By SAMANTHA WEINBERG

Being a Bond Girl can be a curse. For many, the handle 'former Bond girl' led to a series of insubstantial cameo roles or a date with the plastic surgeon.

That doesn’t stop actresses from clamouring for the role. In Skyfall, out later this year, French actress Berenice Marlohe takes the challenge opposite Daniel Craig. But whether she will live up to her sexy predecessors remains to be seen.

Here, in words and pictures, we reveal what became of them...

Dr No: Swiss-born Ursula Andress, 76, was original Bond girl Honey Ryder. She wed director John Derek and had affairs with Marlon Brando and James Dean

When she emerged from the sea in Dr No, wearing a white bikini and carrying a conch shell, Ursula Andress defined the Bond girl. She was beautiful, brave and cursed with a sexually suggestive name: Honey Ryder.

Dr No was the first in the Bond franchise, but in 21 films over 50 years, the formula hasn’t changed.

James Bond, Agent 007, is dispatched by MI6 to save the world from an evil mastermind, and in the process encounters a string of lissom girls in bikinis and evening gowns.

The film is likely to end with one of these girls showing her gratitude to Bond in a passionate, physical fashion.

Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, had an uneasy relationship with women: he married late, after decades of committed womanising, and was serially unfaithful to his wife, Ann.

In turn, she humiliated his work in front of her literary friends. But his female characters were rarely weak.

From Russia With Love: Italian beauty queen Daniela Bianchi, now 70, was Russian agent Tatiana Romanova. She retired after marrying a Genoan shipping On Her Majesty's secret service: Diana Rigg, 73, played Tracy, whom Bond married and then lost.She played Emma Peel in the Avengers for 51 episodes The Spy Who Loved Me: Caroline Munro, 63, as helicopter pilot Naomi was the first woman Bond killer. She starred in a number of horror films

Thus, in each of Bond’s film outings there’s usually a female character with a bit of grit, wit and intelligence. She may be a fellow agent (Gemma Arterton as Strawberry Fields in Quantum Of Solace) or a murderous femme fatale (Famke Janssen as the splendidly sadistic Xenia Onatopp in Goldeneye).

In some of the films, however, the character and back-story of the Bond girls gets lost in the casting director’s enthusiasm for tanned flesh and a toned figure.

A low point was the laughably unconvincing casting of Baywatch babe Denise Richards as nuclear physicist Dr Christmas Jones in The World Is Not Enough.

Goldfinger: Honor Blackman, 86, was terrific in her black leather trousers as Pussy Galore. She went on to play Dr Cathy Gale in The Avengers

Diamonds Are Forever: Lana Wood, 66, younger sister of Natalie Wood, was the suggestively named Plenty O'Toole. A child star, she became a successful producer

Moonraker: Lois Chiles, 64, was elegant as NASA astronaut Dr Holly Goodhead. After Bond, she appeared in Dalls and still takes cameo roles in U.S. TV shows

The Living Daylights: Maryam d'Abo, 51, played Kara Milovy, a shy Czech cellist (and sniper). In 2002, she was Keira Knightley's mother in Anna Karenina

Only one Bond Girl ever managed to secure Bond’s affections in a meaningful way. In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Bond saves the life of Tracy di Vincenzo (Diana Rigg) the only daughter of Mafia crime boss Marc-Ange Draco.

They marry, but as they drive off on honeymoon, the new Mrs Bond is shot and killed by the hideous Irma Bunt, Blofeld’s henchwoman.

There was, however, another more constant female presence in Bond’s life. Miss Moneypenny, played in the first 14 films by Lois Maxwell, was secretary to M, head of the Secret Service and Bond’s boss.

Moneypenny was always there at M’s door, ready for a few brief lines of flirtation on his way in and out. In neither the books nor the films was their flirtation consummated, which sets Moneypenny apart from the ranks of Bond girls.

Thunderball: Claudine Auger, 70, was Domino, who was rescued by Sean Connery's Bond. She appeared in a string of minor European films

Live and Let Die: Jane Seymour, 61, was tarot reader Solitaire opposite Roger Moore in his first Bond outing. Seymour went on to have success in films and on TV

For Your Eyes Only: Carole Bouquet, 54, was the face of Chanel before she played Melina Havelock. She has since appeared in numerous films, mainly in France

Licence to Kill: Like Timothy Dalton as 007, Carey Lowell, 51, was unmemorable on screen as Pam Bouvier. She went on to marry actor Richard Gere, her third husband

You Only Live Twice: German-born Karin Dor, 74, played the minor role of one of the villainous Blofeld's henchwomen. Post-Bond, she married an American stunt director and moved to Los Angeles

The Man with the Golden Gun: Britt Ekland, 69, was a sexy Mary Goodnight. She later married comedian Peter Sellers and dated Rod Stewart. In 2010 she took part in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here

Octopussy: Kristina Wayborn, 61, a former Miss Sweden, played Magda - henchwoman to the leader of the Octopussy cult - who seduces Bond. Minor TV roles, including a stint on Baywatch, followed