Bond girls: who are the greatest of all time?
Yesterday night marked the star-studded premiere of the long-awaited 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die. Celebrities poured in their droves to the Royal Albert Hall, and a pink-velvet Daniel Craig was flanked by his fellow cast members Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux and Lashana Lynch on the red carpet to celebrate his fifth – and his final – instalment of the Bond franchise.
The film has already received glowing reviews, with The Times’ Kevin Maher awarding it five stars, saying “it was better than good. It’s magnificent.” The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw described the film as an “epic barnstormer” which delivers “pathos, action, drama, camp, comedy, heartbreak, macabre horror, and outrageously silly old-fashioned action.” In another five-star review, The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin said it was an “extravagantly satisfying, bulgingly proportioned last chapter to the Craig era,” which “throws everything there is left to throw at.”
Retrospectively, the “Daniel Craig era” of Bond films will be remembered for adding depth to a character that was historically capped to a notorious womaniser who beds women as quickly as he shakes his martini. But it is not just the James Bond character that has undergone a massive refurbishment in recent years but also the infamous Bond girl.
Gone are the days where the secret ingredient to a Bond girl was a pre-packaged barbie with lithe legs, bouncy hair and an eye-rolling name like “Plenty O’Toole” or “Holly Goodhead.” Since the actress Eva Green took on the role as the highly complicated Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, there are now many nuances to the Bond girls’ character.
We can expect no less with No Time to Die, where Ana de Armas stars as CIA agent Paloma. The Cuba-born actress has said she defies the Bond girl stereotype by being the “toughest” in the franchise’s 59-year history. Not forgetting other powerful female figures like Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny, and Léa Seydoux as the highly intelligent psychologist Madeline Swann from 2015’s Spectre.
So, ahead of the film’s release tomorrow, we present the Reaction team’s top six most memorable Bond girls of all time:
Number 6 – Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) – Dr No (1962)
The Swiss actress Ursula Andress is often regarded as the original Bond girl for her role as Honey Ryder in 1962’s Dr No, the first-ever Bond film. Any fans of the spy franchise will recall the iconic moment she first meets James Bond (Sean Connery) and walks out of the sea in a cream-coloured bikini with a large diving knife on her hip. The bikini is now cited as the most famous bikini of all time and continues to be a significant (two)piece of cinematic and fashion history.
Number 5 – Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) – Goldfinger (1965)
Her name may undo decades of progress for feminism, but you can’t dispute the fact that Honor Blackman’s role as Pussy Galore is unforgettable. Daring enough to turn against Goldfinger (one of the greatest Bond villains), we learn in the film that this Bond girl is no meek kitten.
Number 4 – May Day (Grace Jones) – A View to Kill (1985)
The effortlessly cool Grace Jones’ role as May Day deserves a mention for beginning to chip at the classic Bond mould. The Telegraph wrote that May Day was a “force of character with a wardrobe to match – high-cur leotards, hooded evening dresses and leather bomber jackets.” Indeed, the character really was a sexually aggressive outlaw who held no prisoners, especially not cell 007.
Number 3 – Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) – Casino Royale (2006)
By far the “most complicated” Bond girl, Eva Green’s star-making role helped define the Daniel Craig era of films and the Bond girls that followed. As an agent for the UK treasury, Vesper is clearly intelligent, but it is through her quick-witted and emotional rapport with Bond that we gain a greater sense of her character’s depth (without her needing to strip down to a voyeuristic bikini).
Number 2 – Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) – Spectre (2015)
Although she may not be the Bond girl that stands out most in the Ian Fleming franchise, Léa Seydoux’s Madeline Swann is almost certainly the first to “be an equal to James Bond.” The psychiatrist by profession (who can also handle a gun) is the epitome of female empowerment. Swann is, in Seydoux’s own words, “not just a sexual object who 007 just uses and discards, in almost a patronising and condescending way….[….] it is the fact that she knew how to get to Bond and also, being so independent and capable of looking after herself, she became a threat to him.”
Number 1 – M (Judi Dench) – (1995-2012)
From her debut in 1995’s GoldenEye through to her final appearance in 2012’s Skyfall, Judi Dench took to the role of M with glamour, sophistication and resolve. We’ve come a long way from M’s memorable castigation of Bond in GoldenEye, where she brandishes him as a “sexist, misogynistic dinosaur – a relic of the Cold War.” As the decades passed, we would learn of a whole new multifaceted Bond, and for that, we have the ultimate Bond girl/lady/dame to thank.