Ursula Andress

Acting

Ursula Andress

Born 1936-03-19 · Ostermundigen, Bern, Switzerland

Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss actress and former model who has appeared in American, British, and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, Dr. No (1962). She later starred as Vesper Lynd in the 1967 Bond parody Casino Royale. Other credits include Fun in Acapulco (1963), 4 for Texas (1963), She (1965), The 10th Victim (1965), The Blue Max (1966), The Southern Star (1969), Perfect Friday (1970), Red Sun (1971), The Sensuous Nurse (1975), Slave of the Cannibal God (1978), The Fifth Musketeer (1979), Clash of the Titans (1981), and Peter the Great (1986). Ursula Andress, the third of six children, was born on 19 March 1936 in Ostermundigen, Canton of Bern, to a Swiss mother, Anna, and Rolf Andress, a German diplomat. Her father was expelled from Switzerland for political reasons and her grandfather, a garden designer, became her guardian. She has a brother, Heinz, and four sisters, Erika, Charlotte, Gisela, and Kàtey. Andress went to school in Bern until she was 16 and learned several languages, including English, French, German, and Italian. She studied art in Paris for a year, then went to Rome, where she worked various jobs including being a children's nanny. Andress was at a party when she met a film producer who offered her a screen test for a role in an Italian film. She was successful and was cast in walk-on parts in An American in Rome (1954) (starring Alberto Sordi), Sins of Casanova (1955) (starring later Bond ally Gabriele Ferzetti), and La catena dell'odio (1955). She was seen by a Hollywood executive who persuaded her to try her luck in Hollywood. Andress arrived in Hollywood in late 1955. That spring she was signed to a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures, starting at $287 a week. The contract brought no acting roles, owing to her reluctance to learn English. "I spent most of my time watching old Marlene Dietrich movies", she said. Andress received some publicity for dating James Dean shortly before the actor's death. She bought herself out of her contract and in 1956 signed with Columbia Pictures. She made no films for them either. She stayed in Hollywood when she married John Derek in 1957. In 1959, it was announced she and Derek would star in a film, High Variety, but no film resulted. Source: Article "Ursula Andress" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Acting credits

Casino Royale poster
5.3

Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle.

Casino Royale

1967

Dr. No poster
7.0

Agent 007 battles mysterious Dr. No, a scientific genius bent on destroying the U.S. space program. As the countdown to disaster begins, Bond must go to Jamaica, where he encounters beautiful Honey Ryder, to confront a megalomaniacal villain in his massive island headquarters.

Dr. No

1962

Clash of the Titans poster
6.9

To win the right to marry his love, the beautiful princess Andromeda, and fulfil his destiny, half-God-half-mortal Perseus must complete various tasks including taming Pegasus, capturing Medusa's head and battling the feared Kraken.

Clash of the Titans

1981

Red Sun poster
6.8

In 1870, Japanese ambassador Sakaguchi and his entourage travel by train to Washington to deliver a valuable sword to the President of the United States, a gift from the Emperor of Japan. On board the same train are two robbers, Link and Gauche, ready to make their move…

Red Sun

1971

Slave of the Cannibal God poster
5.2

A woman and her brother fly to New Guinea to look for a lost expedition, led by her husband, which has vanished in the great jungle.

Slave of the Cannibal God

1978

Red Bells Part I: Mexico in Flames poster
4.2

American journalist John Reed travels to Mexico during the Mexican Revolution and interviews Francisco Villa. At the same time, we learn about his relationship with his lover Mabel Dodge, his participation in the Patterson strike, and his work as a reporter during World War I.

Red Bells Part I: Mexico in Flames

1982

Bond Girls Are Forever poster
5.7

Through vintage film clips of past Bond movie epics, and with the participation of several former "Bond Girls" as interviewees (among them Dr. No's Ursula Andress and Diamonds Are Forever's Jill St. John), the documentary traces the evolution of the typical James Bond heroine from decorative damsel in distress to gutsy (but still decorative) participant in the action.

Bond Girls Are Forever

2002

She poster
5.6

The lost city of Kuma is ruled by the cruel, arrogant, beautiful queen, Ayesha, gifted with eternal life. She lures Leo Vincey into her world, seeing in him the reincarnation of the lover she long ago murdered in a fit of violent jealousy. Against all advice Leo is determined to stay and Ayesha persuades him to bathe in the flame of eternal youth... with disastrous consequences.

She

1965

The Best of So Graham Norton poster
NR

Part talk-show host, part comedian, and all-out extrovert, the very Irish and very gay Graham Norton is one of the few people who deserves all the adjectives that are thrown at him: "bawdy," "saucy," "outrageous," and "hilarious" are a few of them. His BBC talk show, So Graham Norton, is something that you just couldn't find in America: a rampant exercise in audience titillation that wallows gloriously in bizarre human behavior. It's like an audience-interactive NC-17 Saturday Night Live, with occasional breaks for celebrity chit-chat. If you ever wanted to see Gillian Anderson, Cher, Sophia Loren, or Dolly Parton break the talk-show mold with bawdy sex talk, then your dreams have come true. And Norton's cringe-inducing yet compulsively watchable audience polls, which ask common folk to relate embarrassing, adult-oriented tales, reveal a European openness (and sense of humor) that just wouldn't fly in the U.S.

