Beatle People: Barbara Bach

Barbara Bach (born August 27, 1947) is an American actress and model best-known as the Bond girl from the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). She is married to musician Ringo Starr, former drummer of The Beatles.

Early life

Bach was born Barbara Goldbach in Queens, New York City, New York, the daughter of Marjorie and Howard Goldbach, a policeman. She was the oldest of five children. Her father was Austrian Jewish and her mother was Irish Catholic, and she attended a Catholic high school, Dominican Commercial in Jamaica, Queens Bach left school at sixteen to become a model, quickly rising to the ranks of top models.

Career

In 1971, Bach co-starred with two other Bond girls, Claudine Auger and Barbara Bouchet in the mystery La Tarantola dal ventre nero giallo and had small roles in other Italian films.

In 1977, her role as the Russian spy Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me gained her recognition as an international sex symbol. Although her character Anya is seen as the first Bond girl who is an equal to Bond, since she is also an experienced spy, Bach still walked away from the film saying that Bond is a "a chauvinist pig who uses girls to shield him against bullets." The following year she appeared in the movie Force 10 from Navarone. She did lose a role to actress Shelley Hack when she auditioned for the television series Charlie's Angels. Bach has 28 films to her credit, although she has not worked as an actress since the mid-1980s.

Personal life

Bach met Italian businessman Augusto Gregorini on a flight to Rome in 1966. They were married in 1968 and moved to Italy where they had a daughter, singer-songwriter Francesca Gregorini (born August 7, 1968) and a son Gianni (born in 1972). In 1975, Bach separated from Gregorini and moved back to the United States with her two children.

Bach met Ringo Starr on the set of the film Caveman in February 1980, and they were married on April 27, 1981, a few weeks after the film's release. Bach in recent years has accompanied Starr on his tours. Bach has appeared on some of Ringo's music videos, and played on some of his songs.

Bach holds a Master's Degree (UCLA, 1993) in Psychology. She started the Self Help Addiction Recovery Program (S.H.A.R.P.) with the help of George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Patti Boyd, who was a former wife of both Harrison and Clapton. Bach and Starr created The Lotus Foundation, a charity with many sub-charities.

Filmography

• L'Odissea (a.k.a. The Adventures of Ulysses) (1968)
• Mio padre Monsignore (1971)
• La Tarantola dal ventre nero (a.k.a. Black Belly of the Tarantula) (1971)
• La Corta notte delle bambole di vetro (a.k.a. Paralyzed / Short Night of Glass Dolls) (1971)
• Un peu de soleil dans l'eau froide (a.k.a. A Few Hours of Sunlight / A Little Sun in Cold Water) (1971)
• I Predatori si muovono all'alba (1972)
• Paolo il caldo (a.k.a. The Sensual Man / The Sensuous Sicilian) (1973)
• Il Maschio ruspante (1973)
• L' Ultima chance (a.k.a. Last Chance / Motel of Fear) (1973)
• Il Cittadino si ribella (a.k.a. Street Law / The Citizen Rebels) (1974)
• Il Lupo dei mari (a.k.a. Legend of the Sea Wolf / Larsen, Wolf of the Seven Seas) (1975)
• Ecco noi per esempio (1977)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
• Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
• L'Isola degli uomini pesce (a.k.a. The Island of the Fishmen / Island of Mutations / Screamers) (1979)
• L'Umanoide (a.k.a. The Humanoid) (1979)
• Jaguar Lives (1979)
• Il Fiume del grande caimano (a.k.a. Alligators / The Big Alligator River / The Great Alligator) (1979)
• Up the Academy (1980)
• Caveman (1981)
• The Unseen (1981)
• The Cooler (1982)
• Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984)
• To the North of Katmandu (1986)

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