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  3. Bond Girls: The Best and Worst

Bond Girls: The Best and Worst

''Quantum of Solace'' hits DVD today, so we're rating the bombshells -- and bombs -- of Bond girls past, from Octopussy to Honey Ryder, with a special shout-out to the newest girls on the block, Gemma Arterton and Olga Kurylenko
By Joshua Rich Updated January 08, 2008 at 09:00 PM EST
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Olga Kurylenko
Credit: Dave Hogan/Getty Images; Patrice Lapoirie/Maxppp /Landov

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BEST HONEY RYDER (Ursula Andress) Dr. No (1962)

Dr. No, Ursula Andress | The first truly was the best. The Swiss native's voice may have been completely dubbed over in postproduction, but, well, the goods were all hers.…
Credit: Dr.No: LLC/United Artists

The first truly was the best. The Swiss native's voice may have been completely dubbed over in postproduction, but, well, the goods were all hers. Her sultry walk out of the waves set the tone for every sexy-strong Bond girl who followed and led a generation of men to dream about lying down ''underneath the mango tree.''

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WORST DR. CHRISTMAS JONES (Denise Richards) The World Is Not Enough (1999)

The World Is Not Enough, Denise Richards | Let's review: Denise Richards played Dr. Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist who wore a tank top and hot pants. Bloody hell, even Q didn't have…
Credit: The World is Not Enough: Everett Collection

Let's review: Denise Richards played Dr. Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist who wore a tank top and hot pants. Bloody hell, even Q didn't have a gadget to help Bond escape from that disaster.

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BEST PUSSY GALORE (Honor Blackman) Goldfinger (1964)

Goldfinger, Honor Blackman | Really, her name alone would have been enough to rank her among Bond's best loves. But Brit Blackman rounded off Pussy's cardboard edges, introducing fans…
Credit: Goldfinger: Everett Collection

Really, her name alone would have been enough to rank her among Bond's best loves. But Brit Blackman rounded off Pussy's cardboard edges, introducing fans to the series' first real woman — a gorgeous dame who can fly a plane and kick butt (check out her rumble in the hay with 007) as well as coo and woo.

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WORST HOLLY GOODHEAD (Lois Chiles) Moonraker (1979)

Moonraker, Lois Chiles | Bond babe? Try bland babe. Chiles worked the CIA counterespionage thing just fine, and none of 007's ladies looked better in zero gravity (of course,…
Credit: Moonraker: Everett Collection

Bond babe? Try bland babe. Chiles worked the CIA counterespionage thing just fine, and none of 007's ladies looked better in zero gravity (of course, nobody else actually made it to outer space, thank God). But the ex-model was the worst victim of one of the biggest Bond Girl traps: a thorough lack of chemistry with her leading man.

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BEST JINX (Halle Berry) Die Another Day (2002)

Die Another Day, Halle Berry | Hot off her Oscar win for Monster's Ball (2001) and two years before that superhero disaster that shall not be named, Berry portrayed Bond girl,…
Credit: Keith Hamshere

Remember that throwback orange bikini? Yowza! Need we say more? Actually, we do, for Berry's Jinx was the rare Bond babe whose wits in every way matched her, uh, bountiful wares.

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WORST OCTOPUSSY (Maud Adams) Octopussy (1983)

Octopussy, Maud Adams | Swedish model-actress Adams was gorgeous, the only woman to play a leading love interest in two different movies (she got offed halfway through The Man…
Credit: Octopussy: Maud Adams

Swedish model-actress Adams was gorgeous, the only woman to play a leading love interest in two different movies (she got offed halfway through The Man With the Golden Gun), and the only one to have a whole film named after her character. And yet, for all that, do you remember a single thing about her biggest role? Neither do we.

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BEST VESPER LYND (Eva Green) Casino Royale (2006)

Casino Royale, Eva Green | In 2006's reenergizing of the series, she fit the bill perfectly, embodying all the traits that characterize 007's most memorable minxes — the smarts of…
Credit: Jay Maidment

In 2006's reenergizing of the series, she fit the bill perfectly, embodying all the traits that characterize 007's most memorable minxes — the smarts of Pussy Galore, the drive of Melina Havelock, the sobriety of Anya Amasova, and the, ahem, jewels of Tiffany Case. An instant classic.

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WORST STACEY SUTTON (Tanya Roberts) A View to a Kill (1985)

A View to a Kill, Tanya Roberts | Roberts was beautiful, sure, but she was also totally miscast as a geologist with a vendetta. (No wonder she got upstaged by Grace Jones' glowering…
Credit: View to a Kill: Everett Collection

Roberts was beautiful, sure, but she was also totally miscast as a geologist with a vendetta. (No wonder she got upstaged by Grace Jones' glowering henchwoman.) The squeaky-voiced former Charlie's Angel gave off so little steam that we half forgot that Bond Girls were supposed to be smart and sexy.

