The ‘Bond girl’ who refused to fall victim to the curse: “I just kept turning them down”
While it’s no longer a concern after the franchise continued moving with the times, there was a spell when playing a major female character in a James Bond movie was one of Hollywood’s sharpest double-edged swords.
Even 21st-century ‘Bond girls’ have voiced their frustrations, with Rosamund Pike admitting that she denied it when asked in public if she was indeed the actor who played Miranda Frost in Die Another Day. It’s often been an albatross around the neck, but one actor went out of their way to avoid the typecasting that affected the careers of many women who starred alongside 007.
Admittedly, there’s a cruel twist of irony involved. Luciana Paluzzi played Fiona Volpe opposite Sean Connery in Thunderball in what was supposed to be her international breakthrough, only for the actor to reveal that when she returned to her native Italy, the country’s most prominent directors were unwilling to work with her because she’d played a bombshell in a Bond flick.
When Ian Fleming’s novel was adapted again as Never Say Never Again, the only unauthorised 007 adventure that saw Connery reprise the role after a decade-long absence, Barbara Carrera was cast as Fatima Blush, based on the Volpe character in Ian Fleming’s source novel.
What worked in her favour was that she was already a semi-established name and a Golden Globe nominee after earning a ‘New Star of the Year – Actress’ nod for 1975’s The Master Gunfighter, and she notched another for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for her performance in Never Say Never Again.
Carrera had also co-starred with Rock Hudson in Embryo, Paul Newman in When Time Ran Out, Burt Lancaster in 1977’s The Island of Dr Moreau, and Oliver Reed in Condorman, so working with Connery was nothing out of the ordinary for a performer used to rubbing shoulders with acting heavyweights.
When asked by The New York Times if producers and casting agents had tried to pigeonhole her as a femme fatale after Never Say Never Again, Carrera answered in the affirmative. “They did try,” she said. “Every role I got offered was bad-woman roles, bad women, bad women. And I just kept turning them down. Sometimes to my detriment, because some of them were really great.”
She “wanted so much to be a serious actress” and “wanted to be great and do serious work,” which meant anything even remotely resembling her Bond role was an instant rejection, which worked out in her favour when she continued collaborating with some big-name talent.
Carrera enjoyed a 25-episode stint on Dallas at the height of its popularity; she effectively replaced Bette Davis when the icon abandoned Wicked Stepmother, headlined the blockbuster miniseries Emma: Queen of the South Seas, and added Laurence Olivier and Peter O’Toole to the list of legends she shared the screen with, all while avoiding the usual trappings of the ‘Bond girl’ curse.
