Bad lasses
Rosa Klebb
★
THEY are the women who left 007 shaken and stirred – the wily female foes from the James Bond movies.
Now Dame Helen Mirren, 75, left, has said she would love to be cast as a baddie in the hit franchise, calling for more women to go head-to-head with the MI6 spy, as we reported yesterday.
★
She said: “Come on guys… have a great female villain.” But which of those who have featured in the films so far were the best?
Here JAMES MOORE picks some of the most memorable and gives each cunning character a rating for evil…
Played by: Lotte Lenya
Infamous for using a poisoned-tipped blade hidden in her shoe to kick victims to death, she was the sourfaced “No.3” from international crime outfit SPECTRE. Klebb was finally killed while trying to assassinate 007 in 1963’s From Russia With Love dressed as a hotel maid.
Evil factor: 5/5
Fiona Volpe
Played by: Luciana Paluzzi
Volpe is “Fox” in Italian and in 1965’s Thunderball the red-haired villainess, top right, uses her charms to help SPECTRE steal atomic bombs. She vows to kill Sean Connery’s Bond but is accidentally shot in the arms while dancing. He puts her body in a chair quipping: “Mind if my friend sits this one out, she’s just dead.” Evil factor: 3/5
Irma Bundt
Played by: Ilse Steppat
Another henchwoman for SPECTRE’S leader Ernst Blofeld, in the same mould of Klebb. In 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service she shoots Tracy, the wife of George Lazenby’s Bond. In real life Steppat died from a heart attack days after the film’s release. Evil factor: 4/5
Bambi and Thumper
Played by: Lola Larson and Trina Parks
The pair of athletic bodyguards fight Bond in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever when
007 breaks into the lair of reclusive billionaire Willard
Whyte. But 007 finally subdues the karate-kicking duo in a swimming pool. Evil factor: 1/5
May Day Played by: Grace Jones
The American singer played bodyguard, lover and assassin to billionaire baddie Max Zorin in 1985’s A View To A Kill. Strong and scary, she fights Bond but then switches sides, realising she has been betrayed, before perishing in an explosion.
Evil factor: 2/5
Xenia Onatopp
Played by: Famke Janssen
In 1995’s Goldeneye the ex-soviet fighter pilot and member of the Janus crime syndicate steals a top attack helicopter. Known for crushing victims to death with her thighs during sex, she attempts to seduce Pierce Brosnan’s Bond, but ends up being crushed herself. Evil factor: 5/5
Elektra King
Played by: Sophie Marceau
A beautiful oil heiress in 1999’s The World Is Not Enough who Bond is initially assigned to protect. But she kills her father, kidnaps M and tortures Bond with a garotte. In the end, 007 ends up shooting her.
Evil factor: 4/5
Miranda Frost
Played by: Rosamund Pike
The sexy MI6 operative and fencer turns out to be a double agent in the 2002 film Die Another Day. She meets her fate in a battle with American agent Jinx, played by Halle Berry, who stabs her with a dagger aboard a plane. Evil factor: 3/5