I was delighted to meet Gloria Hendry when she came to England in November 2006 to be at Collectormania. The event was held in the enormous G-Mex Centre in Manchester and I particularly wanted to get my Jeff Marshall lithograph of Live And Let Die signed by the lovely Rosie Carver! Gloria was very friendly and also signed a photograph for me, as well as my Bond Girls book.
Gloria Hendry was born on 3rd March 1949 in Florida, USA. Her background is multi-ethnic including Seminole Indian, Creek Indian, Chinese, Irish and African!
After leaving school, where she excelled at all kinds of sport, she began working as a 'Bunny Girl' at the Playboy Club. This got her noticed, and when aged 19, had her first film role - as a cocktail waitress in For Love Of Ivy (1968).
A film phenomenon of the early 1970s in America was 'blaxploitation' which was aimed almost exclusively at the African-American audience, and the films featured black actors, funk and soul music.
Gloria Hendry had significant roles in several films in this genre including Slaughter's Big Rip-Off (1973), Hell Up In Harlem (1973) and Black Caesar (1973), 4th in the 'Rank Top Ten' blaxploitation films.
In November 1972, Gloria Hendry auditioned for the James Bond film Live And Let Die, which was already in production. A week after meeting Roger Moore and director Guy Hamilton on the New Orleans set, Gloria was offered the part of Rosie Carver, a character who was to become the first Afro-American to have a romantic interest with James Bond.
In recent years, Gloria has been busily involved in TV work and theatre, including the play Street Sounds which she directed and also played the lead part of jazz singer Billie Holiday. She has also written a play called Glamour Girl which opened in 2006, the year which also saw the publication of her book Gloria Bond And All.
A look at some of the links below will reveal how multi-talented this actress is! Be sure to look at Gloria's official website which has some excellent photos. The CBn interview is also very revealing.
Another blaxploitation film Black Belt Jones followed in 1974, a comedy Doin' Time On Planet Earth appeared in 1988 and the short fairy tale Seven Swans in 2005.
Rosie Carver pretends to be an agent working for Felix Leiter in order to help Bond. 007 finds out her true intentions, thanks to a Queen of Cups tarot card that he
Links
finds on his breakfast table. He confronts her later, but she runs off in panic. She is eventually shot dead by one of the San Monique scarecrows.
Live And Let Die
Gloria Hendry with Roger Moore in
Gloria signed this photograph for me of her
as Rosie Carver in Live And Let Die
I met Gloria again at Autographica in October 2008 - see my photo with her and Trina Parks at the bottom of the page.
Seven Swans
Gloria Hendry as Baba in
I really love this photo with Gloria Hendry and Trina Parks which was taken at Autographica in October 2008
Click on a name below to take you to that page
Gloria Hendry