Barbara Bach
Barbara Bach, Lady Starkey (born Barbara Goldbach; August 28, 1946[1][2]) is an American actress and model, best known for her role as the Bond girl Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me. She is the wife of English musician and former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr.
Barbara Bach | |
|---|---|
 Barbara Bach 1977 | |
| Born | Barbara Goldbach August 28, 1946 |
| Occupation | Actress, model |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Spouse(s) | Count Augusto Gregorini
( m. 1966; div. 1978) |
| Children | 2, including Francesca Gregorini |
Early life
Bach was born Barbara Goldbach, in New York City, New York, in the Queens neighborhood of Rosedale, one of two daughters born to Howard Irwin Goldbach (1922–2001), a police officer of European Jewish heritage, and Marjorie Mary Goldbach (née McKnight; 1921–1997), an Irish homemaker.[3] In 1964, she graduated from the all-girl Dominican Commercial High School in Jamaica, Queens.[4] The following year, she shortened her last name to Bach and began modeling professionally, appearing in catalogs and fashion magazines.
Career
Bach was one of the most sought-after faces in the '60s, 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 famous epic poem The Odyssey, directed by Franco Rossi and produced by Dino de Laurentiis.
In 1972, 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 had small roles in other Italian films.
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."[5] 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.[6] 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, Queens, and grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens, in New York City. They asked her manager if she could play an American.[7] 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.
Charity work
In 1991, Bach co-founded the Self Help Addiction Recovery Program (SHARP) with Pattie Boyd, the former wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton,[8] both of whom assisted in the venture.[9] Bach and Ringo Starr created The Lotus Foundation, a charity with many sub-charities.
Personal life
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.[6] Bach married British musician Ringo Starr, formerly of The Beatles, at Marylebone Town Hall on 27 April 1981.[10][11] The two met in 1980, on the set of the film Caveman (1981).[6]
Bach struggled with alcoholism and heavy drug use in her past, and along with her husband, checked into a rehab in 1988 for four weeks. The couple have remained sober ever since.[12]
According to the International Vegetarian Union, Bach and Starr practise vegetarianism.[13]
She is fluent in Italian and has a working knowledge of French and Spanish.[7]
Her sister Marjorie Bach is married to Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | L'Odissea (a.k.a. The Adventures of Ulysses) | Nausicaa |
| 1971 | Mio padre Monsignore | Chiara |
| La Tarantola dal ventre nero (a.k.a. Black Belly of the Tarantula) | Jenny | |
| La Corta notte delle bambole di vetro (a.k.a. Paralyzed/Short Night of Glass Dolls) | Mira Svoboda | |
| Un peu de soleil dans l'eau froide (a.k.a. A Few Hours of Sunlight/A Little Sun in Cold Water) | Héloïse/Elvire | |
| 1972 | I Predatori si muovono all'alba | Helen |
| 1973 | Paolo il caldo (a.k.a. The Sensual Man/The Sensuous Sicilian) | Anna |
| Il maschio ruspante | Rema | |
| L' Ultima chance (a.k.a. Stateline Motel / Last Chance / Motel of Fear) | Emily | |
| 1974 | Il Cittadino si ribella (a.k.a. Street Law/The Citizen Rebels) | Barbara |
| 1975 | Il Lupo dei mari (a.k.a. Legend of the Sea Wolf/Larsen, Wolf of the Seven Seas) | Maud Brewster |
| 1977 | Ecco noi per esempio | Ludovica |
| The Spy Who Loved Me | Anya Amasova | |
| 1978 | Force 10 from Navarone | Maritza Petrovich |
| 1979 | L' Isola degli uomini pesce (a.k.a. Island of the Fishmen/Screamers) | Amanda Marvin |
| L' Umanoide (a.k.a. The Humanoid) | Lady Agatha | |
| Jaguar Lives | Anna Thompson | |
| Il Fiume del grande caimano (a.k.a. Alligators/The Big Alligator River/The Great Alligator) | Alice Brandt | |
| Alligator | Alice Brandt | |
| 1980 | Up the Academy | Bliss |
| 1981 | Caveman | Lana |
| The Unseen | Jennifer Fast | |
| 1982 | The Cooler (11 min. short) | |
| 1983 | Princess Daisy | Vanessa Valerian |
| 1984 | Give My Regards to Broad Street | Journalist |
| 1986 | To the North of Katmandu |
References
- Barbara Goldbach, born in Queens August 28, 1946. On the 1946 birth index for the city of New York, available on the genealogy website Ancestry.
- "Bach, Barbara". Astro Databank. Retrieved March 2, 2020.Bach,_Barbara
- Carlos N. (2003-06-17). "Biography of Barbara Bach". barbara-bach.com. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
Biography based on information from press interviews, books and articles of newspapers & magazines from Italy, USA, Spain, France and Australia (1965-now).
- Bach, Barbara (1984-04-18). "How Ringo has changed me". Weekend Magazine. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
- Jarvis, Jeff (1983-07-18). "Bond's Beauties". 20 (3). People. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
- Rayl, Salley (1981-02-23). "Ringo's Star". People. 15 (7). Retrieved 2016-02-24.
- "Chevy Chase, Gallagher, Barbara Bach, Ricky Schroder". The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Season 17. Episode 134. May 9, 1979. NBC.
- Harry, Bill (2003). The George Harrison Encyclopedia. London: Virgin Books. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7535-0822-0.
- Womack, Kenneth (2016). The Beatles encyclopedia : everything Fab Four. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-4408-4426-3. OCLC 953387176.
- O'Neill, Terry (1981-04-27). "The wedding of Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 2018-03-21.
- "Celebrity wedding venue popular with Sir Paul McCartney and Liam Gallagher reopens after £60m renovation". Evening Standard. 9 October 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- https://noreentaylorjournalist.com/portfolio/the-day-the-laughing-stopped-for-barbara-and-ringo-starr/
- "Ringo Starr". International Vegetarian Union.
External links
- Barbara Bach on IMDb
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