Stunningly beautiful and charismatic blonde actress Barbara Bouchet 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. She briefly dated famous male actor James Darren. 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 Madame croque-maris (1964). Bouchet soon became known for openly flaunting her spectacularly curvaceous figure in several pictures: clad in alluring silk harem robes in L'encombrant Monsieur John (1965), cavorting nude on the beaches of Pearl Harbor in the World War II epic Première victoire (1965), and wearing a bikini for the bulk of her screen time in Le mur des espions (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 Le Virginien (1962), Star Trek (1966), Voyage au fond des mers (1964) and Des agents très spéciaux (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 La longue nuit de l'exorcisme (1972) ("Don't Torture A Duckling"), prostitute "Francine" in Maison de rendez-vous (1972) ("The French Sex Murders"), modeling agency choreographer "Kitty" in La dama rossa uccide sette volte (1972) ("Red Queen Kills 7 Times"), saucy love interest "Scilla" in the splendidly sleazy Ricco (1973), and enticing stripper "Anny" in L'ombre d'un tueur (1976) ("Death Rage"). Bouchet had an unforgettably steamy lesbian love scene with Rosalba Neri in Alla ricerca del piacere (1972) ("Amuck") and appeared alongside fellow Bond girls Barbara Bach and Claudine Auger in La tarentule au ventre noir (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.
