Karin Dor (, born Kätherose Derr; 22 February 1938 – 6 November 2017) was a German actress. She was famous to international audiences for her role as

Bond girl A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest or female companion of James Bond in a novel, film or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Xenia Onatopp, o ...

Helga Brandt in the

James Bond film James Bond is a fictional character created by British novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. A British secret agent working for MI6 under the codename 007, Bond has been portrayed on film in twenty-seven productions by actors Sean Connery, David Nive ...

'' You Only Live Twice'' (1967) and her appearance in the

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

thriller ''

Topaz Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al Si O( F, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can mak ...

'' (1969).

Biography

Dor was born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

. She starred in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors hav ...

movie '' You Only Live Twice'' (1967) and the

movie ''

'' (1969). She appeared in German movies adapted from the works of

Edgar Wallace Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was a war correspondent during th ...

(Krimis from Kriminalfilm) and Karl May. These two-film series were mainly directed by

Harald Reinl Harald Reinl (8 July 1908 in Bad Ischl, Austria – 9 October 1986 in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain) was an Austrian film director. He is known for the films he made based on Edgar Wallace and Karl May books (see Karl May movies and Edgar Wal ...

, her first husband. In 2008, she was in a Munich stage production, ''Man liebt nur dreimal'' ("You Only Love Thrice"). In later years, she performed mainly stage roles but still appeared in some films. She was married three times: her last marriage was to

George Robotham George Robotham (January 10, 1921 – February 1, 2007) was an American stuntman and actor. Robotham was born in 1921 and played American football at UCLA, where he was awarded a degree in business administration. He started his acting career ...

, an American

stunt A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat or an act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually on television, theaters, or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Before computer generated imagery sp ...

director, from 1988 until his death in 2007. The couple lived in Los Angeles and Munich. Her previous marriage was to

(1954–68); the couple had a child.

Accident and death

In July 2016 while vacationing in

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

, Dor was knocked to the ground after being accidentally rammed by a woman with a stroller. The backwards fall onto concrete resulted in a gashing 4-cm head wound that had to be stitched in hospital.Lind, Benjamin (10 June 2017)
Concerns about Bond-Girl Karin Dor
''The Bond Bulletin''. She also lost her memory for the duration of an hour. According to Dor, the doctors detected neither a brain concussion nor an intracranial injury. Only during rehearsals for the theatre play '' Der Dressierte Mann'' weeks after her fall did doctors realize her injuries were more serious than previously thought, as she began suffering from headaches and was often tired. Even months past the accident, the aftereffects were still present and Dor was not feeling up to her usual energetic self. Her attitude however remained positive and, despite her doctors advising against it, she continued working as an actress. Between October and November 2016, she appeared on stage every evening performing at the Komödie im Bayerischen Hof in Munich. By that time, she was already experiencing limited motor function in her right leg. Suddenly, in January 2017, she relapsed. Her condition rapidly worsened in March 2017 and she was confined to a care home, where she ultimately died on 6 November, aged 79.

Selected filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dor, Karin 1938 births 2017 deaths German film actresses German stage actresses People from Wiesbaden 20th-century German actresses 21st-century German actresses People from Hesse-Nassau