Martine Beswick

Martine Beswick
Beswick with Franco Franchi in Ultimo tango a Zagarol (1973)
Born	(1941-09-26) 26 September 1941 (age 75) Port Antonio, Jamaica
Occupation	Actress, model
Years active	1962-1995
Spouse(s)	John Richardson (m. 1967; div. 1973)

Martine Beswick (born 26 September 1941) is an English actress and model, best known for her roles in two James Bond films.

Beswick was born on 26 September 1941 in Port Antonio, Jamaica to a British father and a Portuguese mother.

Beswick, her sister, and her mother moved to London in 1954. In 1955, she left high school to work to help support her family.

Beswick is best known for her two appearances in the James Bond film series. Although she auditioned for the first Bond film Dr. No, she was cast in the second film From Russia with Love as the fiery gypsy girl, Zora. She engaged in the famous "catfight" scene with her rival Vida (played by former Miss Israel Aliza Gur). She was incorrectly billed as "Martin Beswick" in the title sequence. Beswick then appeared as the ill-fated Paula Caplan in Thunderball. She had been away from the Caribbean so long that she was required to sunbathe constantly for two weeks before filming, to look like a local.

Martine went on to appear in One Million Years B.C. opposite Raquel Welch, with whom she also engaged in a catfight. She then appeared in various Hammer Studio low-budget films, most notably Prehistoric Women and the gender-bending Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, in which she played the titular villainess. She played Adelita in the well-regarded Spaghetti Western, A Bullet for the General in 1967 opposite Klaus Kinski and Gian Maria Volontè. She starred as the Queen of Evil in Oliver Stone's 1974 directorial debut Seizure, or Queen of Evil. In the 1970s, Beswick moved to Hollywood and regularly appeared on both the big and small screens. She made numerous guest appearances in television series, including Sledge Hammer!, Fantasy Island, The Fall Guy, Mannix, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Falcon Crest. In 1980, she played the lead role in the comedy film The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood.