Ursula Andress in Dr. No: 12 Behind the Scenes Photos of Bond Girl 001

With Dr. No, Ursula Andress established the Bond girl standard for every James Bond movie since. Here are 13 behind the scenes images of her on the set of the first 007 film.

But First

Yes, Ursula Andress, who plays Honey Ryder in Dr. No, is preceded onscreen by Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson, left) and Miss Taro (Zena Marshall, above center).

Both make great contributions to the film, but Ryder (Andress, above right) is the much more significant and iconic character.

On the floor, of course, is Sean Connery as James Bond, in a Dr. No publicity photo.

Enter Bearing Shells

Honey Ryder's job is shell diving, and appropriately she enters Dr. No bearing shells.

If her opening costume in the film — a white swimsuit and belt — seems a little revealing, consider that in the Ian Fleming film upon which Dr. No is based, she only wears the belt.

Thanks for your decorum, Dr. No. Though we suspect 1963 censors may also have factored into the decision.

Also Read: 12 Bond Girl Names Ranked, From Silly to Sensational

'It Was Going to Be a Low-Budget Flop'

The shells sequence, in which Ryder emerges from the ocean singing "Underneath the Mango Tree" — and Connery's Bond joins in — turned around the expectations for the film.

"‘It was going to be a low-budget flop,’" says Blanche’s son Chris Blackwell, son of Ian Fleming's muse and love, Blanche Blackwell, in the new Nicholas Shakespeare book Ian Fleming: The Complete Man. "It all changed when we watched the rushes of Ursula Andress emerging from the sea."

He added: "It was electrifying. We suddenly felt, 'Gosh, we’ve got a movie.’"

'Shooed Off Like Little Boys'

According to Shakespeare's book, Fleming almost spoiled a take of the iconic beach scene. He was leading two friends on a walk along Laughing Waters — the name of the beach where the scene was filmed — and almost walked into the shot.

Director Terence Young yelled at them to "Lie down!" which they did. Shakespeare writes: "The composer Monty Norman had arrived in Jamaica to write the music and he watched Young shout at them — ‘They were shooed off like little boys.’ Ian and his friends were left lying behind a dune, forgotten, until someone remembered to release them an hour later."

That's Andress with Ian Fleming, above.

'This Bikini Made Me Into a Success'

In addition to boosting Dr. No — thereby launching the 007 franchise — the scene helped Andress' acting career.

She later said: "This bikini made me into a success. As a result of starring in Dr No as the first Bond girl I was given the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially independent."

She offered the quote after finding the bikini in an attic and putting it up for sale through Christie's in 2001. It fetched over $52,000.

She and the bikini are seen above with Dr. No director Terence Young, center, and Sean Connery.

Language

Andress, who is Swiss, speaks several languages — English, French, German, and Italian — but the producers opted to dub her dialogue with the voice of Nikki van der Zyl and her singing voice with that of Diana Coupland.

She's seen above with Connery and Young.

Also Read: 18 Bond Girls Behind the Scenes Through 007 Decades of James Bond

Chemistry, Raw Chemistry

Of course, she didn't just stand out in a single scene. The publicity photos for Dr. No is the radiant, transcendent chemistry between Connery and Andress. Which was exactly the idea.

"He was very protective towards me, he was adorable, fantastic," Andress said in a 2020 interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera after Connery's death at 90. "He adored women, He was undoubtedly very much a man.''

'My First Film and Maybe My Last'

Ursula Andress told Corriere della Sera that when she joined the film, “I didn't know Sean, and I thought it would be my first film and maybe my last.

"But instead it took off, the chemistry between us worked and it was the perfect combination.”

At Sea

She added in the Corriere della Sera story : “We spent many evenings together and he would invite me everywhere, Monte Carlo, London, New York, from when we met until now we always remained friends. Friends, friends.'"

She was married to John Derek during the filming of Dr. No.

More Ursula Andress and Sean Connery on the Dr. No Set

The actors show off their athleticism and chemistry while frolicking on a Jamaican beach during filming.

Nice work if you can get it.

Also Read: 13 Behind the Scenes Photos of Sean Connery as 007

Ursula Andress and Sean Connery in 'A Very Small Budget Production'

Did they have any idea people would be watching their movie and writing about them, more than 60 years later? Or did it just seem like a fun, beachy spy thriller? You have to wonder.

 ''It was a very small budget production and I agreed to do it thinking not many people would see it," Andress told Corriere della Sera.

More Connery and Andress

Andress won the Golden Globe for New Star of the Year in 1964 for her appearance in Dr. No.

The next year, Andress, who is now 88, appeared opposite another icon, Elvis Presley, in Fun in Acapulco.

She would later go on to star in films including 4 for Texas (1963), She (1965), The Southern Star , The Fifth Musketeer (1979), Clash of the Titans (1981) and more.

More Bond

But she wasn't completely done with Bond. In 1967, she starred as Vesper Lind opposite David Niven, playing the "original" James Bond, in the spy parody Casino Royale, based on the first Ian Fleming book about 007.

The book, of course, was also the basis for a much more serious Bond film, starring Daniel Craig as Bond and Eva Green as Vesper Lind. 

Liked These 12 Ursula Andress in Dr. No Behind the Scenes Photos?

You might also like this excerpt from Ian Fleming's excellent Ian Fleming biography about casting Connery as Bond, or this list of 10 Gen X Movie Stars Gone Too Soon.

Main image: Ursula Andress in Dr. No. All photos from the United Artists 1962 publicity campaign for the film.