The Best of So Graham Norton

2004

The Blue Max poster
6.8

A young pilot in the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and unchivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills.

The Blue Max

1966

The 10th Victim poster
6.6

In the near future, big wars are avoided by giving individuals with violent tendencies a chance to kill in the Big Hunt. The Hunt is the most popular form of entertainment in the world and also attracts participants who are looking for fame and fortune. It includes ten rounds for each competitor, five as the hunter and five as the victim.

The 10th Victim

1965

What's New Pussycat? poster
5.9

A playboy who refuses to give up his hedonistic lifestyle to settle down and marry his true love seeks help from a demented psychoanalyst who is having romantic problems of his own.

What's New Pussycat?

1965

4 for Texas poster
5.1

In the 1870s, two rival businessmen, Zack Thomas and Joe Jarrett, on a stagecoach heading to Galveston, Texas, must pull together to protect $100,000 from an outlaw named Matson. Once in Galveston, however, their rivalry continues, as Thomas joins up with Elya Carlson and Jarret with Maxine Richter. But Matson is still on the loose, and a scheming banker threatens both Thomas and Jarrett.

4 for Texas

1963

Liberté, égalité, choucroute poster
5.9

A parody of the French Revolution, on Arabian Nights background. Bagdad Calif is in Paris in 1789, where he decides to visit the Executionner equipment exhibition.

Liberté, égalité, choucroute

1985

Double Murder poster
3.5

Detective Baldassarre spends his forced exile sorting criminal records. He gets a chance to return to the line of fire when two people, an aristocrat and a worker are struck by lightning inside a fancy mansion. The incident would be relegated to freak accidents, but Baldassare's attention is drawn to the strangeness of the events and he begins to investigate.

Double Murder

1977

Perfect Friday poster
6.2

The deputy manager of a London bank has worked out a way to rob the branch of £200,000. When he becomes involved with the attractive Lady Dorset he decides to go ahead with his plan. He needs her help and that of her philandering spendthrift husband. It all comes down to a matter of trust.

Perfect Friday

1970

Fun in Acapulco poster
5.9

Mike Windgren works on a boat in Acapulco, but when the bratty daughter of its owner gets him fired, Mike finds new work as a lifeguard and singer at a local hotel. Tensions increase when Mike runs afoul of the rival lifeguard—also the champion diver of Mexico.

Fun in Acapulco

1963

An American in Rome poster
7.1

Nando Moriconi is a young Italian living in Rome obsessed with all-things American.

An American in Rome

1954

Celebrity Nude Revue: The Saucy 70's Volume 1 poster
7.0

A sex in cinema retrospective that uncovers long-forgotten gems buried for years as well as some of the most significant films in the history of sex on the screen. Controversial and groundbreaking films, you’ll discover the most memorable and erotic scenes of the decade as well as insightful and controversial bios on each actress. In many cases it was their first and only nude appearance on film, making this a must-have reference guide to nudity in cinema.

Celebrity Nude Revue: The Saucy 70's Volume 1

2010

100 Greatest Sexy Moments poster
3.5

Documentary, based on a British poll, listing the 100 sexiest movie and TV moments. Supplemented by new interviews with performers, filmmakers, and authors/critics.

100 Greatest Sexy Moments

2003

Reporters poster
7.0

The co-founder of the Gamma press agency, Raymond Depardon, created this documentary of press photographers in Paris and their subjects by following the photographers around for one month, in October, 1980. In-between long hours waiting for a celebrity to emerge from a restaurant or a hotel, boredom immediately switches to fast action as the cameras click and roll when the person appears. The reaction to the gaggle of photographers is as varied as the people they often literally chase all around town. While some of the celebrities, such as Jacques Chirac who was mayor of Paris at the time, are perceived as comical caricatures, others are shown simply going about ordinary pursuits - including Catherine Deneuve, Gene Kelly, and Jean-Luc Godard.

Reporters

1981

The Fifth Musketeer poster
4.9

King Louis XIV has without his knowledge a twin brother, Philippe, but when he is told, he immediately locks up his brother in the Bastille. The king wants to increase his popularity and stages an assassination against himself where Philippe is dressed as king Louis. But Philippe manages to escape the assassination and everybody believes him to be the real king...

The Fifth Musketeer

1979

Up to His Ears poster
7.0

A millionaire realizes he really wants to live after he has hired an assassin to kill him.

Up to His Ears

1965

Belmondo: The Incorrigible poster
8.2

Charismatic and resourceful, seducer and daredevil, Jean-Paul Belmondo has always played his roles as he lived, at a thousand miles an hour. He had only one passion: to entertain the public with his smile, his naturalness, his energy, his stunts. But contrary to appearances, his destiny was full of pitfalls. This film lifts the veil on a founding childhood that allowed him to overcome many obstacles throughout his life thanks to the tutelary figures of his father and mother. Told from the inside with the help of his autobiography, interviews and unpublished archives, this epic story traces the career of this turbulent young actor who launched the New Wave in Breathless before becoming the popular Bebel, an indestructible and provocative vigilante. From film to film, this documentary paints an intimate portrait of a man who built himself up to reach the top: his triumphs but also his trials, his doubts, his secrets, his angers, his clowning, his disappointments or his personal dramas.

Belmondo: The Incorrigible

2022