet who liked Timothy Dalton as Bond?; 12/4/12, 6:33 AM
KJE said...: That's because a woman's sexual market value is highest when they are young, and decreases as they become older. Basic red pill truths right here.

Conversely, a man's sexual market value is lowest when they are young, and peaks as they hit their 30's and 40's. Young and good looking doesn't make up for keeping it together, getting established in a career, and becoming smarter than you were in your teens and 20's.

Both lessons make the assumption that the males and females are doing what they need to in order to keep their bodies from going to complete garbage.

Yeah, there are lots of beautiful 40 year old women, but they don't tend to hold a candle to the 20 something; and at least as far as men desiring a mate, they won't turn heads in the same way they did when they were in their 20's.; 12/4/12, 6:35 AM
KJE said...: Jane Seymour still has it together though.; 12/4/12, 6:38 AM
Anonymous said...: Pussy!; 12/4/12, 6:44 AM
virgil xenophon said...: And Jill St John and Dianna Rigg still hold together pretty well also..; 12/4/12, 6:48 AM
Bill Jones said...: There's no topping Diana Rigg. http://www.heropress.net/2011/06/miss-june-diana-rigg.html; 12/4/12, 6:55 AM
edutcher said...: I remember Eunice Gayson as one of the most beautiful women in movies (she did a lot for Hammer and a lot of British TV that was imported in the early 60s).

Then, of course, she went out and got a real life.

PS RPM, I'm one of the others that liked Dalton. He came across more like an RN officer.; 12/4/12, 6:55 AM
Danno said...: Can we vote for Althouse? Though she hasn't been in any Bond movies, she is married to a guy that has to be an agent of some intelligence or spy agency, since he has so many hi-tech gadgets!; 12/4/12, 7:37 AM
cubanbob said...: It must be terrible to be so beautiful in one's youth only to age. Fortunately I never suffered that.; 12/4/12, 7:46 AM
Anonymous said...: Emma Peal for me (Diana Rigg)

Probably not the most beautiful Bond girl, but the one I always found most appealing. The looks and brains combo I guess...

nicely packaged at 74 BTW; 12/4/12, 7:59 AM
Howard said...: I guess I'm the second of four Dalton fans, then. I think he's hugely underrated, especially following Roger Moore's cartoon portrayal. You can believe he's a dangerous man.; 12/4/12, 8:16 AM
Howard said...: I guess I'm the second of four Dalton fans, then. I think he's hugely underrated, especially following Roger Moore's cartoon portrayal. You can believe he's a dangerous man.; 12/4/12, 8:20 AM
SeanF said...: Ursula Andress was by no means an unattractive woman, but I don't even know if she'd end up in the top half if I ranked them myself. Daniela Bianchi and Jane Seymour are probably at the top, from that list. Fiona Fullerton, too.

But I thought Alison Doody was absolutely gorgeous as Jenny Flex in "A View to a Kill."; 12/4/12, 8:31 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I admit that Ursula Andress is not up to today's standards below the neck: her breasts are not ideal, she's sucking in her untoned belly, and her rear end is flat.

Above the neck though, she's unmatched.; 12/4/12, 8:39 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Sean Connery is a bit tubby in that walking-out-of-the-ocean scene, but his good features outweigh what is less than perfect.

I love the raising of one eyebrow when he sees her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3lAjyUUS1g; 12/4/12, 8:42 AM
SteveR said...: Are we acting like we have a choice? All of the above.; 12/4/12, 8:44 AM
SeanF said...: To each their own, Ann. Andress' face just doesn't do it for me, and never has.

If I ranked them by "neck down," she'd probably end up higher on the list than she would ranked by "neck up."; 12/4/12, 8:46 AM
Wince said...: Let's hear it for Grace Jones!

No?; 12/4/12, 9:06 AM
William said...: Movie stars don't grow old gracefully. In fact, they don't grow old. Their faces become wax effigies of youth, and their bodies, however brittle, don't paunch and sag. They're not parodies of their youthful selves. They're expensive reproductions.....I admire Liv Ulmann. She said that when she was a kid she loved her grandmother's wrinkles and had nothing against looking like a grandmother. Past a certain age, your great love is your grandchildren.....I'm more ambivalent about Anita Ekberg. She got really, really fat, but that showed she was truly committed to sensual pleasures. It wasn't just an act.; 12/4/12, 9:36 AM
Anonymous said...: @Danno - I vote Althouse circa 1968. She is the doppleganger of my girlfriend before last. A bit smarter but I won't hold that against her having a weakness for women more intelligent than me (admittedly a low bar).; 12/4/12, 10:03 AM
edutcher said...: Ann Althouse said...

