May 9, 2010

Top 10 Definitive Bond Girls – No.3 Teresa Di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg)

Character: 89 Hotness: 80 Impact: 86 Overall Score: 612,320
(click here for scoring methodology)

Contessa Teresa ‘Tracy’ di Vicenzo (born Teresa Draco) will forever be remembered in James Bond folklore as the only woman who officially married James Bond (Kissy Suzuki (Mie Hama) married 007 in You Only Live Twice as part of a mission). The rather troubled Tracy, daughter of the head of the Unione Corse crime syndicate, Marc-Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), is superbly played by British actress Diana Rigg in 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

When Bond (George Lazenby) first encounters Tracy he rescues her from a suicidal trip into the sea but she runs away. They meet again in a casino and Bond takes care of a bet she is unable to cover.

Tracy: Why do you persist in rescuing me, Mr. Bond?
James Bond: It’s becoming quite a habit, isn’t it, Contessa Teresa?
Tracy: Teresa was a Saint; I’m known as Tracy.
James Bond: Well, Tracy, next time play it safe and stand on 5.
Tracy: People who want to stay *alive* play it safe.
James Bond: Please, stay alive! At least for tonight.

She invites him up to her hotel room later to say thanks but when he walks in, there is a thug waiting to meet him. 007 deals with this and goes back to his own to find Tracy waiting for him with a gun.

Tracy: Suppose I kill you for a thrill
James Bond: I can think of something more sociable to do

Bond manages to defuse the situation and they spend the night together. The following day, after Tracy leaves, Bond is kidnapped and taken to meet with her father who explains about her troubled past (including bad marriage ending) and says that he wants Bond to be with his only daughter.

James Bond: I find her fascinating. But, she needs a psychiatrist, not me.
Draco: [abruptly] What she needs is a man… to *dominate* her! To make love to her enough to make her love him! A man like you!

Draco even offers him a million pounds if Bond marries Tracy. James refuses but they negotiate a deal where he will try to romance Tracy if Draco will use his underworld connections to find the location of Ernst Stravro Blofeld (Telly Savalas). Draco invites Bond to his home on his birthday, knowing Tracy will attend, but when she arrives she immediately smells a rat and makes it comprehensively clear she is not impressed, forces Draco to tell Bond what he wants to know (thereby removing 007’s obligation to court her) and then leaves.

James Bond rushes after her and persuades Tracy that he genuinely likes her and they begin to fall in love. However, 007 has to go off on his Blofeld, but later Tracy arrives at a critical time as without her and her rather nifty driving he would have struggled to escape. Look out for the moment when Tracy arrives to help rescue James, the look on her face is pure love, but not in a cheesy way, in a really genuine and sincere way from an exceptional actress.

Whilst on the run, they take refuge in a barn overnight, further cementing and confirming their love for each other. He tells her that he loves her, that he will have to find something else to do as a job and then he asks Tracy to marry him. She agrees and they playfully start to suggest places where Mr and Mrs Bond should live (Tunbridge Wells, Belgravia Square, Monaco, etc.).

The following day Tracy and James continue their escape on skis but Blofeld and his skiing cronies catch up with them and are in hot pursuit. Blofeld uses a flare to start an avalanche which causes Bond and Tracy to get separated and Blofeld captures the future Mrs Bond. James uses the forces of Draco to attack Blofeld’s hideout and rescues Tracy. Tracy using intelligence and her feminine wiles manipulates Blofeld and shows she can handle herself in a fight when the rescue arrives.

The wedding of Tracy and James is a beautiful and joyous occasion, with M (Bernard Lee), Q (Desmond Llewelyn) and Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) there to see how happy they both are. Not long after they head off in the car on their honeymoon they stop to remove the wedding flowers from the car when Blofeld and Irma Blunt do a drive by shooting and Tracy is killed.

Tracy Bond truly deserves her place close to the very top of the definitive Bond Girl list as having a strong and interesting character that is initially troubled and lost but turns herself around and has a true loving relationship with James, not just a fling. She is no ordinary Bond Girl.