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[Triton]

Many actors and actresses have been tipped for roles in recent James Bond films but they have been rejected because supposedly they weren't fluent in the English language. Most recently, I remember that Italian actress Monica Belluci was rejected as the Cigar Girl in The World is Not Enough because of her inability to act in English. This language gap hasn't been a problem for the producers in the past, as they have chosen to dub actors and actresses. I was curious when the stigma of English language dubbing came about.

The James Bond films used dubbing frequently in the 1960s and 1970s. English actress Monica van der Zyl provided the voice for Honey Rider (Ursala Andress) in Dr. No, Domino Derval (Claudine Auger) in Thunderball, and other female characters in the early James Bond films. Barbara Jefford was the voice of Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) in From Russia with Love, Patricia Fearing (Mollie Peters) in Thunderball, and Naomi (Caroline Munro) in The Spy Who Loved Me. Rumor has it that Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) was mostly dubbed by another actress in For Your Eyes Only. There was also a rumor that Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat) was dubbed in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Viennese-born character actor Eric Pohlmann provided the deep, commanding voice of the SPECTRE chief Ernst Stavro Blofeld in From Russia with Love and Thunderball while Anthony Dawson, who portrayed Strangways, was his body stroking the White Chinchilla Persian. Michael Collins provided the voice for Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fr