According to Andress, not surprisingly, the marriage was far from a happy one. Derek bought out her Columbia contract and kept her off the screen for the next six years. Among her male admirers during this period was James Dean, who allegedly asked her to accompany him on the ill-fated drive to San Francisco that claimed his life.Īndress found a more persistent suitor in John Derek, a fading matinee idol who was developing a reputation for maintaining strict control of his celebrity girlfriends' careers and lives. After signing with Columbia, she headed to America, but found more success in landing boyfriends than movie roles. Andress' reputation for squiring famous international actors began during the late 1950s one of her paramours, Marlon Brando, suggested that she try her hand in Hollywood and even arranged for some meetings with studio heads. Once in Rome, she found work as a bit player in Italian films, mostly comedies which cast her for her abundant physical attributes rather than for any particular acting talent. Andress had a restless nature as a child, leaving Switzerland at 17 with a much older Italian actor. She appeared less and less on screen over time, but occasionally popped up in projects like the miniseries 'Peter the Great' (1986) and the art house film 'Cremaster 5' (1997), offering fans one more glimpse of the iconic sex symbol.īorn in Berne, Switzerland on March 19, 1936, she was one of six children born to a German diplomat father and a Swiss-German mother. Films like the Hammer Studios adventure 'She' (1965), the Italian science fiction thriller 'The Tenth Victim' (1966) and the WWI aerial melodrama 'The Blue Max' (1966), all cashed in on Andress' reputation as one of the world's most beautiful women. No' (1962), the first film in the James Bond franchise, the young starlet was quickly placed in lightweight romps like '4 for Texas' (1962) and 'Fun in Acapulco' (1962), opposite Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, respectively. With her first major film role, actress Ursula Andress assured her place in pop culture history after audiences had their first glimpse of the athletic blonde beauty rising from the Caribbean surf.

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