Some photographs capture a moment so natural you forget a film crew was probably just out of frame. A shirtless man with rolled-up trousers stands on a sandy beach, steadying a woman mid-handstand. The sea behind them is hazy and calm. Fans often tie such images to the early 1960s and the first James Bond film, but the story behind the Sean Connery and Ursula Andress partnership is more interesting than any single picture.

Two newcomers, one island
Dr. No was the first film in the James Bond series, directed by Terence Young, with Connery as agent 007 and Andress as Honey Ryder. It was made on a low budget and released by United Artists on 5 October 1962, and it was a financial success. American audiences had to wait until 1963.

Andress joined the project late. She was chosen just two weeks before filming began. She arrived in Jamaica on January 29, 1962, just as the first block of location shooting was ending.

Not every day was sunshine
The tropical shoot had its share of tough moments. One sequence, in which Bond and Honey hide behind a sandbank, had to be reshot after American sailors heard the gunfire and rushed over to see what was happening.

Andress was also not heard in the final film. Her spoken dialogue was dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl and her singing voice by Diana Coupland, and neither was credited. Her screen presence carried the role anyway.

A kind co-star
Andress has spoken warmly of Connery. In a 2020 interview with Corriere della Sera, after his death, she said she didn’t know him beforehand and feared it might be her first and last film. She also described him as protective, adorable and fantastic. Those are her words about a colleague, and they don’t suggest anything beyond friendship.

Behind the scenes there was plenty of famous company. Bond creator Ian Fleming visited the set and spent time advising Connery on how to play the character. Photographer Bunny Yeager was also there, using the gaps between scenes to take publicity stills of Andress.

The legacy
The film made both of them international names. Andress won the Golden Globe for best newcomer in 1964. Connery went on to define Bond for a generation, and he died in 2020 at the age of 90.

Where Ursula Andress is today
Andress turned 90 on March 19, 2026. She lives quietly in Rome and rarely appears in public or gives interviews. Her recent years have not been easy. She estimates that about 18 million Swiss francs were embezzled by Eric Freymond, and she has filed a criminal complaint in the canton of Vaud. The investigation is ongoing. These are her allegations, and nothing has been proven. She has said she is still in shock, and her son Dimitri reportedly visits her regularly.

Why the image still works
More than sixty years later, the pairing of Connery and Andress remains one of cinema’s best-known on-screen partnerships. The reason is the film itself, which gave both of them their starting point.

Sources: Corriere della Sera (2020 interview), MI6-HQ, 007 Magazine, Wikipedia (Dr. No), Blick, bluewin.ch, infranken.de.