Claudine Auger was an actress that gained prominence in 1965 when she became the very
first French Bond girl.
Many years later, in 2019, Claudine became the first headlining Bond girl from the series
to pass away.
Although the actress is best remembered for her role in 1965’s Thunderball, she was
an immensely talented beauty with nearly 100 credits to her name.
Join Facts Verse as we explore what happened to Claudine Auger, a forgotten beauty.
Claudine Auger was born in Paris, France, in the early 1940s.
German forces occupied the city at the time that the future actress was born, and the
young woman grew up in the wake of World War II.
At a young age, Claudine began performing and studying dramatic acting.
During her teenage years, she took to modeling and became quite successful.
In her late teens, Claudine represented her country as Miss France at Miss World 1958.
Though Claudine wasn't named Miss World at the competition, she was the runner-up.
Around this same time, the burgeoning star secured her first small role in a movie.
This was in the film Christine, which starred notable stars Romy Schneider and Alain Delon.
Though Claudine’s role in the movie was so small that it didn’t even end up being
credited, it paved the way for bigger and better things in the future.
Before long, Claudine was going to become a star as one of the first Bond girls.
In 1960, around the age of 20, Claudine Auger could be seen on the screen in her first credited
role.
This credited role came in the feature Terrain Vague.
Claudine was also getting plenty of work on French television, but it proved to be her
turn in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball that made the actress a star.
Claudine wasn’t the producers’ first choice for the role, but she ended up wowing them
anyways.
When the producers of the James Bond series were tasked with casting the role in Thunderball
that ended up going to Claudine Auger, it was a long and windy road before they ended
up finding and settling on the French actress.
They considered numerous actresses before eventually being suggested Claudine, and she
blew them out of the water!
Before Claudine, some of the many stars that were considered for the role in Thunderball
that eventually went to French actress Claudine Auger included Faye Dunaway, Raquel Welch,
and Julie Christie.
Faye Dunaway was the first actress that was offered the role in the film, though she ended
up turning the part down.
The reason that Faye turned the part down was so that she could appear in the 1967 feature
The Happening.
That was perhaps a wise business decision for Faye.
Most of the early Bond actresses became pigeonholed by their parts, with Claudine included.
After Faye Dunaway turned down the role that she was offered in Thunderball so that she
could appear in The Happening, the producers of the James Bond series considered actress
Raquel Welch for a time.
The actress was actually signed onto the film but ended up being let go by the producers
at the behest of the production team working on the film Fantastic Voyage.
Raquel went on to appear in Fantastic Voyage instead of Thunderball, and the producers
of the James Bond series were once again anxiously looking for someone to fill the role.
British actress Julie Christie is another person that was apparently seriously considered
to play the part in Thunderball that eventually ended up going to French actress Claudine
Auger.
However, it soon appeared that Julie wasn’t completely comfortable with making an entry
into the franchise, and things fell through with the negotiations.
It was at this point that the producers of the James Bond series became desperate, launching
a talent hunt across the globe to find an actress to play the part.
It was during this time that the producers were turned onto Claudine Auger, apparently
at the behest of a French writer.
When Claudine gave her audition, she wowed the producers.
The character that Claudine was going to be tasked with playing in Thunderball was named
Dominetta Palazzi in the novel upon which the film was based.
The character was Italian in the novel and had to be rewritten in the wake of Claudine's
casting to fit the fact that the actress was French.
The character soon became Domino Vitali, and Claudine began taking English lessons in order
to prepare for her role in the film.
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Although Claudine Auger had taken English lessons in order to improve her speaking voice
for her role in 1965’s Thunderball, she ended up being dubbed over in the final film,
anyways.
However, it appears as if the reason that Claudine was dubbed over wasn’t that her
English wasn’t good, but instead that the actress had simply spoken too low on set.
In addition to performing in the film as the character of Domino Vitali, Claudine also
helped design some of the signature swimsuits that were worn by the character.
