Is there an unspoken rule against James Bond being with older women?

JohnMasterson · October 2012

I know there's about three examples of James Bond being with an older woman in the movies. There was Honor Blackman, who talked like she was a mature lady with experience, but she didn't exactly look or sound like she was elderly.

I think Diana Rigg, might have been a year older than George Lazenby but it didn't really matter. They were close enough to the same age that a one year gap was nothing. When they brought back Maud Adams for Octopussy, you could tell that she was much older in the early 80's and she was much closer to Roger Moore's age back then, but she still looked gorgeous especially when she was standing next to "good" old Roger.

But after that, I think they stuck with strictly young Bond girls. They always had these young ladies standing next to Bond actors who looked like they didn't deserve to be standing next to women that youthful.

Matt S · October 2012

Maud Adams was still 18 years younger than Moore, though the oldest Bond girl after Pussy Galore (I could be wrong). Britt Ekland might have been the closest to Moore's age, at 15 years younger than him. Lois Maxwell was the only woman older than Moore (and older than Connery, of course, too). Imagine Moore with a divorced woman in her mid 40s?

JohnMasterson · October 2012

Matt S wrote:

Maud Adams was still 18 years younger than Moore, though the oldest Bond girl after Pussy Galore (I could be wrong). Britt Ekland might have been the closest to Moore's age, at 15 years younger than him. Lois Maxwell was the only woman older than Moore (and older than Connery, of course, too). Imagine Moore with a divorced woman in her mid 40s?

I kind of like the idea of James Bond being with women who are full-fledged adults. I mean, I don't think he needs to be with women who kind of have a youthful look to them where they almost look like they're ladies in their late teens...Or ladies who look like they're fresh out of their college years.

Gala Brand · October 2012

Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore) was about six years older than Connery in Goldfinger.

zaphod · October 2012

Seems to be a rule against Blondes and redheads (please don't mention Blink and you'll miss her Fields)

HowardB · October 2012

zaphod wrote:

Seems to be a rule against Blondes and redheads (please don't mention Blink and you'll miss her Fields)

Not in "Thunderball".

Older women in the Moore films could have been problematic. I don't think the public would have taken to Moore as Bond folding walkers and pushing wheelchairs.

) -{

Thunderbird 2 · October 2012

zaphod wrote:

Seems to be a rule against Blondes and redheads (please don't mention Blink and you'll miss her Fields)

How do yo mean? Jill St John is sensational, even if Tiffany Case was written a bit naff! I do agree it was a shameful waste that Gemma Arterton was not used better. Its a shame her memorable moment is tripping someone on a stone staircase!

JohnMasterson · October 2012

HowardB wrote:

Older women in the Moore films could have been problematic. I don't think the public would have taken to Moore as Bond folding walkers and pushing wheelchairs. ) -{

You know what I mean by "older women," right? I'm talking about women who are old enough to be full-fledged adults. Not "women" who look young enough to still pass as teenagers. And who still sound like little girls when they shout at a concert.

superado · October 2012

I think an easy way to ponder on this, is imagining Timothy Dalton's Bond the way he is, or more closer to his personal life, in his younger days seriously dating Vanessa Redgrave; the question then would be, is that the Bond we all know? The issue/trend about the younger, fantasy girl spans several cultures and periods of civilization, spilling into literature, movies and tv of today. Fleming certainly operated with this model. Most of his heroines are certainly experienced in life and sometimes love, though chronologically young, as in, below 30; examples include Tiffany Case and Tracy. Even those that would border on being girlish, like Judy Havelock and Vivienne Michaels may have some naive qualities, but were mature in their "mission" and/or self-reliance. The Lolita-type fantasy girl does exist in other movies, for sure, and there's a demand for it among the male movie going population, but it seems that, what was carried over from the books to the films is the standard Bond girl being fully "woman" ...yet desirably young, and that's the formula, whether I like it or not.

zaphod · October 2012

Thunderbird 2 wrote:

zaphod wrote:

Seems to be a rule against Blondes and redheads (please don't mention Blink and you'll miss her Fields)

How do yo mean? Jill St John is sensational, even if Tiffany Case was written a bit naff! I do agree it was a shameful waste that Gemma Arterton was not used better. Its a shame her memorable moment is tripping someone on a stone staircase!

Sorry, should have made myself clear. I mean so far during the Craig era.

Napoleon Plural · October 2012

Most of the 007 actors have been pretty old actually, it's rare to have a Bond even in his 30s as per the Connery years; once it jumped to 46 year old Moore in his debut there's been no looking back, so without being ungallant, to have a gal older than that, esp as Moore ended up as 58, well, you're talking Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny. More to the point, the new Bond gals are used as a selling point for the films, fresh meat so to speak, so they're gonna be the new kids on the block rather than been around the block. It's a marketing thing.

Quite normal to have an early 30s Bond with a plus 40 gal, but we don't get the former much.

jorgem1 · October 2012

What Jodie Foster as a Bond girl, she is older than Craig.