I admit that Ursula Andress is not up to today's standards below the neck: her breasts are not ideal, she's sucking in her untoned belly, and her rear end is flat.

Actually, she she wasn't up to standard then, either.

Standard back then was Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and Sophia Loren.

Above the neck though, she's unmatched.

2 words:

Daniela Bianchi.

Who married quite well.; 12/4/12, 10:15 AM
mccullough said...: Pussy Galore has aged exceptionally well. She is still beautiful.

I liked Timothy Dalton as well, but he was a bit too angry. Daniel Craig keeps the anger just below the surface, which works better.

Daniel Craig is the best bond. Dalton is better than Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan.; 12/4/12, 10:16 AM
Thorley Winston said...: Oh, by the way, am I one of maybe four people on the planet who liked Timothy Dalton as Bond?
I think there’s more than four of us but he was one of my favorites as well. He seemed more serious in his approach to Bond than Connery or Moore, appeared more physically imposing and less misogynistic in the way that he treated women. I see a lot of these same qualities in how Daniel Craig approaches the character as well.

In contrast, I watched part of Bond marathon on Thanksgiving with my family and we realized that none of us liked Roger Moore’s portray of Bond.; 12/4/12, 10:23 AM
Known Unknown said...: Daniel Craig is the best bond.

He's really grown on me. Most people put Connery at the top, and I think he still owns it, but Craig has been closing fast.

I feel a little bad for Roger Moore, because he was never asked nor expected to play the character true to form, and had to deal with the worst indulgences of the scripts and directors at the time.; 12/4/12, 10:24 AM
Thorley Winston said...: Not that I’m complaining about her absence but Madonna was in “Die Another Day.”; 12/4/12, 10:30 AM
Strelnikov said...: I remember everyone referring to her as "Ursula Undress" at the time.; 12/4/12, 10:47 AM
MadisonMan said...: He gets around.; 12/4/12, 10:51 AM
Anonymous said...: The only Bond movie worth rewatching is also the best "From Russia With Love". The only "realistic" adaptation of an Ian Flemming Novel.; 12/4/12, 11:11 AM
glam1931 said...: I have no confidence in this chart...the "current" picture of Akiko Wakabayashi is actually a 1960s photo of Toho starlet Kumi Mizuno, part of which is in Woody Allen's mock-Japanese film, "What's Up, Tiger Lily?". Miss Mizuno is still quite lovely today, but she was never in a Bond film.; 12/4/12, 11:37 AM
glam1931 said...: To clarify, the picture of Miss Mizuno, the still is from a movie excerpted in "What's Up, Tiger Lily". Kumi is best known today for "Matango" and several Godzilla films. She is still acting today.; 12/4/12, 11:39 AM
McTriumph said...: Dalton and Moore were too pretty as Bond. Does anyone really believe they would survive a bar fight?

All the 007s suffered from writers' and directors' "vision" except Craig. Connery , Brosnan and probably Craig could or would have played the part as long as they wanted except for $. These three are actually believable when playing thugs or bad asses in their roles in other films.; 12/4/12, 12:22 PM
McTriumph said...: Also, Connery is the best actor of the bunch. The proof is his performance in "Zardoz".

;-); 12/4/12, 12:27 PM
chickelit said...: Strelnikov said...
I remember everyone referring to her as "Ursula Undress" at the time.

That may have stemmed from a parody in Bill Gaines' raunchy magazine for teenaged boys--or it may have started after she appeared topless in "The Blue Max."; 12/4/12, 2:02 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/4/12, 2:22 PM
dbp said...: Daniela Bianchi is stunningly beautiful (above and below the neck) in From Russia With Love.

The Moneypenny from the current film is really sexy too.; 12/4/12, 3:33 PM
ampersand said...: Honor Blackman was 37 when Goldfinger was released,She was probably the oldest actress to play a Bond Girl.

I saw some documentary where Judy Dench claimed to be a Bond Girl (ugh). What a bad idea to have signed her up as Auntie M. Bond shot the wrong woman in "The World is not enough" ,he should've plugged the incompetent old busybody.

Daniel Craig and Eva Green looked like Popeye and Olive Oyl in Casino Royale.; 12/4/12, 4:51 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Roger Moore actually played the the functional equivalent--the fore-runner--of the "Bond" role for years when younger as "The Saint" (Simon Templar) on the TV series 62-69. So in one respect, he had the longest-running "Bond" gig of all..; 12/4/12, 6:13 PM
Unknown said...: "McTriumph said...

Also, Connery is the best actor of the bunch. The proof is his performance in "Zardoz".

;-)
12/4/12 12:27 PM "

While Zed in "Zardoz" was an impressive performance, Connery's greatest role was probably as Michael McBride in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People".; 12/5/12, 5:22 AM