Welcome to my very first post on a new series called "Starlets and Harlots". Our first Starlet is the very blonde and beautiful Barbara Bouchet. Barbara was born Barbara Goutscher on August 15th, 1943 in Reichenburg, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia. Her family was forced to leave the country when Barbara was a little girl and settled in San Francisco, Califoria. Bouchet attended Galileo High School. In 1959, Bouchet won the "Miss Gidget" beauty contest which was held by the local television station KPIX-TV.
Barbara was featured as a dancer on the teen-targeted rock'n'roll TV show, The KPIX Dance Party, from 1959 to 1962. Bouchet began her official acting career as a model on magazine covers and an actress in TV commercials. She made her film debut with an uncredited bit part in the comedy What a Way to Go! (1964).
Bouchet soon became known for openly flaunting her spectacularly curvaceous figure in several pictures: clad in alluring silk harem robes in John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965), cavorting nude on the beaches of Pearl Harbor in the World War II epic In Harm's Way (1965), and wearing a bikini for the bulk of her screen time in Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966). She also portrayed "Ursula" in Bob Fosse's outstanding musical Sweet Charity (1969), made for a nicely sultry "Miss Moneypenny" in the tongue-in-cheek 007 outing Casino Royale (1967), and had guest spots on such TV series as "The Virginian" (1962), "Star Trek" (1966), "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (1964) and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (1964).
In 1970, Bouchet became fed-up with being typecast as mindless sexpots in Hollywood fare and moved to Italy. She soon became one of Italy's top actresses, carving out a fruitful niche for herself in sex comedies, giallo murder mysteries and gritty police crime thrillers. Among her most memorable roles in these Italian features are the brazen spoiled rich lady "Patrizia" in Lucio Fulci's disturbing Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) ("Don't Torture A Duckling"), prostitute "Francine" in The French Sex Murders (1972) ("The French Sex Murders"), modeling agency choreographer "Kitty" in The Lady in Red Kills Seven Times (1972) ("Red Queen Kills 7 Times"), saucy love interest "Scilla" in the splendidly sleazy Ricco (1973), and enticing stripper "Anny" in Death Rage (1976) ("Death Rage").
Bouchet had an unforgettably steamy lesbian love scene with Rosalba Neri in Amuck (1972) ("Amuck") and appeared alongside fellow Bond girls Barbara Bach and Claudine Auger in Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) ("The Black Belly of the Tarantula").
Barbara married producer Luigi Borghese in 1976. In 1983, at age 40, Bouchet did a nude pictorial for the Italian edition of "Penthouse" magazine. Bouchet started her own production company in 1985 and launched her own line of fitness books and videos. She also opened her own health club in Rome. Barbara most recently popped up in a small role (as fellow giallo star David Hemmings' wife) in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002). Bouchet speaks English, German and Italian with equal fluency. Barbara Bouchet continues to act in both films and TV shows, alike, made in Italy.
Interesting facts:
As a baby living in Reichenberg, Czechoslovakia, in the mountains north of Prague, she had to flee the communists, but eventually was reunited with her father Fritz, a war photographer. She had two younger brothers and two younger sisters who also slowly rejoined the family. Everyone migrated to California, U.S.A. in December 1956.
A picture taken by her photographer father was submitted to a beauty contest. She won as "Miss Gidget" and the winnings included a date with "Gidget" movie star James Darren and a screen test. The screen test never panned out, but it did lead to teen modeling work. Her extensive modeling career led to 35 magazine covers.
Personal quote:
"Being a Hollywood beauty was a mixed blessing. Men are men, with all that testosterone, and when a pretty girl comes in front of them what can you expect?"
xoxo
