Who was Ursula Andress?

Ursula Andress was a Swiss actress and model who worked in Italian, British and American. She was born on March 19, 1936 in Ostermundigen, Bern in Switzerland.Her father, Rolf Andres a German diplomat who went missing during the worl war II and her mother Anna was a half ITalian and half Swiss.She was one of six children of her parents. She had one brother and four sisters.She was the third among her siblings. She can speak many languages- English, French, German, and Italian.

Ursula has acted about 50 films and TV shows. However she is mostly remembered for her role of a leading lady as Honey Ryder in Dr. No of 1962. People still remember her iconic scene where she walks out of the sea in a white bikini. She was the first of a long line of Bond girl and appeared in more than one Bond film. The other is unofficial bond film “Casino Royale”. Her career span more than five year in which she worked some of the biggest films of the last century. Her estimated net worth is $25 million.

Education

She went to school in Bern until she was 16. After that She studied art in Paris for a year, later she worked in Rome as an art and photo model.

Height Weight & Body measurements

Photos of Ursula Andress

Acting career of Ursula Andress

She left Switzerland when she was 17 years old with an Italian actor. During that time she was mostly act in comedy movies which cast her for her physical attributes not for any particular acting talents. Her first film roles were in Italian pictures in 1954 and 1955. She was cast in walk-on parts in “An American in Rome” in 1954. It was her big screen debut. “The Sins of Casanova” and “La catena dell’odio” in 1955. 

Andress arrived in Hollywood in late 1955 and had a seven year contract with Paramount picture. After coming to America she dated Dennis Hopper, James Dean and John Derek.She got public attention when she dated young James Dean. She acted in American Television “Thriler”. However her breakthrough film came only when she was casted as Honey Ryder in Bond film Dr. No (1962) opposite Sean Cornery. It make her international sex symbol and pop icon. It won the door to several opportunities for her in the film industry. She won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year in 1964 for her work in DR. NO.

After Bond film, her career was not so success. She mostly typecast and cold bombshell. In 1963 she played the lead role “Fun in Acapulco” an Elvis Presley musical and a film “4 for Texas” a comedy western film where she was casted alongside Frank Sinatara, Dean Martin and Anita Ekberg. In 1965 came she was casted opposite Derek in two films “Once Before I Die” and “Nightmare in the Sun”.In the same year came another comedy film ” What’s New, Pussycat?” opposite Peter O’Toole. In 1965 she was also worked in the science fiction Italy movie “The 10th Victim”. She returned to Hollywood in 1966 where she acted in “The Blue Max” a world war one film.

She returned to Hollywood in 1966 where she acted in “The Blue Max” a world war one film. In 1967 came Casino Royale an unofficial Bond film. In Italy she worked alongside former Bond girl Claudine Auger in Anyone Can Play (1968). It was a romantic comedy movie. In 1969 she went to Africa to make “The Southern Star”. The film is about a diamond tycoon who hires a geologist to trace diamond in Africa.

In 1970 she starred in “Perfect Friday”. The film is about bank heist by the deputy manager of that bank.She also worked with Charles Bronson in Red Sun (1971). It was about robbery of a train and steals a ceremonial Japanese sword by a gang. Andress acted “The Loves and Times of Scaramouche” (1976), “Safari Express” (1976),”Double Murder” (1978). Another film also came in 1978 “Slave of the Cannibal God” with Stacy Keach and “The Fifth Musketeer” in 1979.

She played Aphrodite alongside Laurence Olivier in 1981’s “Clash of the Titans”. She also worked in Tv in her late career. She participated in the 1986 Emmy-winning historical drama television miniseries “Peter the Great”.Since the beginning of 1990s her appearance was rare. She played the role of Madonna in “St. Francis Birds Tour” in 2005.

Ursula Andress Spouse and Children

Andress married John Derek on February 2,1957  in Las Vegas. However they had a short-lived marriage and they seperated in 1964 and officially divorced in 1966. The couple had no children. Andress began to live with her co-star Harry Hamlin after they met on the set of “Clash of the Titans” in 1979. She gave birth to her only son in 1980. Although the two had not officialy married but seperated in 1983.