An investigation into missing funds has led authorities from Switzerland to the Tuscan hills.
Italian authorities have seized €20m in assets in Tuscany as part of an investigation into money allegedly embezzled from Ursula Andress, the actor whose appearance in Dr No (1962) introduced the world to the first Bond girl.
The seizure, confirmed on 26th March, follows a complaint filed by Andress in Switzerland. Now 90, she reported a steady and unexplained reduction in her wealth, prompting prosecutors in the canton of Vaud to begin examining what they described as a “systematic misappropriation of financial resources” amounting to around 18m Swiss francs.
The investigation soon crossed into Italy. Prosecutors in Florence traced the funds to San Casciano in Val di Pesa, where they identified a group of assets including an estate made up of 11 residential units, 14 plots of land used for vineyards and olive groves, along with artworks and other property. A judge authorised the seizure of assets equivalent to the alleged sum. No suspects have yet been named.
For Bond fans, Andress needs little introduction. When she emerged from the sea in Dr No, knife at her side and seashells in hand, cinema audiences were presented with an image that would come to define the series. Acting opposite Sean Connery, she helped establish the tone of the early films: sunlit locations, understated danger and a sense of controlled glamour that mirrored Ian Fleming’s writing.
Andress’s role in Dr No launched a career that spanned more than two decades, even if that first appearance remains her most enduring connection to the Bond series. More than sixty years on from the film’s release, it is that image—stepping from the Caribbean waters—that still defines her place in cinema history, even as events off screen now draw renewed attention.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Source: The Guardian
