10 Classic Bond Girls, Then and Now

With the release of the latest James Bond movie, No Time to Die, two more women are joining the list of actors considered Bond girls; although that name feels pretty outdated. Essentially, a Bond girl is any woman with a key role in a Bond movie, but as the years have passed, these actors have gotten more and more to do in the films. In the early days, Bond girls were often there just to appear in a bikini or even be killed off partway through the movie. But not much anymore. Just look at the character Nomi, who is played by Lashana Lynch in No Time to Die, which comes out this week. Yes, she's a woman in the film, but she's also the first female 007 agent in the movies.

There have been many, many women in the 25 James Bond films that have been released over the past several decades. Here's a look at what 10 classic era Bond girls are doing now.

RELATED: Ranking Every James Bond Movie, From Worst Reviewed to Best.

Ursula Andress is considered the first Bond girl, though there were two other women with smaller roles in the first Bond movie, 1962's Dr. No. Andress played Honey Ryder opposite Sean Connery. The Swiss actor also starred in Clash of the Titans, She, and the 1967 James Bond parody movie Casino Royale.

Andress, now 85, had her last film appearance in 2005's St. Francis' Bird Tour, but stopped working consistently in the late '80s. She has one son with her ex and Clash of the Titans co-star Harry Hamlin.

"After being the first Bond girl, I had offer after offer and could take my pick of the roles that were around," Andress told The Sunday Post in 2018. "It's a mystery. All I did was wear this bikini in Dr. No—not even a small one—and whoosh! Overnight, I made it. It gave me financial independence and changed my life completely."

Italian actor Daniela Bianchi played Bond girl Tatiana Romanova in the second movie, 1963's From Russia With Love. Bianchi's career as an actor lasted about 10 years, with appearances mostly in Italian and French films. Like Andress, she also appeared in a Bond parody, this one called Operation Kid Brother.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

Bianchi retired from acting in the late '60s and married Alberto Cameli, a shipping magnate with whom she had a son. Cameli died in 2018. Now 79, Bianchi made her most recent film appearance in the 2012 Italian documentary, We're Nothing Like James Bond.

Mie Hama played Kissy Suzuki in 1967's You Only Live Twice. The Japanese star is also known for the movies King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Kong Escapes. Hama mostly retired from acting in the mid-'70s, though she did appear in one more film, Kitchen, in 1989.

Hama married television executive Mitsuru Kaneko, and they were together until his death in 2018. They have four children.

"It was an honor to be a Bond girl, but once was enough," Hama told The New York Times in 2017. "I didn't want that image to stick with me. I am actually a subdued and steady person, but I felt that somewhere beyond my control, others were creating a character named 'Mie Hama.'" According to the article, the 77-year-old went on to be an advocate for preserving old farms, a TV and radio host, and an author of 14 books about topics including raising children and self-discovery.

Jill St. John played Tiffany Case in Diamonds Are Forever, Connery's sixth Bond movie. St. John was the first American actor to play a Bond girl. In addition to the 1971 movie, St. John appeared in many films and TV shows, particularly in the '60s, including Come Blow Your Horn, in which she starred alongside Frank Sinatra.

St. John continued acting after being a Bond girl. Her most recent role was in the 2014 Hallmark Channel movie Northpole, in which she appeared as Mrs. Claus alongside her husband Robert Wagner as Santa Claus. The 81-year-old has been married to Wagner since 1990, but they knew each other long before that. They've co-starred in several movies and TV shows, including the miniseries Around the World in 80 Days.

Trina Parks became the first Black Bond girl when she appeared in Diamonds Are Forever as henchwoman Thumper. While Parks is considered the first Black Bond girl, the first Black Bond girl to be involved romantically with the secret agent came two years later with Gloria Hendry in Live and Let Die. Parks, who is a dancer, appeared in two movies before Diamonds Are Forever: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and The Great White Hope.

