--- title: Linda Christian: Rare Photos of the First 'Bond Girl' description: Photos of the real first Bond Girl, the gorgeous Linda Christian, who appeared in a TV adaptation of Ian Fleming's 'Casino Royale' in 1954. canonical: https://time.com/3763367/life-with-linda-christian-rare-photos-of-the-first-bond-girl/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-11-06T15:48:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:48.437Z og:title: Linda Christian: Rare Photos of the First 'Bond Girl' og:description: Photos of the real first Bond Girl, the gorgeous Linda Christian, who appeared in a TV adaptation of Ian Fleming's 'Casino Royale' in 1954. og:url: https://time.com/3763367/life-with-linda-christian-rare-photos-of-the-first-bond-girl/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8278161eae2808d5/698785bfa988ca17c06ad230/150330-linda-christian-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1625 og:image:height: 914 og:image:alt: Linda Christian 1945 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Linda Christian: Rare Photos of the First 'Bond Girl' twitter:description: Photos of the real first Bond Girl, the gorgeous Linda Christian, who appeared in a TV adaptation of Ian Fleming's 'Casino Royale' in 1954. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8278161eae2808d5/698785bfa988ca17c06ad230/150330-linda-christian-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LIFE With Linda Christian: Rare Photos of the First 'Bond Girl' by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Nov 6, 2012 3:48 PM UTC  Linda Christian in 1945. Linda Christian in 1945.Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Nov 6, 2012 3:48 PM UTC Each and every time a new James Bond movie comes to the big screen, media everywhere take a loving look back, celebrating the mix of action, intrigue and wry, near-cartoonish sexuality that have always defined the franchise. One constant in any discussion of the movies, meanwhile, is the concept of the Bond Girl — the (often-little-known) actress who, in each new film, serves as catnip to Bond’s libido. The voluptuous Swiss actress Ursula Andress is invariably cited as the “first Bond Girl,” and her initial appearance in _Dr. No_ (1962) — walking out of the sea in a white bikini — is rightly touted as one of the most eye-popping entrances in movie history. [**\[MORE: See the gallery, “LIFE Celebrates the Bikini.”\]**](http://life.time.com/culture/the-bikini-photos-of-a-summer-fashion-staple/#1) It’s worth pointing out, however, that while Andress was the first _big-screen_ Bond Girl, another actress — largely forgotten today but well-known in the 1940s and ’50s — can lay claim to truly originating the onscreen Bond Girl persona. Discovered in her native Mexico by the film star Errol Flynn, who reportedly became her lover and convinced her to move to Hollywood when she was barely out of high school, Linda Christian starred as “Valerie Mathis” in a TV adaptation of Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, _Casino Royale_, in 1954 — almost a full decade before Andress starred as Honey Ryder in _Dr. No_. In that 1954 _Royale_, none other than Peter Lorre played Le Chiffre, while Bond (called “Jimmy” Bond throughout!) was played by the likeable and, it must be said, not-very-debonair American actor, Barry Nelson. Linda Christian’s life and career before landing the Mathis role was fairly dramatic in its own right. She was married to the movie star Tyrone Power for seven years, from 1949 to 1956, which in and of itself made her something of a household name. Her first significant national exposure, meanwhile, came in the pages of none other than LIFE magazine in 1945. The Sept. 3, 1945, issue of LIFE introduced Linda Christian to its millions of readers this way: --- > “” --- A few things to note about that little write-up: first, LIFE called her Linda “Christians,” instead of “Christian.” Second, her given name was Blanca _Rosa_, not Rose, Welter. Third, Christian actually _had_ appeared in a few “pictures” by the time she graced the pages of LIFE — albeit she went uncredited in her first four movies. [**\[See TIME.com’s “50 Things You Didn’t Know About 007.”\]**](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/10/04/james-bond-declassified-50-things-you-didnt-know-about-007/) Christian’s marriage to Power was a match made in gossip-page heaven. She was 26 when they wed; he was 35\. Before then she was best-known for her supporting role in the 1948 , _Tarzan and the Mermaids_. He was a bone fide movie star and leading man, a huge box office draw, a decorated WWII veteran and one of the few matinee idols of the ’30s and ’40s who constantly sought meatier, grittier film roles than the standard “pretty boy” are he was used to, while also spending significant time away from Hollywood to appear on the stage in London and on Broadway. He and Christian had two children together before their divorce in 1956\. Tyrone Power died of a heart attack in 1958 when he was just 44 years old. Linda Christian continued to act, although somewhat irregularly and more often than not in (terribly received) foreign films, well into the 1980s. She was married once more, to another actor, for a year in the early 1960s, and died in 2011 in Palm Desert, Calif., at the age of 87. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@LizabethRonk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Linda Christian in 1945. Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3763367/life-with-linda-christian-rare-photos-of-the-first-bond-girl/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3763367/life-with-linda-christian-rare-photos-of-the-first-bond-girl/"},"headline":"LIFE With Linda Christian: Rare Photos of the First 'Bond Girl'","datePublished":"2012-11-06T15:48:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:48.437Z","description":"Photos of the real first Bond Girl, Linda Christian, who appeared in a TV adaptation of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale in 1954 -- almost a full decade before Ursula Andress starred as Dr. No's Honey Ryder.","url":"https://time.com/3763367/life-with-linda-christian-rare-photos-of-the-first-bond-girl/","keywords":["Hollywood","photography","James Bond","LIFE Magazine","1945"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8278161eae2808d5/698785bfa988ca17c06ad230/150330-linda-christian-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8278161eae2808d5/698785bfa988ca17c06ad230/150330-linda-christian-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Linda Christian 1945","caption":"Linda Christian in 1945.","creditText":"Bob Landry—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3763367/life-with-linda-christian-rare-photos-of-the-first-bond-girl/","name":"LIFE With Linda Christian: Rare Photos of the First 'Bond Girl'"}}]}] ```