Claudine Auger (born Claudine Oger; 26 April 1941 – 18 December 2019) was a French actress best known for her role as a

Bond girl A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest or female companion of James Bond in a novel, film or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Xenia Onatopp, o ...

, Dominique "Domino" Derval, in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film '' Thunderball'' (1965). She earned the title of Miss France Monde (the French representative to the Miss World beauty pageant) and was also the first runner-up in the 1958 Miss World contest.

Early life

Auger was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France. She attended St. Joan of Arc College and later the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, where she performed dramatic roles. She made her film debut when she was still in school.

Career

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...

cast Auger in an uncredited role as a tall ballerina in ''

Testament of Orpheus ''Testament of Orpheus'' (french: Le testament d'Orphée) is a 1960 black-and-white film with a few seconds of color film spliced in. Directed by and starring Jean Cocteau, who plays himself as an 18th-century poet, the film includes cameo appearan ...

'' (1960). When she was 18, she married the 43-year-old writer-director

Pierre Gaspard-Huit Pierre Gaspard-Huit (29 November 1917 – 1 May 2017) was a French film director and screenwriter. He directed the 1963 film '' Shéhérazade'', which starred Anna Karina. He was once married to actress Claudine Auger when she was 18, and he wa ...

, and he cast her in several films, including '' Le Masque de fer'' (1962) and '' Kali Yug: Goddess of Vengeance'' (1963). In 1966 she co-starred in the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

drama '' Triple Cross'' with

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (russian: link=no, Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner, was a Russian-born actor. He was best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in th ...

and

Christopher Plummer Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. He received multiple accolades, inc ...

. When she was on holiday in Nassau, writer-producer

Kevin McClory Kevin O'Donovan McClory (8 June 1924 – 20 November 2006) was an Irish screenwriter, film producer, and film director. McClory was best known for producing the James Bond film '' Thunderball'' and for his legal battles with the character's cre ...

saw her and recommended that she audition for his film '' Thunderball'' (1965). The role of Domino was originally to be an Italian woman, Dominetta Petacchi. Auger impressed the producers so much that they rewrote the part to that of a French woman, to better suit Auger. Although she took lessons to perfect her English, her voice was eventually dubbed by

Nikki van der Zyl Monica "Nikki" van der Zyl (27 April 1935 – 6 March 2021) was a German actress based in the United Kingdom, known for her dubbing work on the ''James Bond'' film franchise. Early life Nikki van der Zyl was born on 27 April 1935 in Berlin, t ...

. Auger would claim that she related to her character Domino, as she and Domino were both involved with older men. The most immediate byproduct of Claudine's stardom was a semi-nude ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'' spread. ''Thunderball'' launched Auger into a successful European movie career, but did little for her otherwise in the United States. She did, however, star in a

Danny Thomas Danny Thomas (born Amos Muzyad Yaqoob Kairouz; January 6, 1912 – February 6, 1991) was an American actor, singer, nightclub comedian, producer, and philanthropist. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running sitc ...

special called ''The Road to Lebanon'' with Bing Crosby, which was shown on NBC on 20 April 1966. Auger co-starred with another

Ursula Andress Ursula Andress (born 19 March 1936) is a Swiss-German actress, former model and sex symbol who has appeared in American, British and Italian films. Her breakthrough role was as Bond girl Honey Ryder in the first James Bond film, '' Dr. No'' (1962 ...

, in the Italian comedy ''

Anyone Can Play ''Anyone Can Play'' ( it, Le dolci signore) is a 1968 Italian comedy film directed by Luigi Zampa and starring two Bond girls Ursula Andress and Claudine Auger. Cast * Ursula Andress as Norma * Virna Lisi as Luisa * Claudine Auger as Esmerelda ...

'' (1968). She starred with two future

Barbara Bouchet Barbara Bouchet (born Bärbel Gutscher; 15 August 1943)
glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com; ...

and

Barbara Bach Barbara Bach, Lady Starkey (born Barbara Goldbach in 1947) is an American actress and model. She played the Bond girl Anya Amasova in ''The Spy Who Loved Me''. She is married to former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. Early life Bach is a nati ...

, in ''

Black Belly of the Tarantula Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have ...

'' (1971), a

giallo In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, ...

mystery. She had some roles in European films such as '' Triple Cross'' (1966, reuniting her with her James Bond director Terence Young), and '' The Killing Game'' (1967). Auger appeared in the British television series ''

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes ''The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes'' is a collection of short stories by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, first published late in 1893 with 1894 date. It was first published in the UK by G. Newnes Ltd., and was published in the US by Harper & ...

'', in "The Three Gables" (1994), as Isadora Klein, in one of the last episodes of the series.

Personal life and death

In 1959, she married writer-director

. They later divorced. She married British businessman Peter Brent in the 1980s. The couple had one child, Jessica Claudine Brent (b. 1991). Peter Brent died in August 2008. Auger died in Paris on 18 December 2019 following a lengthy illness.

Early life

Career

Personal life and death

Filmography

References

External links