52 Years Ago, She Was a Bond Girl—Today, Britt Ekland Looks Completely Different

After dropping out of school, Britt Ekland toured Europe with a theater troupe and was discovered in an Italian café by a talent agent, who sent her to London. This marked the beginning of a career that would transform the daughter of a Swedish curling champion into an international movie star.

She got her start in Swedish productions. Just a few weeks after her wedding to Peter Sellers, however, Britt Ekland’s career hit a rough patch. Hired for the film “Guns at Batasi,” she left the set out of consideration for her husband’s jealousy and was replaced by Mia Farrow, whereupon 20th Century Fox sued her for approximately $1.5 million, and Sellers responded with a countersuit for over $4 million. At the same time, she established herself as a serious supporting actress in Hollywood with “The Wicker Man.”

As an Amish girl who becomes a burlesque dancer in New York, Ekland also won over the critics in 1968 in William Friedkin’s musical film "The Night They Raided Minsky's". The role proved that behind her emerging pin-up image lay genuine acting talent. The success opened the door for her to larger productions in Europe and the U.S.

In 1971, Ekland starred alongside Michael Caine in “Get Carter” as a gangster’s girlfriend, cementing her status as the blonde bombshell of the early ’70s. To this day, the British crime film is considered one of her most memorable performances. Her image as a dream woman was firmly established during this period.

In the 1973 horror classic "The Wicker Man", Ekland played a pagan villager and seductress. That same year, she also appeared alongside Lee Majors in the TV movie adaptation of "The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War". This dual role in both film and television demonstrated her versatility beyond mere beauty roles.

In 1974, Ekland reached the peak of her career as a Bond girl with her role as Mary Goodnight in "The Man with the Golden Gun". The film received mixed reviews, but it cemented her reputation worldwide as one of the most recognizable faces in the Bond universe. For many fans, this performance remains her best-known role to this day.

Shortly after her appearance in a Bond film, she began a relationship with singer Rod Stewart in 1975, which lasted until 1977 and made Ekland one of the most photographed women in the tabloid press. That same year, she delivered a compelling performance in the comedy "Royal Flash", which was later described as one of her best acting performances. In 1976, she also contributed the spoken French part to Stewart’s hit “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright).”

In 1984, Ekland married musician Slim Jim Phantom, a marriage that lasted until their divorce in 1992 and marked the beginning of a new chapter in her life. That same year, she published “Sensual Beauty: And How to Achieve It,” a book on beauty and fitness that increasingly established her as a lifestyle writer. The former film diva thus visibly transformed herself from a screen star into a self-help author.

In the 1989 film adaptation of the Profumo scandal titled “Scandal,” Ekland played the character Mariella Novotny, thereby demonstrating her willingness to portray even uncomfortable real-life stories. Shortly thereafter, in 1990, she appeared as an alien character in the series “Superboy,” a clear sign of her shift toward guest roles and television appearances. Her filmography thus increasingly shifted from major theatrical productions to smaller character roles.

Today, in 2026, the once-celebrated Bond beauty is barely recognizable, but she still looks great. At 83, Britt Ekland leads a somewhat more secluded life. She was last seen in 2020 in the series “The Real Marigold Hotel.”