The character of Domino Vitali became a hit with audiences.
The prior Bond girls in the film franchise had been criticized for their lack of character
attributes, and many considered Domino to be the most fleshed-out female character that
had yet to be depicted on the screen in a James Bond film.
As a result of her successful performance in Thunderball, Domino became a pretty big
deal in Europe and the United Kingdom.
However, she failed to take off as an actress in Hollywood.
Though Claudine didn’t find much success in Hollywood after her role in Thunderball,
she continued acting internationally.
Some of her notable European roles include her turns in the films Triple Cross and The
Killing Game, which were released in 1966 and 1967, respectively.
1968 saw Claudine appear alongside Bond girl Ursula Andress in the film Anyone Can Play,
which was an Italian comedy.
Ursula had been the very first Bond girl on the screen, appearing in the film Dr. No in
1962.
Claudine’s turn in Anyone Can Play wasn’t her only time appearing alongside other Bond
girls.
In 1971, Claudine Auger starred alongside two future Bond girls in a film by the name
of Black Bell of the Tarantula.
They were both named Barbara: Barbara Bach and Barbara Bouchet.
Over the remainder of the 1970s and into the 1980s, Claudine continued appearing in European
films and also continued appearing on French television.
Into the 1990s, Claudine’s acting appearances would become much more sporadic, though they
would continue.
One of the roles that Claudine took on during the 1990s was in the notable British television
series The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
Her very last role was in a made-for-television feature named The Red and the Black.
The film premiered on television in 1997, after which point the actress would retire
until her death two decades later.
Claudine Auger was married two times throughout her lifetime.
Claudine's first husband was a man named Pierre Gaspard-Huit, who was a French filmmaker.
The two married when Claudine was only 18 years of age.
They married in 1959, and the marriage would last for a decade before ending in divorce
in 1969.
At some point in the 1980s, Claudine then went on to marry her second husband.
Claudine’s second husband was a man by the name of Peter Brent, and they remained married
until 2008.
In 1991, Claudine and Peter had a child, named Jessica.
Jessica was the only child that Claudine had during her lifetime.
Claudine ended up passing away on December 19th, 2019, in her home city of Paris, France.
At the time of her death, the French actress was 78 years old.
Her death made her the first headlining actress from the James Bond film series to pass away,
another notable accomplishment after being the first French actress ever cast in the
franchise.
There have been plenty of French actresses to play Bond girls in the days since Claudine’s
role as Domino Vitali.
Some of the many actresses that have carried on Claudine Auger’s legacy by becoming French
Bond girls include Corinne Cléry, Carole Bouquet, Sophie Marceau, Eva Green, and Léa
Seydoux.
Corinne Cléry appeared in the 1979 film Moonraker, which became the first James Bond film to
see the character take to space!
Carole Bouquet appeared two years later in 1981’s For Your Eyes Only, and was followed
nearly two decades later by fellow French actress Sophie Marceau in the 1999 James Bond
film The World Is Not Enough.
In more recent years Eva Green and Léa Seydoux have been the ones carrying on the mantle.
Both appeared alongside Daniel Craig, who is the most recent actor to take on the lead
role in the James Bond franchise.
Eva appeared in Casino Royale, while Léa Seydoux appeared in Spectre.
All in all, Claudine Auger’s career in the entertainment industry spanned nearly four
decades before her retirement from acting just before the new millennium.
Although the French actress remains best known around the world for her turn as the character
of Domino Vitali in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball, that role wasn’t even the tip
of the iceberg when it came to the actress’s vast body of work.
By the time of her retirement, Claudine appeared in nearly 100 different roles across both
film and television.
Although Claudine Auger remains best known as the character of Domino Vitali in the 1965
James Bond film Thunderball, that was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to her
career in entertainment!
Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that Claudine Auger was the first French
actress to play a Bond girl, and did you know that she had to take English lessons to get
the part?
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