It’s usually not a great idea to speak ill about anyone and in Barbara Bach’s case there’s still plenty of good things to say, but for fans of James Bond her words from so long ago, that he’s a chauvinist that uses girls as shields from bullets, she might be one of the Bond girls that gets forgotten on purpose. It also doesn’t help that she had a fairly serious gripe about why she wasn’t cast as one of Charlie’s Angels as the ego that she possessed, or still possesses at the age of 74, is still important but has likely been her own shield against a world that wasn’t always bound to give her what she wanted no matter how beautiful she was at one time. Let’s make no mistake here, there’s a reason why this woman was so popular in her day, and it wasn’t just her acting skills. Barbara Goldbach, which was her name before she changed it to Bach, was definitely one of the most beautiful women around several decades ago, and this is likely why she was selected as a model and as a Bond girl. One has to wonder though if she knew anything about James Bond before taking on the role, and if it was just a job and therefore something she could take or leave. There have been plenty of people that have commented on Bond girls over the years, so it’s a little difficult to get one definitive viewpoint when it comes to speaking about the ups and downs of such a thing.
Barbara spent a great deal of her career acting in Italian movies but did manage to make her way into Hollywood several times over her career. She even married Ringo Starr, after his time with The Beatles, at one point. Her career lasted up until 1986 when she finally stepped away from the business, five years after she’d appeared in an issue of Playboy. Apart from her comments about the character of James Bond, it was believed that she and Roger Moore, who she starred with, weren’t really on the best terms. However, it is stated that she was gracious enough after his passing to say a few kind words about him, which is uplifting in its own way. One has to wonder just how different Bach’s image has been over the years in relation to who she is off-camera since as anyone should have come to suspect a long time ago, there are plenty of actors that will develop an on-screen persona that will be used to shield their personal lives in a way from the business, thereby making them appear a bit egotistical and even conceited when it real life they could be entirely different. Given that she was one of the most popular models of her time it might have been that Barbara did in fact come off as a bit different on camera than off, but that’s something that only those closest to her will really be able to tell.
She has been called one of the queens of B movies since if one looks at her career there are a few moments of greatness, but the rest of what she’s done throughout the years did fall into the B category, which is not a slight against her character or acting skills but is still evidence that she found a niche that she could fit into and work to her advantage. Too much negative hype is given to B movies now and then since the unfortunate fact is that in terms of marketing and popularity they are considered inferior to the blockbuster movies that are given the better publicity and are therefore made far more available to a larger number of people. But B movies are, sometimes, like rare gems that people get to seek out and can be a great deal of fun to find since they are the type of movies that don’t demand a lot from the audience and are usually created in a way that allows the audience to have fun with the movie and just roll with it. Those that star in these movies are usually doing what they can to make a living and build up a reputation, but sometimes there are those that manage to find the B movie niche and work it for all its worth, which can still grant one a reputation that’s worthwhile and will carry them for as long as they can keep up with the work.
For what it’s worth though, Barbara is a former Bond girl, and that still carries a lot of weight with a lot of fans. Roger Moore apparently even said that she was his favorite Bond girl, and despite any friction between the two of them, it’s still a compliment.
Follow Us
