Ursula Andress was known for her beauty throughout the 1960s, mostly thanks to a little film named Dr. No.
Throughout her career, Ursula used her looks to her advantage and took over the silver screen across the world. But behind the scenes, she was just as mysterious and alluring as she was onscreen. She led a wild life and made the most of her time as a Hollywood heartbreaker. Get to know more about her with these 25 stunning facts about the first Bond Girl, Ursula Andress.
She is from Switzerland
Ursula Andress was born in Ostermundigen, Switzerland, on March 19, 1936. She was the third child born to Anna and Rolf Andress who would go on to have three more children together. Her father, Rolf, was a German diplomat, so they lived a privileged life in a large house.
However, he was expelled from Switzerland due to political reasons, and her grandfather became the guardian of Ursula and her siblings. Their grandfather wasn’t the doting type. He worked a busy job as a garden designer
She Worked Hard and Dreamed of Leaving
Ursula’s grandfather put her to work when she came to live with him. She did hard labor in his large nursery. She would work in the greenhouses during the day and clean out furnaces at night.
By the time she was 16, Ursula was going to school in Bern, Switzerland, and knew how to speak, German, French, and Italian. She wanted to travel the world and was more than ready to leave Switzerland behind. Her strict grandfather was the only obstacle standing in her way.
Her Big Break Came When She Was At School
A french film school visited Ursula’s school when she was 17. They were in the process of filming L’Affaire Maurizius, which starred the heartthrob Daniel Gélin. Upon meeting him, Ursula fell totally in love even though Gélin was 30 years old and married. Ursula’s infatuation with Gélin worried her mother.
And when Gélin finished his movie, they devised a way to get Ursula out of Switzerland. Gélin made a fake contract that stated Studios de Billancourt would get Ursula “into movies.” Her mother eventually relented and let her leave for Paris.
Her Family Had to Track Her Down
While in Paris, Ursula studied for a year. But things started to fall apart when she and Gélin ended up in Rome. Gélin’s issues became too much for Ursula thanks to his drug use, so she dumped him. But she didn’t tell anyone.
Her family realized she was AWOL, alone and abroad. To find her, they didn’t stop at contacting the local police. They got Interpol involved, too! Despite this, Ursula refused to be brought back to Switzerland and decided to try and hide.
She Hid With Bridgitte Bardot
Ursula was able to avoid Interpol for a while by hiding at the Hotel de la Ville with Bridgitte Bardot, an actress and model, and Roger Vadmin, a movie director. Vadim later stated that the trio “slept innocently naked, three to a bed.”
But Ursula couldn’t hide from Interpol forever. They eventually caught her and tried to bring her home. Somehow, she convinced her family to let her stay in Rome. For a while, she took nannying jobs to get by in Rome. But with her stunning good looks, it wasn’t long before Urseul got into modeling.
She Was a Jake-of-All-Trades At Times
Ursula began modeling by posting for artists around the area. Then, she found her way into the movie business. During this time, she appeared in three different movies that were filmed in Rome.
Upon the advice of Marlon Brando, an old friend of Gélin’s, Ursula stopped jumping from job to job and decided to try and make it in Hollywood. After doing a screentest for Paramount Pictures, she was offered a seven-year contract and uprooted her life in Rome to make it big on the silver screen!
Her Hollywood Training was Grueling
In January 1955, Ursula started her Hollywood education. Paramount began her training by getting her to study the movies of Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. They were two of the most beautiful actresses of their time.
Paramount also sent her to learn English from the mother of Audrey Hepburn, though she was unsuccessful in the end. However, Ursula found this to be too confining for her free-spirited way. She said she felt like they “locked me up in a glass cage.”
Her Social Life Kept Her Career Afloat
Ursula was receiving weekly payments from Paramount, but her career was in jeopardy because she couldn’t speak English. But she found her ways to keep her name in the mouths of the public.
Her social life made her well known, especially since she had a fling with the incredibly famous actor, James Dean, for four months. Though it helped with her positive publicity, the fling did not advance her career. After ending her fling with Dean, Ursula met John Derek when she was 19 years old. He was handsome and a Hollywood actor who was also married with children.
Her Career Was Going Nowhere
Derek ended up walking out on his family for Ursula and the two got married in 1957 before going around the world on a four-year-long honeymoon. During this time, Derek became baffled at Ursula’s lack of ambition. She bought herself out of her Paramount contract and signed with Columbia Pictures.
However, her career continued going nowhere. She rejected the roles she was given and would not read the scripts the studio sent to her. Ursula’s career would have continued to go nowhere if it weren’t for a stroke of luck in 1962.
