FOR HER THIGHS ONLY
That belt used to dress Ms Andress? It was mine, reveals Navy officer -- and she never gave it back
IT WAS the iconic outfit that ushered in the 1960s sexual revolution in the first James Bond film.
But one cinema-going Royal Navy sailor watching Ursula Andress emerging from the waves in her white bikini in Dr No in 1962 knew he had his own part in that immortal moment – for the webbing belt wrapped around the star’s waist was his.
Now, after more than half a century, Gordon Joslin, 83, has revealed how he came to Ms Andress’s rescue when she was filming the pivotal scene as Honey Ryder in Jamaica.
The Swiss-born beauty thought her costume ‘was missing something’, so a member of the film crew was despatched to ask sailors from the frigate HMS Troubridge who were on the beach to help out. Mr Joslin – then a 28-year-old acting sickberth petty officer – recalled: ‘The petty officer looked at me and said, “Let’s have your webbing belt.” He grabbed it off me and it was wrapped around Ursula Andress’s hips. ‘I didn’t get it back.’ Ms Andress then filmed the scene again. Mr Joslin said: ‘I can picture it in my mind now.
‘She rose from the turquoise sea, shells in hand, discarding her facemask, singing Under The Mango Tree, walking up the sugar-white beach.’
The great-grandfather was prompted to reveal his secret after spotting a picture of Ms Andress in the bikini in The Mail on Sunday’s You magazine last month.
He said he saw Dr No soon after its release. ‘I went to see the film at the cinema in Portsmouth. I watched it and said, “Here is my belt, here it comes”, but nobody really believed me.’ Another member of HMS Troubridge’s crew recalled in 2001: ‘Our recompense was to have lunch with the delectable Ms Andress, who sadly covered herself up with a negligee. We also took back a cheque for the ship’s welfare fund.
‘The ammunition belt... was written off as lost overboard.’
Ms Andress, who starred in the film with Sean Connery, later said: ‘This bikini made me a success. My entrance in Dr No wearing it made me worldfamous as “The Bond Girl”.’
Author Anthony Horowitz – who has written two Bond novels continuing Ian Fleming’s series – said: ‘Every man of a certain age remembers that scene.’
‘The belt was written off as lost overboard’