Honeychile Rider

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James Bond character
Honey Ryder
Gender Female
Role Bond girl
Affiliation Shell diver
Current status Active
Portrayed by Ursula Andress

Honeychile Rider is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Dr. No. In the 1962 Bond film of the same name, her name was shortened and changed to Honey Ryder. In the film she is played by Swiss actress Ursula Andress and due to her heavy accent was dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl.

In the film series, Rider is widely regarded as the first Bond girl, although she is not the first woman in the film to be with Bond. Her entrance in the film, emerging from the ocean in a white bikini, is considered a classic James Bond moment and a popular scene in cinema history. As a homage, Halle Berry performed a similar scene in an orange bikini in the 20th James Bond film, Die Another Day. Mariah Carey also references this scene in the music video for her song "Honey."

The character was later mentioned by name in On Her Majesty's Secret Service as a "beautiful movie star." Andress is the first of only two entertainers that have actually starred in a Bond film to be mentioned by Fleming in his James Bond novels. The other is David Niven who co-starred as James Bond in the 1967 film adaptation of Casino Royale along with Andress.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Novel

Rider is a Jamaican shell diver. She was orphaned at the age of 5 when her parents' house was burned down. She then lived with her nanny in a cellar until she was 15, when her nanny died. Rider reveals that she was also raped as a young girl.

Rider is an independent and very beautiful woman, with the minor imperfection of a broken nose. She became a shell diver near Crab Key in order to make enough money to have an operation so that it could be fixed. On Crab Key she meets James Bond and is later captured by Dr. Julius No, who attempts to kill her by tying her to some rocks and allowing crabs to eat her. However, she escapes, meets up with Bond and leaves the island. Bond and Honeychile then vacation in New York, where Bond pays for her operation.

Honey Ryder also felt one with nature. She told Bond that she had the the entire encyclopedia. She expressed great value of life, animal and human.

In later novels, Bond divulges that Honeychile moved to Philadelphia, where she married a doctor by the name of Wilder and had two children by him.

[edit] Film

Likewise with the novel, Rider is a very independent woman claiming to not need any help from anyone. Resourceful and courageous, she states that she can defend herself against any hostile when she first meets Bond. Although she is at first wary of Bond, he is allowed to get closer when he comments that his actions are honorable.

Rider was orphaned when her father, a marine biologist, died mysteriously while exploring Crab Key. She tells Bond that after her father was killed, the landlord where she was staying raped her. Bond is shocked to hear she got her revenge by putting a black widow spider under his mosquito net, taking him a whole week to die.

She is captured by Dr. Julius No along with Bond while on Crab Key island where he attempts to drown her. She is freed by Bond with whom she escapes the island.

Preceded by:
N/A
Official Main Bond Girl
1962
Succeeded by:
Tatiana Romanova