She Almost Refused to be Honey Ryder
A photo of Ursula, taken by Derek, found its way into the hands of the producers for a film titled Dr. No, the first James Bond movie.
Her looks sold the producers and they instantly gave her the role of Honey Ryder, the seductive love interest of James Bond. Filming was to being in two weeks. But this still wasn’t enough for Ursula. She turned down the role at first. But when her good friend and famous actor, Kirk Douglas, read her the script out loud, she fell in love with it and finally accepted the role.
Filming Could Be Difficult
Ursula set off for Jamaica and the set of Dr. No, only to become intimidated by Sean Connery upon first meeting him. However, she and Connery quickly hit it off. They had great onscreen chemistry, and developed a friendship offscreen, as well! Connery became “very protective” of Ursula who still did not know English and was relatively unknown. This helped her feel more comfortable on set. Especially with the issues she faced.
For starters, she was told she didn’t “look Jamaican enough” and was given a big spray tan. Then, her heavy Swiss-German accent made it impossible for anyone to know what she was saying. So, in the end, they had to dub over her singing and speaking parts. But, let’s be honest, this isn’t exactly what Honey Ryder was known for, anyway.
She Made The Bikini, Herself
What launched Ursula into fame was the scene in Dr. Nowhere Honey Ryder walked out of the ocean in that famous white bikini with a diving knife strapped to her hip. This one scene made Ursula an overnight icon in 1962. It was an unforgettable movie entrance. And Dr. No ended up doing much better than first anticipated. She began to get movie offers handed to her hand over fist.
And many don’t realize that Ursula made that bikini herself! She was offered many different bikinis when she got to set, but she didn’t like any of them. So she got to work and whipped the perfect one! That bikini ended up going up for sale at a James Bond auction, along with the 1965 Aston Martin DB5 driven in GoldenEye. Ursula’s bikini sold for £41,125, that’s over $46,000!
She Made a Movie With Elvis
The next film Ursula took on after Dr. No was Fun in Acapulco where she starred alongside Elvis Presley. Ursula was hesitant to do the movie at first, due to some gossip she had heard about the King of Rock and Roll. But, to be fair, Elvis was just as intimidated by her.
It is said that he wouldn’t take his shirt off for the movie because of her. Elvis wanted to get back together with his first love and wouldn’t even let himself be alone in the same room with her. Eventually, Ursula and Elvis warmed up to each other and went on to become lifelong friends, even if this did churn the rumor mill.
She Was Making Movies Left and Right
Ursula also filmed the movie 4 for Texas with Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Anita Ekberg while she filmed Fun in Acapulco.
During her screen tests for 4 for Texas, Ursula auditioned in the nude. The plan was to make that character much steamier. But censors wouldn’t allow it, and she appeared totally clothed in the movie. Next, Ursula filmed Once Before I Die with John Derek, her husband, in 1964. The two had been a couple for seven years at this point.
Her Marriage Dissolved On Set
Though they had been together for several years, Ursula and Derek’s relationship began to deteriorate on the set of Once Before I Die. Rumors about Ursula having an affair with Ron Ely, another actor in the movie, began to spread and got to Derek. To this day, Ursula has never confirmed or denied the rumor.
He got so mad that he kicked Ursula out of his home in the summer of 1965. After this, Ursula decided to head to England. That year, Ursula also shot racy photos that ended up in Playboy magazine. When asked why she did them, she simply answered, “because I’m beautiful.” She went on to do seven more shoots for them over the next 15 years.
She Moved On
In England, Ursula landed the leading role of an immortal queen in the film She. It was a successful movie, but she ended up hating it as she said she was “forced” to make the movie. But she did say, “The only thing I adored were the costumes. I was just lucky to look good in it because they photographed me beautifully."
While on the set of She, she met her next love in the form of actor John Richardson. Their relationship began quickly and since Ursula had not completely divorced Derek yet, their relationship made quite a stir. However, it did not last long and she lost interest in him after just a few months.
Her Love Life Was Becoming A Pattern
The same year she filmed She, Ursula filmed an Italian science-fiction movie called The 10th Victim. During filming, you guessed it, she started dating Marcello Mastroianni, her co-star. Their movie was very successful, but, as a couple, they were not. Again, Ursula lost interest and left Mastroianni after a few months.
Not one to let love get her down, Ursula went to Paris to film the movie Up to His Ears in 1965. There, she fell in love with her co-star (again). But this time, Jean-Paul Belmondo gave her the push she needed to finally finalize her divorce from Derek. Ursula even said Belmondo was “the love of her life.”
