A long line of women have fallen for the on-screen charms of 007, the world’s most dashing spy, in the past 54 years.
They are usually under 30, and always glamorous, svelte and stunningly beautiful – just don’t call them “Bond girls”.
When Irka Bochenko, Caterina Murino and Tonia Sotiropoulou, who appeared alongside James Bond in the long-running movie series, appeared at The Annex at the Burj Khalifa, during the launch of the Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style exhibition, they were introduced by a presenter as "Bond girls" – prompting a brusque correction from the show's co-curator, Bronwyn Cosgrave.
“Let’s call them Bond women,” she says sharply.
Either way, the legacy persists, more than half a century after Ursula Andress emerged from the waves in the first Bond movie, 1962's Dr No. She has been followed by a series of beauties.
Some are villains with a hidden agenda. Others team up and fall in love with him. One, Countess Tracy di Vicenzo (played by Diana Rigg) even won his heart and was, briefly, married to Bond (in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service).
But most are disposable characters who simply have brief flings with 007, which has led to accusations of misogyny.
It is certainly true that while Bond films have been a springboard to success for some notable actresses – including Rigg, Honor Blackman, Rosamund Pike and Gemma Arterton – others have struggled to shake off that “Bond girl” label.
Greek actress Sotiropoulou, 29, who only spent a minute on screen being seduced by Daniel Craig's Bond in Skyfall (2012), initially auditioned for the meatier role of femme fatale Sévérine.
“I think what we find patronising is that producers characterise you by your appearance or your looks,” she says. “If they see you have been a Bond girl in a movie, they usually keep you in mind for the part of the role of the girl who is very beautiful.
“You have to fight to be given chances to prove yourself as an actor and show that you can do something that is not defined by your beauty.”
Her audition, she revealed, involved dressing up in a figure-hugging outfit and lying on a bed. But she adds just as many men dream of being Bond, a lot of woman aspire to be a Bond girl.
“I am really grateful [to Bond] and of course did not hesitate to take the role,” she says.
Poland-born Bochenko, went on to have a successful singing career after appearing in Moonraker alongside Roger Moore in 1979.
Murino, 39, a former Miss Italy contestant, played Solange Dimitrios in Casino Royale (2006). She subsequently appeared in the Bollywood film Fever, and learnt to freedive for her latest role in Netflix drama Free.
“The Bond girl is a timeless, iconic image, which has completely evolved over time,” says Murino. “No one can resist a Bond woman. They are glamorous, smart and intelligent with very strong characters.”
Cosgrave agrees the role of women in Bond films has moved with the times.
"I think the films are a reaction completely to the times," she says. "There has been this phrase 'Bond girls', but I feel that is a creation of the media. If you go back to Goldfinger, Pussy Galore is a very strong character. She wore trousers all through the movie and was every bit as tough as James Bond."
Nevertheless, Bochenko – who says that after three decades, she is still remembered as the “blonde beauty” who lured Bond into a trap with pythons – cannot imagine a female Bond.
“Maybe in 50 years’ time but not now,” she says. “It would not be James Bond, it would be another story. I would like to see a film with a strong girl, but let’s do something else.”
artslife@thenational.ae