Though there were only two James Bond movies starring Timothy Dalton, including The Living Daylights with one of my favorite Bond Girls, Maryam d’Abo, both movies are among my top-rated Bond movies. D’Abo, who plays cellist/Eastern European spy Kara Milovy in the Dalton-era film, was still early in her career, having mostly worked in minor TV projects and bit parts in movies. Landing the role didn’t launch her to fame, either, as it remains her most notable acting role.
The British actress isn’t bitter or frustrated, but she does admit that landing such a huge role didn’t help her career. It wasn’t the franchise’s fault, and it wasn’t her part in the movie, nor the fact that she was a Bond girl. In d’Abo’s words, it was her own fault. Here’s what she has said about that time in her life.
D’Abo Wasn't Ready For The Fame
This week, d’Abo opened up about her breakout role and how she really wasn’t ready for the attention it brought her, telling The Guardian:
There were the Fleet Street journalists who were harsher and more judgmental. You open your heart because you’re inexperienced – and then it’s edited so you think, ‘That’s not how I meant it.’
She admitted that she was young and immature, adding:
I take responsibility for not having had enough confidence. I was quite shy. I hadn’t been a child actor.
D’Abo’s career never really took off as it did for other women who appeared in Bond films early in their careers, like Carey Lowell, who starred in the only other Dalton Bond film, Licence to Kill, or Rosamund Pike in the Pierce Brosnan-led Die Another Day. D’Abo doesn’t blame the movie or the franchise, however, making it clear:
I’m not blaming Bond for screwing up my career. I’ll never regret [doing the film].
In fact, she is partly responsible for the modern recognition Bond Girls have received over the last couple of decades, after she produced a great documentary about the roles and the women who have played them over the years, Bond Girls Are Forever, from 2002.
She Has Embraced The Moniker And Celebrated The Role In The Franchise
While it would be easy to understand if d’Abo were bitter about her experience, she’s hardly the first person to call out the occasional nastiness of the British press; it’s wonderful to read that she isn’t bitter at all. Her doc only shows just how much it meant to her to star in the franchise, and as I said earlier, she’s one of my favorites. Sure, she plays a pretty typical “damsel in distress” (even if she is a spy/assassin), as many Bond Girls have over the years, but she’s charming and beautiful, and I’m a sucker for a musician.
We still have no idea when Bond 26, as we’re currently calling it, will hit theaters; it’s likely still at least a couple of years away, but in the meantime, you can check out d’Abo and the rest of the franchise with a Netflix subscription, after it landed on the streamer recently.
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