"In my day, spying was an alternative to war, and the spy was a member of a select and immaculate priesthood; vocationally devoted, sublimely disinterested - hardly a description of that sexual acrobat who leaves a trail of beautiful dead women like blown roses behind him."One of Spectre's biggest surprises was Monica Bellucci's part, Lucia Sciarra. Firstly, it was so small, which was unfathomable - if you've got one of the world's most beautiful women on staff, for God's sake, use her. Secondly, she lived. As everyone knows, secondary Bond Girls - particularly secondary Bond Girls in Daniel Craig films - exist to be bumped off once they cease to be interesting.
Do they though? The films have a reputation for slaughtering women with abandon, but is it true? Below is a list of every woman who dies in the James Bond films. It's not as many as you'd think.
Note on methodology: the women must be seen to be killed onscreen to count, so Irma Bunt, for example, is not included. Furthermore, I'm not including the 1967 Casino Royale - despite quoting it above - because (a) too many girls suffer unpleasantness in that film for me to properly catalogue if they're dead or not and (b) everyone is blown up at the end, and by that point there are too many women in Pierre Cardin minidresses for me to keep count of.
* indicates that the girl was romanced by Bond before she died.
Dr No
Mary Trueblood (shot)
- first woman killed in the series
- second onscreen death
- not actually named onscreen - this is her name in the book
From Russia With Love
Rosa Klebb (shot)
- first named female character to be killed
- first female villain to be killed
- first woman to be killed by another woman (Tatiana Romanova)
- first female character to die in the film even though she survives in the book (she is dead by the time Dr No rolls round, but she's effectively lead away in handcuffs at the end of the novel)
Goldfinger
Jill Masterson* (death by skin suffocation)
- first of Bond's love interests to die
Tilly Masterson (broken neck)
Thunderball
Paula (cyanide poisoning)
- first suicide in the series
Fiona Volpe* (shot)
- first time Bond is actually responsible for the death of a woman - though it should be noted, it's not 007's finger on the trigger
You Only Live Twice
Helga Brandt* (fed to piranhas)
- first female villain killed by her own side
Aki* (poisoned)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Tracy di Vicenzo* (shot)
- first main Bond Girl to die
- first death in the series to wrench your still beating heart out of your chest
Diamonds Are Forever
Plenty O'Toole* (drowned)
Live and Let Die
Rosie Carver* (shot)
The Man With The Golden Gun
Andrea Anders* (shot)
The Spy Who Loved Me
Feliccia (shot)
Naomi (blown up)
- the first time Bond actually targets and murders a woman in the series, and yet, he didn't have to do it; they'd already escaped Naomi and could have driven away happily. It's a strangely cold-blooded moment for Roger Moore's 007.
Moonraker
Corinne Dufour* (torn apart by dogs)
SIDENOTE: throughout the film, we've been shown that Hugo Drax is an equal opportunities despot, with women occupying key positions throughout his operations. It's also implied that Jaws and Dolly are the only survivors of the space station. Following that logic, several dozen women died at the end of the film, but weirdly, the minute the battle breaks out, the only people fighting seem to be burly men in yellow jumpsuits: the girls in the short skirts have all vanished, and we don't see any of them die.
For Your Eyes Only
Iona Havelock (shot)
Contessa Lisl von Schlaf* (run over)
Octopussy
Oddly, given that it is a film about a large organisation made up of female criminals, not a single woman dies during Octopussy. It's possible that some were killed during the attack on Kamal's palace, but if they did die, we didn't see it. Even Magda, who effectively ceases to exist about half an hour into the film, lives to the end.
Never Say Never Again
Nicole (drowned)
Fatima Blush* (blown up)
A View To A Kill
May Day* (blown up)
The Living Daylights
In line with its reputation for a more respectful presentation of female characters, not a single woman dies in this film. One is held at gunpoint then gets her top ripped off to distract a bodyguard, so we're not exactly talking about a feminist tract either.
Licence To Kill
Della Churchill-Leiter (cause of death unknown)
- in the novelisation Della has been shot.
Loti (shot)
GoldenEye
Anna (shot)
SIDENOTE: there is at least one other female programmer murdered at Severnaya, but Anna is the only one named.
Xenia Onatopp* (crushed)
Tomorrow Never Dies
Paris Carver* (shot)
The World Is Not Enough
Elektra King* (shot)
Die Another Day
Miranda Frost* (stabbed)
Casino Royale
Solange* (cause of death unknown)
Vesper Lynd* (drowned)
Quantum of Solace
Strawberry Fields* (drowned)
Skyfall
Severine* (shot)
M (shot)
Bond 25
Madeline Swann* (cause of death unknown)
- ok, it hasn't been made yet, but let's be honest: she's doomed, isn't she?
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