Zena Marshall

Zena Marshall Biography

Zena Marshall was a British actress who was best known for her role as Bond girl Miss Taro in the James Bond film Dr. No.

Born in 1925 in Kenya, Marshall grew up in Leicestershire, England and studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After completing her studies, she began her acting career in the late 1940s and appeared in a number of films and television shows throughout the 1950s and 60s.

Zena Marshall’s acting career started with a minor part in the film Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), starring Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh. Her distinctive appearance led to her being cast in several Asian roles, including that of Miss Taro, the private secretary of British Chief Secretary for colonial affairs in Jamaica, but also on the books for Dr. Julius No. The film was a major success and helped to establish the James Bond franchise as one of the most successful in film history and she has gone down in history as one of the first Bond girls.

After Bond, she also portrayed the Countess Ponticelli in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965) and made several TV appearances. Her final film role was in The Terrornauts in 1967.

Zena Marshall was married twice and had two children. She retired from acting in the late 1970s and spent her later years traveling and enjoying her retirement. She passed away in 2009 at the age of 83 due to cancer related illnesses.