Caroline Munro
Caroline Munro (born 16 January 1949) is an English actress and model known for her many appearances in horror, science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s.
According to Munro, her career took off in 1966 when her mother and photographer friend entered some headshots of her to Britain’s The Evening News “Face of the Year” contest. This led to modelling chores, her first job being for Vogue magazine at the age of 17. She moved to London to pursue top modelling jobs and became a major cover girl for fashion and TV advertisements while there. 1969 proved to be a good year for Munro, because it was then that she began a lucrative 10 year relationship with Lamb’s Navy Rum. Her image was plastered all over the country, and this would eventually lead to her next big break.
1971 saw her appear alongside Vincent Price in ‘The Abominable Dr. Phibes’, playing the deceased Mrs. Victoria Regina Phibes. She would reprise the role in the sequel, ‘Dr. Phibes Rises Again’ in 1972. Her first film for Hammer proved to be something of a turning point in her career. It was during the making of ‘Dracula AD 1972’ that she decided from this film onward she was a full-fledged actress. Up until then, she had always considered herself to be a model who did some acting on the side. Munro completed her contract for Hammer with ‘Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter’ in 1974.
Munro has the distinction of being the only actor ever signed to a long-term contract by Hammer Films. She would later turn down the lead female roles in Hammer’s ‘Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde’, ‘Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell’, and the unmade ‘Vampirella’ because they required nudity.
Director Brian Clemens later helped her get the role of Margiana, the slave girl in ‘The Golden Voyage of Sinbad’ (1974). Other appearances during this time included ‘I Don’t Want to be Born’ (1975) with Joan Collins, and ‘At the Earth’s Core’ (1976) with Peter Cushing and Doug McClure. She appeared also as Tammy, a nursing employee of a sinister health farm, in “The Angels of Death” (1977).
In 1977, Munro turned down the opportunity to play villainess Ursa in ‘Superman’ in favor of what would become her most celebrated film appearance, the ill-fated helicopter pilot Naomi in the Bond film ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, who seductively winks at Bond while trying to gun him down from her helicopter. In her role as Naomi, she holds the distinction of being the first woman ever undeniably killed by James Bond.
Munro continued to work in numerous British and European horror and science fiction films throughout the 1970s and 1980s, most notably ‘Starcrash’ (1979) with David Hasselhoff and Christopher Plummer.
Munro’s career continued to thrive in slasher and Eurotrash productions. Her first film shot on American soil was the William Lustig production ‘Maniac’ (1980). This was soon followed by the “multi-award winning, shot during the Cannes Film Festival” shocker ‘The Last Horror Film’ (1982) (directed by David Winters), in which she was reunited with her Maniac co-star Joe Spinell. She also had a cameo role in the cult classic slasher ‘Don’t Open ‘Til Christmas’ as a singer (1984), ‘Slaughter High’ (1986), ‘Howl of the Devil’ (1987), and Jess Franco’s ‘Faceless’ (1988). She reteamed with Starcrash director, Luigi Cozzi, for ‘Il Gatto nero’ in 1989. This would be Caroline’s last major film appearance.
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