"Bond Girl" Claudine Auger, who co-starred with Sean Connery in Thuderball, passed away this week. Auger began her screen career in the early the Sixties with roles in Jean Cocteau's Testament of Orpheus (1960), Marcel Carne's Terrain vague (1960), the anthology film The Seven Deadly Sins (1962), and many other productions. But her star to fame really took off when she was spotted in Nassau by Thunderball collaborator (it's a long story), Kevin McClory, who suggested Auger for the lead in the new Bond film. The character was changed to fit Auger's French background and "Domino" was born. Thunderball made its debut in December, 1965 and the rest is history. Some of her projects that followed included crime drama That Man George (1966), Zig Zag spy drama, Triple Cross (1966), with Bond director Terence Young, Anyone Can Play (1968) with fellow Bond girl Ursula Andress, Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971) by Mario Bava, and many others. One of her last projects was the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes in 1994 with Jeremy Brett. Auger passed away after a long illness at the age of 78. As this year draws to a close, so does our era of 50th anniversaries of Sixties projects. So it is especially poignant to mark this first passing of one of the original Bond Girls. Spy Vibe sends condolences to Claudine's family, friends, and many fans. Below: some of the many images of Claudine Auger from 1960s modeling gigs and film promotion.
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