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BEST WAI LIN (Michelle Yeoh) Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Tomorrow Never Dies, Michelle Yeoh | She wasn't the first woman of color to match wits with 007 (although, woefully, there haven't been many). But in 1997 she became the first…
Credit: Tomorrow Never Dies: Everett Collection

She wasn't the first woman of color to match wits with 007 (although, woefully, there haven't been many). But in 1997 she became the first one you could take seriously. Hong Kong action veteran Yeoh's skilled and savvy Chinese agent was the first babe that could be called superhot on a truly global scale.

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WORST MARY GOODNIGHT (Britt Ekland) The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)

The Man With the Golden Gun, Britt Ekland | Come on, what self-respecting Bond Girl would tremble at the sight of...Hervé Villechaize? Another Swede who was all sex and no spunk, Ekland may have…
Credit: The Man With the Golden Gun: Danjaq/EON/UA/Kobal Collection

Come on, what self-respecting Bond Girl would tremble at the sight of...Hervé Villechaize? Another Swede who was all sex and no spunk, Ekland may have had one of the series' best bikinis, but her dopey, doltish portrayal was a turnoff as much to filmgoers as to fans of Ian Fleming's novels, in which Goodnight is one of 007's closest allies.

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BEST ANYA AMASOVA (Barbara Bach) The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

The Spy Who Loved Me, Barbara Bach | Bach may have been an American girl, but in the mid-1970s no more exotic a woman appeared on screen than her KGB spook (code name,…
Credit: The Spy Who Loved Me: Everett Collection

Bach may have been an American girl, but in the mid-1970s no more exotic a woman appeared on screen than her KGB spook (code name, ahem, Agent XXX). Equally at home fighting in the Sahara and rolling in the sheets, she was the Bond Girl response to women's liberation, in every respect 007's first modern equal.

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WORST PAM BOUVIER (Carey Lowell) License to Kill (1989)

License to Kill, Carey Lowell | We see what the Bond brain trust was trying to do by naming their main dame after Jackie O (and even winking at that fact…
Credit: License to Kill: Everett Collection

We see what the Bond brain trust was trying to do by naming their main dame after Jackie O (and even winking at that fact during one extended sequence). But Lowell fumbled this attempt at giving 007 a modern, independent counterpart by turning her into a nagging pest. Who cared if she and our hero ever got it on? She just needed to shut up.

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BEST TIFFANY CASE (Jill St. John) Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Diamonds Are Forever, Jill St. John | She was devious and devilish, but that only made Bond — and, well, men everywhere — want her more. (Her terrifically corny-comely moniker didn't hurt…
Credit: Diamonds are Forever: Everett Collection

She was devious and devilish, but that only made Bond — and, well, men everywhere — want her more. (Her terrifically corny-comely moniker didn't hurt either.) But beyond all that, seeing this voluptuous lady running around a burning oil rig in a Technicolor bikini was all it took to make Sean Connery's dreariest outing as 007 eminently watchable.

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WORST CORINNE DUFOUR (Corinne Clery) Moonraker (1979)

Moonraker, Corinne Clery | An attempt to sex up the series with the star of the French soft-core spectacular The Story of O backfired when Clery wound up the…
Credit: Moonraker: Everett Collection.

An attempt to sex up the series with the star of the French soft-core spectacular The Story of O backfired when Clery wound up the weakest of the second-tier Bond Girls, those who pop up for three scenes and then haplessly die. Mlle. Dufour could fly a helicopter, but she got outwitted by Bond in two seconds and outrun by some deadly dogs in one. C'est un scandale!

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BEST XENIA ONATOPP (Famke Janssen) GoldenEye (1995)

Goldeneye, Famke Janssen | Those eyes! Those thighs! And with a name like that, guys knew they were going to get what they'd secretly longed for: a woman who…
Credit: Goldeneye: Everett Collection

Those eyes! Those thighs! And with a name like that, guys knew they were going to get what they'd secretly longed for: a woman who really does use sex as a weapon — and can't get enough of it. Onatopp (stop snickering!) is said to be the first Bond Girl seen having an orgasm, and she returned 007's leading ladies to smooth sailing after years in the doldrums.

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WORST BIBI DAHL (Lynn-Holly Johnson) For Your Eyes Only (1981)

For Your Eyes Only, Lynn-Holly Johnson | To appeal to younger filmgoers — or maybe just fans of Ice Castles — the producers cast the then-22-year-old figure skater to jump a few…
Credit: For Your Eyes Only: United Artists/Everett Collection

To appeal to younger filmgoers — or maybe just fans of Ice Castles — the producers cast the then-22-year-old figure skater to jump a few triple axels around the then-53-year-old Roger Moore. She was harmless at best, but it took more than one vodka martini for us to wash the icky daddy-daughter innuendo (especially her goofy ski-lodge flirtation) out of our minds.

