Barbara Bach Biography
Barbara Bach, born as Barbara Goldbach on August 27, 1947, in Queens, New York City. After graduating from Dominican Commercial High School in 1964, Bach pursued a career in modelling.
She worked with the Eileen Ford Agency in New York and became one of the most sought-after models of the 1960s, appearing on catalogues and the front covers of several international fashion magazines.
Barbara Bach is fluent in Italian, and in 1968, she made her acting debut in Italy, playing Nausicaa in the TV adaptation of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. She then appeared in several Italian films, including the giallo film Black Belly of the Tarantula alongside Claudine Auger a fellow Bond girl from the cast of Thunderball.
Other leading roles in Italian films followed including Legend of the Sea Wolf (1975), but Barbara Bach’s breakthrough role came in 1977, when she portrayed the Russian spy Anya Amasova in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Bach’s character was far removed from the damsel in distress Bond girl type, but she still felt compelled to criticise the franchise afterwards, referring to the iconic spy as a “chauvinist pig” who used women to shield himself against bullets.
After The Spy Who Loved Me, Bach appeared in the 1978 film Force 10 from Navarone. She also auditioned for the fourth season of Charlie’s Angels, but the producers felt that she was too sophisticated and not American enough for the role. In 1979, she starred in Italian sci-fi flick The Humanoid alongside fellow Bond actors Richard Kiel, who played villain Jaws, and Bond girl actress Corinne Cléry.
Barbara Bach’s acting career slowed down in the 1980s, and she made only a few more film appearances with her last two as cameo roles in Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984) and another cameo in To the North of Katmandu (1986).
Barbara Bach’s personal life includes two marriages. Her first marriage was to Italian businessman Augusto, Count Gregorini di Savignano di Romagna, with whom she had two children before divorcing in 1975.
She then met Beatles legend Ringo Starr, whom she met while filming Caveman in 1980. They married in 1981 at Marylebone Town Hall in London and have been happily married ever since. Today, Barbara Bach, Lady Starkey is remembered as a talented actress and model who made a lasting impact on the entertainment industry.
