Molly Peters Biography
Molly Peters was an English model and actress, born Vivien Mollie Rudderham on March 15, 1939. She started her career as a model and was discovered by film director Terence Young.
She appeared in only a few films during the 1960s, including her best-known role as Bond girl Patricia Fearing, or Pat, in Thunderball (1965). It was only her third film, and Molly Peters played a nurse who takes care of James Bond (Sean Connery) while he is recovering at her health clinic. Although her character refused Bond’s advances at first, she ultimately succumbs to his charm, and with it Molly Peters became the first Bond girl to be seen taking her clothes off on screen in the Bond series.
Her appearance in Playboy’s November 1965 issue as part of a pictorial essay titled James Bond’s Girls by Richard Maibaum also garnered her significant attention. She went on to star in a few more movies inlcuding Target for Killing Vera (1966), The Naked World of Harrison Marks (1967), Don’t Raise the Bridge (1968), Zeppelin (1971), and her last film Nobody Ordered Love in 1972.
As well as her first two films Peter Studies Form (1964) and The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965), this is her full filmography.
However, according to the special edition DVD of Thunderball, Peters’ short film career was the result of a disagreement between her and her agent. The specifics of the disagreement were not revealed, but Peters claimed her agent held her to her contract agreement of representation because of the mega-successful box-office hit of the fourth James Bond film in 1965.
Despite the early end to her film career, Molly Peters continued to live a fulfilling life. When she was young, she gave birth to a daughter, whom she gave up for adoption. Peters later married and lived with her husband in Ipswich, Suffolk. She passed away on May 29, 2017, at the age of 78. Though her film career may have been brief, Peters’ role in the Thunderball cast has cemented her as a notable figure in cinema history.