According to a 2020 interview with From Tailors with Love, Parks is a dance instructor, and she directed, wrote, and choreographed a show in 2010 called Black & Brown Anthology. In 2018, Parks, now 73, told Richmond Magazine that she was cast thanks to her dance and karate background. "I didn't know who Sean Connery was at that time," she said. "I kind of knew about the James Bond thing, I was from the dance, theater world, and that was more so my world than film."

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Roger Moore's second Bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun, featured Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight. Ekland was famous before appearing in the 1974 film, thanks to roles in Get Carter, The Wicker Man, and The Six Million Dollar Man. She was married to another star, actor Peter Sellers, from 1964 to 1968. She also dated Rod Stewart for a couple of years soon after the Bond film came out.

Ekland continued acting throughout the '70s and '80s, but her acting career slowed down in the '90s. She did go on to appear in some reality shows more recently, including the British series I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2010 and the Swedish series Let's Dance in 2018.

In a September episode of Loose Women, Ekland, 78, said that after seeing an early screening of No Time to Die, she changed her mind about thinking Bond girls should always be called "girls."

"I have always maintained that it has to be a 'Bond girl,'" she said on the show. "But I've changed my mind. Last night [at the premiere], the Bond women were just that. And they were also incredible. They were quick, fast. They were great actresses. They were very physical. They never showed their bodies. And they were just great Bond women."

Maud Adams was a Bond girl in two movies. First, she played Andrea Anders in The Man with the Golden Gun. Then, she played the titular character in Octopussy in 1983. In both films, she acted alongside Moore. Adams was a model before becoming an actor. In addition to the Bond movies, she also appeared in Tattoo and Rollerball and in many TV series.

Adams stopped acting as frequently beginning in the 1990s. In 2000, she appeared on an episode of That '70s Show alongside other Bond girls, including series regular Tanya Roberts. The 76-year-old actor has been married to her husband, Charles Rubin, since 1999.

"It's been a very nice club to be a part of over the years," Adams told Umgås in 2018. "Obviously, [the movies] have changed completely the direction of my life. I look back on them very fondly and how incredibly lucky I have been…they are fantastic memories; they will always be a part of me."

Barbara Bach appeared in the 1977 Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me, as Anya Amasova. Prior to beginning her career as an actor, Bach was a model who appeared in magazines such as Vogue and Seventeen. Her pre-Bond acting credits included several Italian movies.

Bach stopped acting in the mid-'80s. Now 74, she has been married to Beatles drummer Ringo Starr since 1981, and has two children from her first marriage to Count Augusto Gregorini. In 1983, Bach told People (via ABC News) that Bond was "a chauvinist pig who uses girls to shield him against bullets."

Carole Bouquet appeared alongside Moore as Melina Havelock in 1981's For Your Eyes Only. The model and actor had appeared in a few, mostly French movies and TV series prior to becoming a Bond girl, but her acting career has only grown since.

Bouquet, 64, continues to act to this day. Her film appearances include the Wasabi and Too Beautiful for You, for which she won the César Award for Best Actress. American audiences might recognize her from an episode of Sex and the City. Bouquet spoke about her time making For Your Eyes Only with Singapore's Todayonline in 2011, and said she found it "boring." Asked if she would do another Bond movie, she said, "Of course, not. And by the way, it's extremely boring to do a James Bond movie. It's very fun to watch, but it's awfully boring to do because you fake everything … You don't act. It's stunts." But, she added, "It's like an offer you can't refuse. It's like the sentence in The Godfather."

Carey Lowell played Pam Bouvier with Timothy Dalton as Bond in the 1989 movie License to Kill. Like many of her fellow Bond girls, she was a model before becoming an actor. At the time that she appeared in License to Kill, she had been a couple of movies.

Lowell went on to act in films including Sleepless in Seattle and Leaving Las Vegas. One of her other most famous roles was playing assistant district attorney Jamie Ross on Law & Order. Lowell has two children; one with her second husband, Griffin Dunne, and one with third husband, Richard Gere. The 60-year-old actor's recent roles include appearances on Blue Bloods and Bull.

RELATED: This Former Bond Girl Says She "Ruined Her Face" With Plastic Surgery.