A few looks at Ursula Andress in Dr. No.
Re-watching it just now, I was struck by how low-tech it was. Damn, 1962 was long ago.
Weird trivia: Joseph Wiseman (Dr. No) and Jack Lord (CIA man Felix Leiter, Bond’s ally) were in high school together. Joseph Wiseman was a senior at John Adams High School in Queens when Jack Lord was a freshman. Jackie Gleason attended the same high school. He would have been two years ahead of Wiseman.
More trivia: A Francisco de Goya painting of the Duke of Wellington, stolen in August 1961 from London’s National Gallery, is found on an easel next to the stairs in Dr. No’s dining area, which is why Bond stops to notice it as he passes it while going up the stairs. The painting was still missing when the film was released.
More: you never hear the voice of Ursula Andress. Nikki van der Zyl dubbed her speaking lines, and Diana Coupland sang for her.
Nikki was incredibly good at re-voicing, maybe the best of all time. Knowing in advance that the voice was dubbed, I watched the lip/sound sync, and it is flawless. Nikki re-voiced every female voice in the film except Moneypenny and Miss Taro – even the voices of native English speakers. She also provided voices for many other Bond films. For example, she provided Claudine Auger’s voice in Thunderball, Mie Hama’s voice in You Only Live Twice, Françoise Therry’s voice in The Man With the Golden Gun, and Corinne Cléry’s voice in Moonraker. She couldn’t speak for Gert Frobe in Goldfinger, but taught him to speak his dialogue phonetically and more naturally because his English was virtually non-existent at the time. (Here’s an interview with Nikki, and here’s a biography.)
Why the topic came up: Denise Perrier did a clear topless scene in Diamonds are Forever (1971)
The low tech comment reminded me of watching Austin Powers with my nephews and nieces recently. Not only was I explaining some of the context of the retro 60s stuff but also the now “retro” 1997 stuff.
The whole ‘well just take a shower and you’re good now’ after encountering heavy radiation has aged like spoiled milk. But it doesn’t surprise me with the attitude at the time of testing nukes in Nevada and letting the wind carry the fallout over Utah and other areas at the time.
I think Ursula got more undressed in The Blue Max. Also dubbed?
This was about James Bond Films Blue Max was not
Apparently in the book, she came out of the water naked. I guess the books are always better than the movies.