Actress: Ornella Muti
Born: March 9, 1955 (Rome, Italy)
Film: "For Your Eyes Only" (1981)
Role: Melina Havelock
Had his first choice accepted, producer Cubby
Broccoli would have pulled off quite the raid on the cast of
1980 sci-fi extravaganza "Flash Gordon" for the twelfth
entry in the 007 series: "For
Your Eyes Only" in 1981.
With Roger Moore still to renew his contract to play 007 for
the fifth time, future James Bond actor Timothy
Dalton had just
played Prince Barin opposite Topol's Dr. Hans Zarkov. The latter
would be cast as Bond's warmly remembered ally Milos Columbo.
But top of Broccoli's target list was Italian actress Ornella
Muti, who played Ming's daughter and set the hearts racing of
many a "Flash Gordon" fan. Born in Rome in 1955, then
26 year-old Muti had worked exclusively in Italian cinema before
her big break as Princess Aura.
In a 2007 interview, Muti explained that turning down the offer
to play the lead Bond girl role in "For Your Eyes Only" was
a mistake. She explained that "for love, for my family and
friends, I returned to Europe" after filming "Flash",
and claimed that the part of Melina was "written specially
for me."
It was second time lucky for Carole
Bouquet. She had auditioned
for the part of Holly Goodhead in "Moonraker", only
to lose out to model-turned-actress Lois
Chiles. This time she
was offered the part of the vengeful Melina Havelock, tracking
down her parents killers armed with a crossbow.
Muti went on to star in a dozen English language
films, but her career remained mostly in Italian cinema, making
over 100
appearances in movies and television. In 1994 she was voted "The
Most Beautiful Woman in the World" by a worldwide poll of
readers of the magazine Class and reportedly insured her breasts
for $350,000.
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