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'Thunderball' Bond girl Claudine Auger dies at 78

The actors Sean Connery, Claudine Auger and Adolfo Celi prepare the scene at the casino from the movie Thunderball by Terence Young, fourth episode of secret agent 007's series. Pinewood (London), march 1965. (Photo by Mario De Biasi/Mondadori via Getty Images)
Sean Connery, Claudine Auger and Adolfo Celi in Thunderball (Credit: Mario De Biasi/Mondadori via Getty Images)

Claudine Auger, who starred alongside Sean Connery in Bond classic Thunderball, has died at the age of 78.

The French actress played Domino in the 1965 movie, after being spotted while on holiday in Nassau in the Bahamas, by the movie's writer, Kevin McClory.

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Auger was born in Paris in 1941, and began acting in movies while still in school.

She was crowned Miss France in 1958, and was also runner up in the Miss World contest the same year.

Andy Warhol, Andrea Ferreol and Claudine Auger attend the presentation of Enrico Coveri's Haute Couture fashion collection. (Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images)
Andy Warhol, Andrea Ferreol and Claudine Auger attend the presentation of Enrico Coveri's Haute Couture fashion collection. (Photo by Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty Images)

After marrying writer and director Pierre Gaspard-Huit at 18, he began casting her in movies like Musketeer movie Le Masque de Fer (The Man in the Iron Mask) in 1962 and Kali Yug: Goddess of Vengeance in 1963.

She also starred in war movie Triple Cross in 1966 opposite Christopher Plummer and Yul Brynner.

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But it was her role in Thunderball in 1965 for which she's best known, which was followed by a starring role in 1968 opposite another Bond girl, Ursula Andress, in the comedy Anyone Can Play.

Later in her career, she appeared in the classic UK series of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett.