Diamonds Are Forever
When Bond investigates mysterious activities in the world diamond market, he discovers that the evil Ernst Blofeld is stockpiling the precious gems to use in a deadly laser satellite capable of destroying massive targets on land, sea and air. Bond, with the help of beautiful smuggler Tiffany Case, sets out to stop the madman, but first he must grapple with a host of enemies. He confronts offbeat assassins Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, as well as Bambi and Thumper--two scantily-clad beauties who are more than a match for Bond in hand-to-hand combat! Finally, there's the reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte, who may just hold a vital clue to Blofeld's whereabouts.
Jill St. John
An incredible piece of 1960s eye candy, Jill St. John absolutely smoldered on the big screen, a trendy presence in lightweight comedy, spirited adventure and spy intrigue who appeared alongside some of Hollywood's most handsome male specimens. Although she was not called upon to do much more than frolic in the sun and playfully taunt and tempt as needed, this tangerine-topped stunner managed to do her job very, very well. A remarkably bright woman in real life, she was smart enough to play the Hollywood game to her advantage and did so for nearly two decades before looking elsewhere for fun and contentment. Jill St. John was actually born Jill Oppenheim in 1940 in Los Angeles. On stage and radio from age 5, she was pretty much prodded by a typical stage mother. Making her TV debut in a production of "A Christmas Carol," Jill began blossoming and attracting the right kind of attention in her late teens. She signed with Universal Pictures at age 16 and made her film debut as a perky support in Summer Love (1958) starring then-hot John Saxon. Moving ahead, she filled the bill as a slightly dingy love interest in such innocuous fun as The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959), Holiday for Lovers (1959), Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963), Who's Minding the Store? (1963) and Honeymoon Hotel (1964).
Whether the extremely photogenic Jill had talent or not was never a fundamental issue with casting agents. In the late 1960s she matured into a classy, ravishing redhead who not only came equipped with a knockout figure but some sly, suggestive one-liners as well that had her male co-stars (and audiences) more than interested. She skillfully traded sexy quips with Anthony Franciosa in the engaging TV pilot to the hit series "The Name of the Game" (1968) and scored a major coup as the ever-tantalizing Tiffany Case, a ripe and ready Bond girl, in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) opposite Sean Connery's popular "007" character. She co-starred with Bob Hope in the dismal Eight on the Lam (1967), but she would be included in a number of his NBC specials over the years. She was also a part of Frank Sinatra's "in" crowd and co-starred with him in both Come Blow Your Horn (1963) and Tony Rome (1967). On camera her glossy femme fatales had a delightfully brazen, tongue-in-cheek quality to them. Off-camera, Jill lived the life of a jet-setter and was known for her romantic excursions with such eligibles as Sinatra and even Henry Kissinger. Of her four marriages (she never had children), which included millionaire Neil Dublin, the late sports car racer Lance Reventlow, son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, and popular crooner Jack Jones, she seems to have found her soul mate in present husband actor Robert Wagner, whom she married in 1990.
Jill worked with Wagner decades before in the soapy film drama Banning (1967) as well as a TV movie. Abandoning acting out of boredom, she has returned on rare occasions. She played against type as a crazed warden in the prison drama The Concrete Jungle (1982) and has had some fun cameos alongside Wagner both on film (The Player (1992)) and even TV ("Seinfeld" (1990)). In the late 1990s they started touring together in A.R. Gurney's popular two-person stage reading of "Love Letters." Jill's lifelong passion for cooking (her parents were restaurateurs) has turned profitable over the years. She has written several cookbooks and actually appeared as a TV chef and "in house" cooking expert on morning TV ("Good Morning America" (1975)). She also served as a food columnist for the USA Weekend newspaper.
Lana Wood
Provocative and quite the temptress in her prime, the dark-maned, gorgeous-looking Lana Wood was born Svetlana Gurdin on March 1, 1946, in Santa Monica, California, the younger daughter of Nicholas Zacharaenko, a Russian émigré who changed the family surname to Gurdin before Lana was born. Both her parents' families fled their Russian homeland following the communist takeover and the couple met and married in San Francisco. Lana's more famous acting sister was christened Natalia eight years earlier and the third girl in the family was a half-sister named Olga, her mother's child.
Young Natalia (renamed Natalie Wood, out of respect to director Sam Wood) became a child star in the late 1940s with such movie classics as Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and younger sis Lana would inevitably be drawn into pictures as a result of Natalie's overwhelming success. She made her "debut" as a baby in Natalie's "B" film Driftwood (1947) only to have her cute bit excised from the picture. Her first screen credit actually came with the John Ford classic The Searchers (1956) as a younger version of Natalie's character, and she was off and running.
In an effort to break away from her sister's looming shadow and find her own place in Hollywood, Lana set out to secure TV roles and did quite well on such popular programs as "Playhouse 90", "Have Gun, Will Travel", "Dr. Kildare" and "The Fugitive," while continuing her minor appearances in such films as Marjorie Morningstar (1958) (again with Natalie), Five Finger Exercise (1962) and the The Girls on the Beach (1965). In 1965 she earned a contract at Twentieth Century-Fox and was cast in her first television series "The Long, Hot Summer" (1965), playing the Lee Remick Southern belle role from the 1958 movie version. Better yet was her 1966 breakthrough role as hashslinging waitress "Sandy Webber" on the original prime time soap opera smash "Peyton Place" (1964) for two seasons. Unlike the glamorous and refined Natalie, Lana developed an earthier "bad girl" persona. Her character femmes bore typical hard luck stories -- tarnished girls from the wrong side of the tracks who were often more trouble than they were worth. Off-screen she married "Peyton Place" co-star Steve Oliver who played her abusive husband and jailbird "Lee Webber". The marriage last approximately one month.
After "Peyton Place", Lana continued to exude sex appeal in such films as For Singles Only (1968) and Scream Free! (1969), a drug tale that reunited Natalie's "West Side Story" co-stars Richard Beymer and Russ Tamblyn. She kept her name alive on TV as well making the guest rounds on "The Wild, Wild West," "Bonanza," "Felony Squad" and "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In".
In April 1971, the bosomy Lana posed for Playboy in an attempt to gain added exposure. It worked. A major career boost unveiled itself in the form of producer Albert R. Broccoli (nicknamed "Cubby") who caught the spread and offered her the role of Bondian femme fatale Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) opposite Sean Connery. Following all this sexy publicity, Lana somehow nabbed an unexpected role in the Disney romp Justin Morgan Had a Horse (1972).
Although she stayed fairly active throughout the next decade or so with such TV movies as Black Water Gold (1970) (TV), "QB VII" (1974) (mini) and Nightmare in Badham County (1976) (TV), and the films _Grayeagle (1978)_ and Satan's Mistress (1982), her star began to diminish. Marriages during the 1970s included a union with actor/co-star Richard Smedley, whom she met on the set of A Place Called Today (1972). They produced her only child, daughter Evan, in 1974. She also met and married producer Allan Balter after meeting him during the filming of Captain America (1979/I) (TV). In the mid-1980s she appeared for a time on the daytime soap opera "Capitol" (1982) but made a decided move away from the acting arena after this period.
Following the tragic drowning death of sister Natalie in 1981, Lana penned the controversial tell-all book "Natalie, A Memoir by Her Sister". What was meant as a candid, caring and cathartic expose on Lana's part was denounced by both critics and family alike as self-serving and hurtful. Later years included behind-the-camera work as a producer which included co-producing the ABC-TV special The Mystery of Natalie Wood (2004) (TV). She also had her own casting company at one point. A devoted animal lover, the still stunning five-times married actress occasionally appears at celebrity conventions.
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