) is an Italian

Italian people

The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

 actress. She is best known for playing SPECTRE

SPECTRE

SPECTRE is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games...

 assassin Fiona Volpe

Fiona Volpe

Fiona Volpe, played by Luciana Paluzzi, is a fictional character in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball. The character is a creation of the film-makers, an addition to Ian Fleming's original plot...

 in the fourth James Bond

James Bond

James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 film, Thunderball

Thunderball (film)

Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...

.

Career

Paluzzi's very first film was an uncredited walk-on part in Three Coins in the Fountain

Three Coins in the Fountain (1954 film)

Three Coins in the Fountain is the 1954 film that introduced the song of the same name, which became an enduring standard. It tells the story of three American girls looking for romance in Rome while employed at the American Embassy...

(1954). She went on to appear in many movies, most of which were made in her native Italy. In her early films, she is credited as Luciana Paoluzzi.

Even though Paluzzi had an extensive resume before and after her brush with Bond, audiences worldwide still remember her best as the fiery, red-haired villainess she played in Thunderball

Thunderball (film)

Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...

(1965). Paluzzi originally auditioned for the part of the lead Bond girl

Bond girl

A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...

, Dominetta "Domino" Palazzi

Domino Vitali

Dominetta Vitali, known simply as Domino, is a fictional character and the main Bond girl in the James Bond novel, Thunderball. For the 1965 film adaptation with the same title, her name was changed to Dominique Derval , and she was portrayed by French actress Claudine Auger...

. The producers eventually cast a former Miss France

Miss France

Miss France is the trademark of an annual beauty pageant. Rights to the trademark were obtained in 2002 by the Dutch television production company Endemol through its subsidiary Miss France SAS, whose director general is Sylvie Tellier, Miss France 2002. Endemol also holds the rights in France to...

, Claudine Auger

Claudine Auger

Claudine Auger is a French actress best known for her role as Bond girl Dominique "Domino" Derval in the James Bond film Thunderball . She earned the title of Miss France Monde and was also the first runner-up in the 1958 Miss World contest.Born in Paris, France, she attended St...

, changing the Domino character from an Italian to a Frenchwoman and renaming her Dominique Derval. Initially crestfallen when informed she did not get the part, Paluzzi rejoiced when told her consolatory prize was the part of the "bad girl", Fiona Volpe, which she said was "more fun to play".

In the 1959-1960 season, she appeared with David Hedison

David Hedison

Albert David Hedison, Jr. is an Armenian-American film, television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work. In 1959, when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived espionage television series Five Fingers, NBC insisted that he change his name...

 in the short-lived espionage

Espionage

Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...

 television series, Five Fingers

Five Fingers (TV series)

For other uses see 5 Fingers Five Fingers is an NBC adventure/drama series set in Europe during the Cold War loosely based on the 1952 film 5 Fingers, starring James Mason and Danielle Darrieux...

, a Martin Manulis

Martin Manulis

Martin Manulis was an American film, television and theater producer. Manulis was best known for creating the television program, Playhouse 90 on CBS.-Career:...

 Production on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

. In 1964 she played the villainess in another espionage-based Ian Fleming

Ian Fleming

Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...

 creation, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...

. She appeared as the seductive THRUSH

Thrush

-Birds:* Thrush , any of the many birds in the Turdidae family* Antthrush, any of a group of birds within the Formicariidae family* Dohrn's Thrush-babbler , a species of bird in the Timalidae family...

 agent Angela in the first season episode "The Four Steps Affair" and in the movie version of the show's pilot episode, To Trap a Spy

To Trap a Spy

To Trap a Spy is the feature length film version of the pilot episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum. It is the third and longest version of the same story. The original U.N.C.L.E. pilot "Solo" was filmed in color and, as was standard at the time for U.S...

. She was also second female lead in the Frankie Avalon

Frankie Avalon

Frankie Avalon is an American actor, singer, playwright, and former teen idol.-Career:By the time he was 12, Avalon was on U.S. television playing his trumpet. As a teenager he played with Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints...

 and Annette Funicello

Annette Funicello

Annette Joanne Funicello is an American singer and actress. She was Walt Disney's most popular cast member of the original Mickey Mouse Club, and went on to appear in a series of beach party films.-Early life and early stardom:...

 comedy vehicle Muscle Beach Party

Muscle Beach Party

Muscle Beach Party is the second of seven beach party films produced by American International Pictures. It was made in 1964 and was directed by William Asher, who also directed four other films in this series...

(1964) and played the love interest in the 1967 western Chuka

Chuka

Chuka may refer to:*Chuka, Kenya, a town*Chuka, Tibet, a village*Chuka Umunna , British Member of Parliament, commentator and lawyer*Stefano Okaka Chuka , Italian football player*Chuka , a 1967 western starring Rod Taylor...

. She was the female lead in the 1968 American/Japanese science fiction cult film, The Green Slime

The Green Slime

is a 1968 science-fiction film produced by MGM in the United States and shot in Japan at the studios of Toei Company by director Kinji Fukasaku. The film was spearheaded by the same creative team who produced similar Italian outings including Wild, Wild Planet, Ivan Reiner and Walter...

. She also made appearances in many American television series.

Years later, Paluzzi admitted that being a Bond girl

Bond girl

A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...

 was a double-edged sword. In the documentary Bond Girls Are Forever

Bond Girls Are Forever

Bond Girls Are Forever is a 2002 James Bond documentary film hosted by actress Maryam d'Abo, who had played the role of Kara Milovy in the 15th James Bond film The Living Daylights. It was accompanied by a 2003 book written by John Cork and d'Abo. The book is subtitled The Women of James Bond...

, Paluzzi expressed amazement at the level of fame, publicity and recognition she received from Thunderball; but as a result of being in such an outlandish film, she felt she was taken less seriously as an actress when returning to the Italian film industry.

In 1975, Paluzzi acted alongside fellow Bond girl Ursula Andress

Ursula Andress

Ursula Andress is a Swiss actress and a sex symbol of the 1960s. She is known for her roles as Bond girl Honey Ryder in Dr...

 in The Sensuous Nurse.

Personal life

Paluzzi was married to actor Brett Halsey

Brett Halsey

Brett Halsey , is an American film actor, sometimes credited as Montgomery Ford. He is best known as the original John Abbott on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, a role he held from May 1980 to March 1981, before being replaced by Jerry Douglas.-Career:Interested in acting since he was a...

 from 1960-1962. Halsey also guest starred in an episode of Five Fingers. The marriage ended in divorce

Divorce

Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

. The couple had one son. In 1980 she married Michael Solomon; the couple resides in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

External links