Please don't ever mention that Queen Elizabeth II was the Bond girl in the London Olympics opening ceremony!

) -{

JohnMasterson · October 2012

jorgem1 wrote:

What Jodie Foster as a Bond girl, she is older than Craig.

I'd rather have Lena Headey as a James Bond girl...But I know that's not going to happen. Because she's currently 39 years old, pushing 40, and while Lena Headey is pretty and sexy enough for me, I know that the more judgmental James Bond fans out there, are not going to accept her! X-(

Which kind of irks me just a teensy-weensy little bit, because Lena Headey is the perfect height for Daniel Craig's James Bond character. I mean, Daniel is 5 feet, 10 inches and Lena is 5 feet, 5 inches. With high heels, Headey might gain a few inches in height but she would still look good standing next to Daniel Craig and vice versa.

The thing that the fans would have to get over is; Lena Headey's age and the fact that Lena Headey might not be the most attractive Bond girl ever committed to celluloid but then again, Daniel Craig is not the tallest, most pretty-boyish, fresh-faced Bond ever committed to celluloid either...So, in a way they're kind of perfect for one another. The only issue; creatively, is the fact that Barbara and Michael would be straying away from their Bond girl marketing tactics, and Lena Headey may or may not click with Daniel Craig in front of the camera. And who knows if Headey would even be interested in the James Bond series anyway?

jorgem1 · October 2012

In the real world, Roger Moore's wives were older than him, first was Doorn Van Steyn and second it was Dorothy Squires, who was 15 years older than RM! Connery's first wife Micheline Roquebrune was a year older than him, Timothy Dalton dated Vanessa Redgrave, she was 9 (7?) years older than him, and not to forget Pierce Brosnan's wife Cassandra Harris was 5 years older than him. So almost every Bond actor has involved with older women in the real world.

chrisisall · October 2012

Older women rock!
And younger!

Hopelesslyheteroisall... 8-)

James Suzuki · October 2012

Even if they are older then Bond, on screen none of them spring out to be any noticiable older then him, (closest is probably Galore in GF)

Thunderpussy · October 2012

chrisisall wrote :

Older women rock!

I think their balance goes as they get older.

)

Mark Hazard · October 2012

jorgem1 wrote:

Connery's first wife Micheline Roquebrune was a year older than him,

Micheline was Connery's second wife, Diane Cilento was his first.

superado · October 2012

Since I was the one who introduced the the concept of the older woman in the the offscreen life of a Bond actor (Timothy Dalton), the question to again ask to steer the discussion back to the topic query, does this age dynamic help us imagine whether it will work for Bond on the screen?

Blood_Stone · November 2012

Older women are better. I'm just saying.

don p · November 2012

when i was young.. i wanted to date older women,, now im in my 40.s i want younger women lol

my wife of 1 yr, is 3 yrs younger.. im the oldest fella she has been with,, but !! ive met and married my bond girl,, she,s a babe,, and i love just to gaze at her when we are out,,

ausbondfan · November 2012

I think some of the Bond girls should of been older.

For Your Eyes Only, 23 year old Bibi throwing herself at 55 year old Roger Moore? Granted Bibi wasn't really a "Bond Girl" it still seemed ridiculous that an almost 10/10 woman in her early 20's was into 55 year old Roger Moore. The Bond girl in that film couldn't of been any older than 30 either it just lacks realism.

If Bond was hooking up with a 35-40 year old I don't think it would really weaken the character that much.

Colonel Shatner · December 2012

Yeah, I wouldn't mind Daniel Craig hooking up with Bond women aged 35 to 50 as he himself is not a kid. An early middle aged Bond lady would work well as a villain.

Also the two Bond women in Skyfall were both over 30.

AlphaOmegaSin · December 2012

Moore sleeping with the Women in AVTOK just seemed....awkward. They were much younger then he was and seeing someone who is old enough to be your Dad sleeping with Women in there thirties or so was one of the worst points about that Film.

Silhouette Man · December 2012

I'd say that there probably is - men want to look at young filleys, don't they!

How racist of them!

Silhouette Man · January 2015

Looks like Bond is getting an older woman of some ilk in Spectre...

AlphaOmegaSin · January 2015

-{

Thunderpussy · January 2015

I think you spelt lick, wrong there SM.

AlphaOmegaSin · January 2015

SM likes Licking

Barbel · January 2015

8-) That apart, there have been some very relevant points raised in the previous posts.

(1) Ignoring the age of the Bond actor, playing 1st or 2nd female lead in a Bond movie is a good career step for the actress and garners much valuable publicity for the film.

(2) Considering the age of the Bond actor, some semblance of reality must be considered (Maud Adams, Honor Blackman) or ridicule steps in (Lynn-Holly Johnson, Denise Richards).

Getting the balance right is tricky.

Thunderpussy · January 2015

Hopefully this might be a small step in Hollywood
starting to put older women in lead roles again instead
of only using 22 year olds.

Is there an unspoken rule against James Bond being with older women?

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