She was in another James Bond movie
When 1967 rolled around, Ursula was offered a part in another Jame Bond movie, Casino Royale. This time, she played Vesper Lynd.
She was paid a whopping £200,000 for the movie, but the movie studio was happy to do it. Director Val Guest said she was “universally loved by everyone in [the] studio.” Casino Royale became a huge success at the box office but Ursula soon slowed down with the number of movies she was making, choosing to take on more unique roles.
She Took On Roles That Were Different
The next movies Ursula made were not your typical leading lady parts for the era. She defied the expectations of a “soft and submissive” female lead.
Instead, she played the most sultry roles she could find, starting with Lady Britt Dorset in Perfect Friday in 1970 and a brother worker named Cristina in Red Sun in 1971. Both of these roles allowed Ursula to show off her… assets. Due to her level of undress in these movies, she also earned the moniker of “Ursula Undress.”
Her Relationships Were Becoming More Questionable
In 1972, Ursula’s seven-year-long relationship with Belmondo soured. Instead of getting caught up in heartbreak, Ursula went back to Hollywood and worked through her pain, briefly entering into a fling with actor Ryan O’Neal. O’Neal was perhaps the worst of all her partners. He had a reputation for being a womanizer and wouldn’t even send his daughter to her room until Ursula told him, “I don’t want to sleep with you while your daughter is in the bed.”
And, much like her most recent relationships, she met her next lover on the set of the Italian movie Stateline Motel. Fabio Testi was, you guessed it, her co-star. Their relationship lasted four years. Looking back on all her past relationships, she said that she still loved all of them in a deep, platonic way, and thought it would be fun for them all to live in one big house together.
She Won't Change to Meet Hollywood's Needs
At this point, Hollywood was changing and many actresses started to ditch their old roles to play “real” women instead. But Ursula wouldn’t change. She continued to play leading ladies that were gorgeous and seductive. However, this wasn’t what audiences wanted to see anymore. They wanted women that did more than flaunt their beauty. And between Ursula not taking on complex roles and the disaster of her next several movies, her career started to spiral.
Her next movie was Slave of the Cannibal God in 1978. She appeared in several graphic scenes and was once filmed completely nude. Plus, the film had several disturbing animal cruelty scenes. While the movie went on to become a cult classic, it was banned entirely in the UK at the time.
She Was Aphrodite, Literally
The next year, Ursula played the sultry character of Louise de La Valliére, the mistress of King Louis XIV of France. She wore eight different costumes, all of them showing off her beauty. But critics weren’t impressed. The movie received bland reviews
Her next movie was the classic Clash of the Titans where she naturally played the goddess of beauty and love, Aphrodite. She had top-billing, but only said one line in the entire movie. But that was enough for her to fall in love with yet another co-star.
She Had A Son And Began to Settle Down
Ursula started dating the star of Clash of the Titans, Harry Hamlin while filming the movie. But there was a large age gap between the two- 16 years to be exact! She soon became pregnant and was encouraged by Hamlin to have the baby at 44 years young. Their son, Dimitri Alexander Hamlin, was born on May 19, 1980. Shortly after, Ursula and Hamlin were engaged.
If her career had been floundering before, it nearly died after she gave birth. Until Dimitri was born, she was someone “who up until then refused even the responsibility of pets.” She took on roles much less frequently, only taking small parts in television series in the 80s.
She Made Some Even More Questionable Decisions
Unfortunately, Ursula’s relationship with Hamlin wasn’t meant to be. She described herself as “possessive” of him and this led to their eventual demise. 3 years after the birth of Dimitri, the couple called it quits in 1983. Hamlin moved on while Ursula continued working while taking care of her son and adding to the long list of lovers she never committed to.
Under another wild string of events, she began dating Fausto Fagone in 1986. He was a 20-year-old student studying economics in college while Ursula was already 50 years old. The age gap of 30 years was frowned upon, making Fagone’s parents enraged. And ever since they ended things in 1991, Ursula has kept her love life quiet.
She Misses Sean Connery
Nowadays, Ursula is basically retired from acting, only making a few appearances in the media here and there. She likes to split her time between her homes in Switzerland and Rome.
However, she took Sean Connery’s death in 2020 as a personal blow. She described him as “a fabulous actor,” “loyal,” and “a great friend.” She also said there would never be anyone quite like Connery. She said, “For me, Sean is not dead, he will always be alive, with me forever.”
