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On Thursday February
28, 1963, the Daily Express heralded that 007
wanted a new girl for his latest movie. Amazing how newspaper
features on James Bond have changed so little in 35 years! |
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A voluptuous blonde cypher clerk from the Russian Consulate
General in Istanbul has a secret rendezvous in the dingy cobbled
outskirts of the city. Arriving at the meeting place with the
mysterious invitation still clutched in her hand, she is startled
when the door is opened by a short masculine-looking woman with red
hair, dressed in Russian military uniform. Tatiana (Daniela Bianchi)
with Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) in the scene as it appears in the
final cut of From Russia With Love. The blonde is Tatiana
Romanova, Corporal of State Security. The redhead is Colonel Rosa
Klebb, apparently the head of operations for SMERSH. Colonel Klebb
conducts an interview with the girl, gauging her suitability for the
role of bait in the trap to kill British secret agent James Bond
007, and snatch the top secret Russian decoding machine – the Lektor.
Making it quite clear that she will not leave the room alive if she
fails to accept the mission to seduce agent 007, Klebb dispatches
Tatiana Romanova on “...a simple delightful duty. A labour real of love...” |
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So the scene is set for the intricate
game of cat and mouse that makes From Russia With Love the
most intelligently plotted and scripted Bond movie of the entire
series.
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ABOVE: (left)
Tatiana (Daniela Bianchi) with Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) in
the scene as it appears appears in the final cut of From
Russia With Love (1963).
(right) Daniela
Bianchi and Sean Connery at the Connaught Hotel in
London’s Mayfair on March 28, 1963 where Bianchi's casting was
announced. |
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Runner-up in the 1960
Miss Universe contest, and a former Rome fashion model, Daniela
Bianchi brought exactly the right qualities to her performance as
Tatiana Romanova, who Fleming described in his novel as ‘a young
Greta Garbo.’ Although her physical performance in
From Russia With Love is one of the best of any of the girls to
appear in the series, it was felt that her Italian accent was
unsuitable for the part, and her entire role was dubbed by British
actress Barbara Jefford. Top British model
Tania Mallet was tested
for the role of Tatiana, but ironically, she was turned down because
her upper-class British accent was deemed unsuitable. However, she
would later get a second chance when she was cast as Tilly Masterson
in Goldfinger (1964). Bond producers ‘Cubby’ Broccoli and Harry
Saltzman, together with director Terence Young, interviewed over 200
girls before they finally chose Bianchi for the role. |
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ABOVE: February 5, 1963 -
An unknown actress is tested in the
Klebb/Tatiana interview scene, while Anthony Dawson struts his
stuff as Colonel Klebb. |
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A small
selection of mostly unknown actresses and models were screen-tested
at Pinewood Studios during February 1963 (Bianchi among them), and
the film clip reproduced left is the only known surviving example
of those tests. French actress Hélène Chanel is tested in the bridal
suite sequence – note the blue sheets. Director
Terence Young used
Anthony Dawson to stand in for Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb in the
screen-test of the Klebb/Tatiana interview scene. British actor
Anthony Dawson was a great friend of Young’s and appeared in many of
the director’s films, including They Were Not Divided (1951).
Terence Young cast Dawson as Professor Dent in Dr. No and
also used him as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in From Russia With Love
and
Thunderball (although Blofeld’s voice in both movies was supplied
by Austrian-born English-based actor
Eric Pohlmann
[1913-1979]). |
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