Being James Bond's love interest could be lethal, survey shows
Almost a third of 007's onscreen lovers have met untimely deaths, and the mortality rate is rising
Killing James Bond – as any mad-eyed megalomaniac will tell you – is a remarkably tricky task. But according to a new study commissioned to mark the 50th anniversary of the publication of Goldfinger, the secret agent's romantic partners are increasingly imperilled. Almost a third of Bond's lovers have died since the spy began his big-screen adventures in 1962's Dr No – and the mortality rate is on the rise, according to the Times.
Sixteen of Bond's 51 lovers have met sticky ends, beginning with the murder of Jill Masterson in 1964's Goldfinger. Sean Connery started his career as a relatively safe 007: his lovers in Dr No and From Russia With Love both escaped with their lives. But in Thunderball and You Only Live Twice, he looked on as two women were assassinated and another was devoured by piranhas.
His successor, Roger Moore, proved almost as dangerous a bedroom partner. More than a quarter of his squeezes died during his seven-film tenure between 1973 and 1985. George Lazenby, whose sole outing was 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, had an even worse kill-rate of one in three: his wife Teresa Di Vicenzo, played by Diana Rigg, met her maker in a drive-by shooting, though the other two women romanced by 007 in Peter Hunt's film survived.
The safest Bond turns out to be Timothy Dalton. Both partners of his famously monogamous Bond in 1987's The Living Daylights and 1989's Licence to Kill survived, although CIA agent Felix Leiter's wife is raped and killed in the latter. Pierce Brosnan continued the trend in his debut in the role Goldeneye, but then caused the deaths of a lover in each of his next three films.
But the latest 007, Daniel Craig, proves the most lethal of all. The two women he beds in his first Bond movie, Casino Royale, are both murdered, while a conquest in new film Quantum of Solace is covered in oil in a homage to Masterson's demise in Goldfinger.
Potential Bond partners might want to take note that the best way to survive a 007 movie seems to be to adopt an especially suggestive moniker: Pussy Galore, played by Honor Blackman, made it to the end of Goldfinger, while Kissy Suzuki got through the considerable dangers of You Only Live Twice.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/mar ... -hazardous