Barbara Bach | |
|---|---|
 Bach in 1978 | |
| Born | Barbara Goldbach August 27, 1946 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, model |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 2, including Francesca Gregorini |
Barbara Bach, Lady Starkey (born Barbara Goldbach;[1] August 27,[2] 1947[3][4]) is an American actress and former model. She played the Bond girl Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me. She is married to former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.
Bach is a native of Jackson Heights, Queens[1] and was raised Roman Catholic.[3] She is of Jewish and Irish descent.[5] She graduated from Dominican Commercial High School, an all-girls school, in 1964.[6] The following year, she shortened her surname to Bach and began modeling professionally, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines.
Bach was one of the most sought-after faces of the 1960s, working with the Eileen Ford Agency in New York, appearing on catalogs and the front covers of several international fashion magazines such as Seventeen (1965 and 1966), Vogue USA (July 1966) photographed by Richard Avedon, ELLE France (1966), Gioia Italy (1967–1970), and Figurino Brazil (1970).
Her acting career started in Italy, where she played Nausicaa in L'Odissea in 1968, an eight-hour long TV adaptation of Homer's epic poem The Odyssey, directed by Franco Rossi and produced by Dino de Laurentiis.
In 1971, Bach co-starred with two other Bond girls, Claudine Auger and Barbara Bouchet, in the mystery Black Belly of the Tarantula (a giallo film) and appeared in other Italian films.
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In 1977, Bach portrayed the Russian spy Anya Amasova in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Bach remarked after the film that Bond is "a chauvinist pig who uses girls to shield him against bullets."[7] The following year she appeared in the movie Force 10 from Navarone. She lost a role to actress Shelley Hack when she auditioned for season four of the television series Charlie's Angels.[8] During an interview with Johnny Carson on May 9, 1979, she said that she lost the audition for Charlie's Angels because they felt she was too sophisticated in attitude and look, and thought that she was not American, even though she was born in Rosedale and grew up in Jackson Heights, both in Queens, New York City. They asked her manager if she could play an American.[9]
Bach has 28 films to her credit. She was featured in a pictorial in Playboy in January 1981. She also had a cameo in a September 1987 special issue on the Bond girls.
In 1991, Bach co-founded the Self Help Addiction Recovery Program (SHARP) with Pattie Boyd, the former wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton,[10] both of whom assisted in the venture.[11] Bach and Ringo Starr created The Lotus Foundation, a charity with many sub-charities.[12]
Bach's first marriage was to Italian businessman Augusto, Count Gregorini di Savignano di Romagna. The couple had two children together, daughter Francesca and son Gianni, before divorcing in 1975.[8] Bach married British musician Ringo Starr, formerly of the Beatles, at Marylebone Town Hall on April 27, 1981.[13][14] The two met in 1980, on the set of the film Caveman (1981).[8]
Bach struggled with alcoholism and heavy drug use and, along with her husband, Ringo Starr, checked into a rehab in 1988 for four weeks. The couple has remained sober ever since.[15]
According to the International Vegetarian Union, Bach and Starr practice vegetarianism.[16]
She is fluent in Italian and has a working knowledge of French and Spanish.[9]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Odissea | Nausicaa | |
| 1971 | Mio padre Monsignore | Chiara | |
| The Black Belly of the Tarantula | Jenny | ||
| Short Night of Glass Dolls | Mira Svoboda | ||
| A Few Hours of Sunlight | Héloïse / Elvire | ||
| 1973 | The Sensual Man | Anna | |
| Il maschio ruspante | Rema | ||
| Stateline Motel | Emily | ||
| 1974 | Street Law | Barbara | |
| 1975 | Legend of the Sea Wolf | Maud Brewster | |
| 1977 | Ecco noi per esempio | Ludovica | |
| The Spy Who Loved Me | Major Anya Amasova | ||
| 1978 | Force 10 from Navarone | Maritza Petrovich | |
| 1979 | Island of the Fishmen | Amanda Marvin | |
| The Humanoid | Lady Agatha | ||
| Jaguar Lives! | Anna Thompson | ||
| The Great Alligator River | Alice Brandt | ||
| 1980 | Up the Academy | Bliss | |
| 1981 | Caveman | Lana | |
| The Unseen | Jennifer Fast | ||
| 1983 | Princess Daisy | Vanessa Valerian | |
| 1984 | Give My Regards to Broad Street | Journalist | Cameo |
| 1986 | To the North of Katmandu | Polo Player | Cameo |
