Martine Beswick
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Martine Beswick, or Beswicke, depending on the source, was born on September 26, 1941 in Port Antonio, Jamaica to British parents. She is a model and beauty pageant winner turned actress. In 1958, when she was only 17, she entered a beauty pageant, won it, sold the prize (a brand new car) and used the money to move to England, where she decided to try her hands at acting.
Beswick is best known for her two appearances in the James Bond film series. Although she auditioned for the first Bond film Dr. No (and was seen as a dancing silhouette in the film's title sequence), she was cast in the second film From Russia with Love as the fiery gypsy girl Zora. She engaged in the famous "cat-fight" scene with her rival Vida (played by former Miss Israel Aliza Gur). She was incorrectly billed as "Martin Beswick" in the title sequence. Beswick then appeared as the ill-fated Paula Kaplan in Thunderball. She had been away from the Caribbean so long, that she was required to sunbathe constantly for two weeks before filming, in order to look like a local.
Martine went on to appear in One Million Years B.C. opposite Raquel Welch and her future ex-husband John Richardson (who himself was once a candidate to replace Sean Connery as James Bond). She then appeared in various Hammer Studio "classics", most notably Prehistoric Women, and the gender-bending Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde. She played Adelita in the well-regarded spaghetti western A Bullet for the General in 1967 opposite Klaus Kinski and Gian Maria Volonte. In the 1970s, Beswick moved to Hollywood and regularly appeared on both the big screen and small screen. She made numerous guest appearance in TV series including Sledge Hammer!, Fantasy Island, The Fall Guy, Mannix, The Six Million Dollar Man and Falcon Crest.
Beswick's career was active well into the 1990s. In recent years she had mainly participated in film documentaries, providing commentary and relating her experiences on films she has appeared in.
[edit] Select Filmography
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1995 | Night of the Scarecrow |
| 1993 | Wide Sargasso Sea |
| 1992 | Life on the Edge |
| 1991 | Trancers II |
| 1991 | Critters 4 |
| 1990 | Miami Blues |
| 1990 | Evil Spirits |
| 1987 | The Offspring |
| 1987 | Cyclone |
| 1980 | Melvin and Howard |
| 1980 | The Happy Hooker Goes to Hollywood |
| 1971 | Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde |
| 1967 | A Bullet for the General |
| 1967 | The Penthouse |
| 1967 | Prehistoric Women (aka Slave Girls) |
| 1967 | John il Bastardo |
| 1966 | One Million Years B.C. |
| 1965 | Thunderball |
| 1963 | From Russia with Love |
| 1963 | Saturday Night Out |
[edit] Selected TV
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 1987 | Sledge Hammer! |
| 1985 | Falcon Crest |
| 1985 | Cover Up |
| 1984 | Days of Our Lives |
| 1984 | Fantasy Island |
| 1982 | The Fall Guy |
| 1981 | Quincy M.E. |
| 1980 | Hart to Hart |
| 1977 | Baretta |
| 1976 | The Six Million Dollar Man |
| 1976 | City of Angels |
| 1975 | Switch |
| 1975 | Strange New World |
| 1971 | Longstreet |
| 1970 | Mannix |
| 1969 | It Takes a Thief |
| 1965 | Danger Man |
