007 Girls, part 4

SInce a red headed evil henchwoman worked so well in THUNDERBALL, I guess the casting people of the next 007 film, 1967's YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, thought it'd work again. But Karin Dor (born February 22, 1938, Wiesbaden, Germany) wasn't a very good actress, at least in this writer's opinion, as well as most 007 fans. Her character, Hilda Brandt, gets eaten by piranha after she tortures Bond.

Karin Dor

Mie Hama

Akiko Wakabayashi  portrayed Aki, who goes into a fake marriage with Bond to help the mission, but is soon killed by ninjas.

Mie Hama (born 1943) and Akiko Wakabayashi (1941) were both veterens of the GODZILLA films. Mie was cast as Japanese secret agent Kissy Suzuki. Strangely, her name is never spoken in the film. Also in the odd column is the fact that this is the only 007 film in which James Bond doesn't drive a car at any point in the movie. But he IS driven by Mie in one of the rarest of 007 sports carts, the Toyota 2000 GT.

The Toyota 2000GT was never produced as a convertible. It was customised in the film because Connery couldn't fit in the coupe.

McGinnis painting for film's poster

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2002's DIE ANOTHER DAY was the 20th "Official" Bond film, 21st if you count NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN and 22nd if including the spoof "CASINO ROYAL" from 1967.

This was Pierce Brosnan's fourth and final fling as Bond. The film was rather good, but we're not here to debate that..we're here to check out the Bond Girls.

Halle Berry as CIA operative is unforgettable in a role that they have tried before, but it just doesn't work: Female Spy The (Near) Equal of James Bond. If you want that kind of stuff, I direct you to MR AND MRS SMITH.

Madonna sang the theme song for DIE ANOTHER DAY and had a larger than cameo role (although her action scenes were done by stuntwoman Karen Sheppard). Although she had no romantic tryst with Bond, I'll  put her character Verity as a minor Bond girl.

On Madonna's right is Rosamund Pike playing Miranda Frost. She sexes James, turns out to be a traitor and is killed by Halle Berry in the finale.

Pike was born in London in 1979.She plays the part of Kate Sumner in the 2011 Bond-spoof film Johnny English Reborn, playing a psychologist and English's love interest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. While it was a very good film, it was somewhat lacking in the dishy femme department.

Brooklyn born Talisa Soto , born in 1967, played Lupe Lamora, the baddie's terrorised girlfriend.  Talisa went on to star in such dramatic classics as MORTAL KOMBAT, SPY HARD, and VAMPIRELLA.

The Main Bond Babe in this film was played by Carey Lowell (born 1961), another attempt at a "female co-spy" that woefully failed.