Claudine Auger on set in "Thunderball"

Claudine Auger, Sparkling as Domino in "Thunderball"

Sean Connery enjoying himself with Claudine Auger on the set of "Thunderball."

Claudine Auger (26 April 1941 in Paris, France) was a former Miss France (1958) (First Runner-up at Miss World) and had studied acting at the Paris Drama Conservatory. However, once she got on the set of "Thunderball" (1965), she became what she would forever be known for: a Bond Girl.

Claudine had been acting since her reign as Miss France, but her first roles were bit parts. She played the pretty girl, the "new servant," that sort of thing.

However, everyone knew that she would be dynamite in the right project.

All that paled to Claudine Auger playing Dominique "Domino" Derval  in "Thunderball."

Claudine was nominated for a Golden Laurel Award for Best New Actresses due to the role - despite the fact that she had been in over a dozen films already. That is what being a Bond Girl can do for you.

While the Bond role did raise Claudine's profile in Hollywood considerably, leading to some good parts in mediocre films, she remained primarily a European actress. But Claudine Auger worked steadily for decades because she was a Bond Girl.

Claudine remained busy into the 1970s and 1980s. She started slowing down in the 1990s, taking primarily television roles. Her last role was in 1997.

The story goes that Claudine was simply on holiday in Nassau, the Bahamas, when the writer-producer of "Thunderball," Kevin McClory, spotted her. He knew that Auger had to be in the film.

McClory wanted her so badly that he changed the role from an Italian to a French girl. Not that it mattered much, but clearly Claudine made a big impression.

As with many Bond girls of the time, Claudine was not especially fluent in English. Thus, in "Thunderball," Claudine Auger was dubbed by the ubiquitous Nikki van der Zyl.

The role brought her lots of male attention, which she happily encouraged with a spread in Playboy.

While her other roles were not nearly as memorable, Claudine did star with other Bond girls in other films.

Auger appeared with Barbara Bach and Barbara Bouchet in "Black Belly of the Tarantula," and with Ursula Andress in "Anyone Can Play." Clearly, she fit in quite well with the other beautiful girls of Bond.

Claudine Augur and another girl with Bond in her future, Barbara Bach, in "Black Belly of the Tarantula."

Quite possibly the most beautiful Bond girl of them all, Claudine Auger is still going strong as of this writing, though she retired from film in the late 1990s.

2019