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BEST TRACY DI VICENZO (Diana Rigg) On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Diana Rigg | As it happened, Rigg replaced fellow Bond Girl Honor Blackman on TV's The Avengers , where her Emma Peel became renowned as the toughest of…
Credit: On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Everett Collection

As it happened, Rigg replaced fellow Bond Girl Honor Blackman on TV's The Avengers, where her Emma Peel became renowned as the toughest of dames. Opposite one-time 007 George Lazenby, however, she gave the series' most heartfelt and least comic performance as a lovelorn Mafia heiress, the only woman you could imagine the superspy settling down with.

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WORST KARA MILOVY (Maryam d'Abo) The Living Daylights (1987)

The Living Daylights, Maryam d'Abo | Timothy Dalton's first Bond Girl got off to a promising start, appearing through a window as a rifle-wielding KGB assassin. And yet, inexplicably, she fast…
Credit: The Living Daylights: Everett Collection

Timothy Dalton's first Bond Girl got off to a promising start, appearing through a window as a rifle-wielding KGB assassin. And yet, inexplicably, she fast devolved into a charmless wimplet, dragged around the snows of Europe and the deserts of Afghanistan with a blank stare — and a cello that always seemed to be in the way. A freakin' cello!

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BEST ROSA KLEBB (Lotte Lenya) From Russia With Love (1963)

From Russia With Love, Lotte Lenya | Unsexy, you say? Not a real Bond Girl? We beg to differ. Dr. Freud would have had a field day with this Russian agent's manic…
Credit: From Russia With Love: Photofest

Unsexy, you say? Not a real Bond Girl? We beg to differ. Dr. Freud would have had a field day with this Russian agent's manic obsession with, er, sticking her knife (fabulously concealed in a tight leather shoe) into our hero. The first dominatrix Bond girl (and, amazingly, not the last), she never doffed her duds, but she was as memorable as they get.

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WORST HELGA BRANDT (Karin Dor) You Only Live Twice (1967)

You Only Live Twice, Karin Dor | The unexotic German star's SPECTRE spy and short-time lover (those piranhas gobbled her up even faster than 007 did) looked out of place in a…
Credit: You Only Live Twice: Everett Collection

The unexotic German star's SPECTRE spy and short-time lover (those piranhas gobbled her up even faster than 007 did) looked out of place in a movie where Sean Connery was getting sensuous sponge baths on Japanese mountainsides. Watching Bond cut off her dress was like watching him finally get it on with Rosa Klebb. Eeeew.

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BEST MELINA HAVELOCK (Carole Bouquet) For Your Eyes Only (1981)

For Your Eyes Only, Carole Bouquet | As the quintessential Bond girl-with-a-vengeance, she never smiles or says much as she gets even for the murder of her parents with a little crossbow…
Credit: For Your Eyes Only: Everett Collection

As the quintessential Bond girl-with-a-vengeance, she never smiles or says much as she gets even for the murder of her parents with a little crossbow and a helluva lot of determination. Still, with legs like those (among the most iconic images in all of 007-dom), who needs a personality?

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    1 of 22 1
    2 of 22 BEST HONEY RYDER (Ursula Andress) Dr. No (1962)
    3 of 22 WORST DR. CHRISTMAS JONES (Denise Richards) The World Is Not Enough (1999)
    4 of 22 BEST PUSSY GALORE (Honor Blackman) Goldfinger (1964)
    5 of 22 WORST HOLLY GOODHEAD (Lois Chiles) Moonraker (1979)
    6 of 22 BEST JINX (Halle Berry) Die Another Day (2002)
    7 of 22 WORST OCTOPUSSY (Maud Adams) Octopussy (1983)
    8 of 22 BEST VESPER LYND (Eva Green) Casino Royale (2006)
    9 of 22 WORST STACEY SUTTON (Tanya Roberts) A View to a Kill (1985)
    10 of 22 BEST WAI LIN (Michelle Yeoh) Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
    11 of 22 WORST MARY GOODNIGHT (Britt Ekland) The Man With the Golden Gun (1974)
    12 of 22 BEST ANYA AMASOVA (Barbara Bach) The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
    13 of 22 WORST PAM BOUVIER (Carey Lowell) License to Kill (1989)
    14 of 22 BEST TIFFANY CASE (Jill St. John) Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
    15 of 22 WORST CORINNE DUFOUR (Corinne Clery) Moonraker (1979)
    16 of 22 BEST XENIA ONATOPP (Famke Janssen) GoldenEye (1995)
    17 of 22 WORST BIBI DAHL (Lynn-Holly Johnson) For Your Eyes Only (1981)
    18 of 22 BEST TRACY DI VICENZO (Diana Rigg) On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
    19 of 22 WORST KARA MILOVY (Maryam d'Abo) The Living Daylights (1987)
    20 of 22 BEST ROSA KLEBB (Lotte Lenya) From Russia With Love (1963)
    21 of 22 WORST HELGA BRANDT (Karin Dor) You Only Live Twice (1967)
    22 of 22 BEST MELINA HAVELOCK (Carole Bouquet) For Your Eyes Only (1981)

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