Ursula Andress

Biography

The quintessential jet-set Euro starlet, Ursula Andress was born in the Swiss canton of Berne on March 19, 1936, one of six children in a strict German Protestant family. Although often seeming icily aloof, a restless streak early demonstrated itself in her personality, and she had an impetuous desire to explore the world outside Switzerland. (For instance, she was tracked down by Interpol for running away from boarding school at 17 years old.) The stunning young woman found work as an art model in Rome and did walk-ons in three quickie Italian pictures before coming to Hollywood. At 19, she met and had an affair with fading matinée idol John Derek, who abruptly left his wife and kids for Ursula, even though she barely spoke any English at the time. In 1957 they eloped, with the new bride putting her acting ambitions on hold for a few years thereafter. 1962 saw the virtually unknown Swiss beauty back on the set, playing opposite Sean Connery in the first movie version of Ian Fleming's fanciful "James Bond" espionage novels, Dr. No (1962). Andress' role was small, and her Swiss/German accent was so strong that her entire performance had to be dubbed by a voiceover artist. Nevertheless, her striking beauty and smoldering screen presence made a strong impression on moviegoers, immediately establishing her as one of the most desired women in the world and as an ornament to put alongside some of the most bankable talent of the era, such as Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco (1963) and Dean Martin in 4 for Texas (1963). In 1965, she was one of several European starlets to costar in Quoi de neuf, Pussycat? (1965) -- a film that perhaps sums up mid-'60s pop culture better than any other -- written by Woody Allen, starring Allen and Peter Sellers, with music by Burt Bacharach, a title song performed by Tom Jones and much onscreen sexual romping. Andress appeared in many more racy-for-their time movies in both the United States and Europe, including The 10th Victim (1965), in which she wore a famously ballistic bra, and The Blue Max (1966), where she was aptly cast as the sultry, sexually insatiable wife of an aristocratic World War I German general. She was also featured in Casino Royale (1967), a satirical foray into the world of James Bond, and gave a sparkling performance in the T&A-filled crime caper Perfect Friday (1970). Roles as a prostitute kidnapped by outlaws in Red Sun (1971), a stewardess living on the edge in Les aventures d'une air-hôtesse (1975), and a bombshell nurse hired to titillate a doddering millionaire to death in The Sensuous Nurse (1975) all provided plenty of excuses to throw her clothes to the wind. In La montagne du dieu cannibale (1978), she was notoriously stripped and slathered in orange paint by a pair of nubiles. Then she took on the sophisticated role of Louise de la Valliere, alluring mistress of King Louis XIV (Beau Bridges) in Le 5e mousquetaire (1979). Unmarried since 1966, Andress had divorced Derek after falling in love with French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo on the Malaysian set of Up to His Ears (1965). The relationship with Belmondo hit a wall in 1972, and she was next attached to her leading man from Stateline Motel (1973), Italian heartthrob Fabio Testi. When that did not work out, Andress played the field, reportedly involved at various times with a host of Lotharios including (but by no means limited to) Dennis Hopper, Ryan O'Neal, John DeLorean, Franco Nero, Marcello Mastroianni and Gerardo Amato. In 1979, she began what would be a long-term romance with Harry Hamlin, her handsome young co-star from Clash of the Titans (1981) (in which she was cast, predictably, as "Aphrodite"). While subsequently traveling in India, Andress' belly began to swell out of her clothing, and she felt very nauseous. What at first seemed a severe case of "Delhi Belly" turned out to be pregnancy, her first and only, at age 43. She and Hamlin named the child, who was born in 1980, Dimitri Hamlin. After the birth of her son, Andress scaled back her career, which now focused mostly on slight European productions (such as Mexico in Flames (1982) with old flame Nero, showing her nude body yet again) and occasional television roles (on the soap opera Falcon Crest (1981) and critically lauded miniseries Peter the Great (1986)), as she was raising Dimitri in Italy. Dumped by Hamlin in 1983, she began keeping company with Fausto Fagone in 1986, but since their breakup in the early '90s her love life has gone undocumented. She last worked on a film in 2005. Today Ursula, ostensibly retired from acting, calls the world her home, dividing time between family in Switzerland, friends in Spain and Virginia, and her properties in Rome and L.A.