She only made around 20 films, but Norwegian Julie Ege still left a mark on movie audiences. She was a former Bond Girl and Hammer Glamour Girl, as well as a player in some sexy comedies. She was memorably seen in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (as The Scandinavian Girl), in the prehistoric adventure Creatures the World Forgot (my favorite role of hers, as Nala), in the sci-fi cult classic The Finale Programme and of course in the bizarre kung-fu Dracula film The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Also a former Miss Norway (in 1962) and Miss Universe contestant, Julie became a sought out pin-up model and former Penthouse Pet, got married two times and had two daughters. After retiring from the public eye, she worked as a nurse, successfully battling breast cancer around 1986 or so. Sadly, that same illness got the better of her last April 29, when she passed on at the age of 64. Another Siren gone to soon.

Another ageless Bond Girl, Talisa Soto turns 41 today. Motherhood (two children with Benjamin Bratt) has been her principal occupation these last few years, so don’t pray right now for a sequel to Vampirella!

Ursula Andress has been one of my first guests on the main site, and she effortlessly brought good luck and lots of visitors for Cult Sirens. The ultimate Bond Girl turns a youthful 72 today.

Since I talked briefly about Olga when the movie Hitman was released, it seems that our Ukrainian beauty remains one of our top favorites around here, as her mere presence has been a contributing factor to this blog’s success.

So I’m pleased to announce that Ms. Kurylenko will be in the next Bond film, alongside Gemma Arterton, of whom I also talked about last December. In fact, it looks that Olga will be the official main leading female character. All will become clearer in the weeks to come. Things are shaping up to be quite exciting in Daniel Craig’s second appearance in the lead role!

It has been officially announced that the Bond Girl featured in the next 007 episode will be played by an actress named Gemma Arterton. When I say ‘new’ I mean ‘new’ as this young woman has only one feature film that saw release to date, namely the comedy St. Trinian’s, a reprise of an excellent series of hilarious British farces that started in 1954. She seems to have been part of the English stage, playing in works like Titus Andronicus, Faust and The Beggars Opera and also enjoying a fine soprano voice. In fact, she’s part of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art of London.

So this 22 years old will be part of James Bond’s 22nd adventure that will begin filming next month. It remains to be seen what kind of character she’ll be playing. Of course, to learn more about the Bond Girls mythology, I can only refer you to the main site…

So, yes, many of us are obsessed with Bond Girls, but which actress has appeared more often in the series? If your answer is Lois Maxwell, you’re right, as she portrayed Miss Moneypenny in exactly 14 episodes, not counting a couple of parodies (like Operation Kid Brother or Bons baisers de Hong Kong). Ms. Maxwell passed away last Saturday at the age of 80, and I was a bit sadden to note that her contribution to the Bond mythos is more often than not overlooked by the more glamorous and sexy Bond girl roles.

Born on February 14, 1927, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Lois Maxwell had already close to 30 movie credits in her curriculum before participating in Dr. No in 1962. She had made her film debut in 1946 in the classic British fantasy A Matter of Life and Death. Two years later, she had been part of Corridor of Mirrors, actually Christopher Lee’s own first steps on film. She mainly worked in Europe after a slow start in Hollywood, sometimes on television series, and had known Roger Moore since the early forties. There was a stop in Italy, co-starring with Sophia Loren in the musical Aida in 1953, among others. She had time to take part in a Stanly Kubrick movie, Lolita, in 1962 before beginning the 007 adventure that would change her life and would see her as the character until 1985, for A View to a Kill.

Sometimes in the seventies and coming back to live in Canada, Lois used to write for the Toronto Sun, using the pseudonym Miss Moneypenny, of all thing, discussing her life experiences and other current topics. She passed on following complications from a combination of lung and vascular disease.

The character of Moneypenny was often used to humanize Bond a bit and show humor with their mutual double-entendres. She usually appeared once or maybe twice in any given movie, but these appearances were enjoyed by the fans, secured in observing a little continuity between films. My favorite Maxwell/Moneypenny moments comes at the end of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service when, during Bond’s ill-fated wedding to Tracy Di Vicenzo, the two silently salute each other in a most poignant way.

“Oh, James…”