#10 Martine Beswick

Martine Beswick may be my all-time favorite villainess. Cool, sleek, haughty, and “with razor-blade cheekbones, firmly set jaw and hungry eyes” (IMDb), she could always be counted on to be the very embodiment of evil and cruelty.

Interestingly, though, Martine got her start by appearing in several Bond flicks. Her catfight scene in From Russia with Love is definitely worth looking up on YouTube. In fact, she developed something of a reputation for catfights, going mano a mano with Raquel Welch in the caveman flick One Million Years BC.

Beswick was also a “Hammer honey” (where she did the majority of her villainess work), did some spaghetti westerns, was in a little soft porn, and did a fair amount of American TV (even including some soaps). She’s on the convention circuit these days, and still looks stunning.

Real Name:  Mary Beswick

Cheesy Pageant Titles

• Miss Autoville (?!?!)
• Miss Jamaica, runner up

Embarrassing Movies

• Prehistoric Women *
• Slave Girls
• Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde *
• Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell *
• Last Tango in Zagarol

* - author has seen

Embarrassing Taglines

• Savage Struggle! Primitive Passions! Deadly Jealousy!
• A Band of Killers Stalk the Countryside ... LOOTING ... KILLING ... LOVING ... Everything in Sight!
• Travel back through time and space to the edge of man's beginnings... discover a savage world whose only law was lust!
• PARENTS: Be sure your children are sufficiently mature to witness the intimate details of this frank and revealing film

Embarrassing Characters

• Shali Giba
• Kandia
• Queen Kari
• Nupondi of the Rock People
• Queen of Evil

Whiffs of Scandal

• Nudes in Playboy 
• The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood

Interesting Tidbits

• Born in Jamaica to British parents
• Was spotted by a talent scout in a local travelogue
• Was in Oliver Stone’s first film, Seizure

Where can I learn more?

• IMDb
• Interview
• Interview 2
• MI6 interview
• Brian’s Drive-In Theatre
• Wikipedia

Nice, er, hat?

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