Luciana Paluzzi

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Luciana Paluzzi (born June 10, 1937 in Rome, Italy), is a redheaded Italian actress. She is best known for playing SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in the fourth James Bond film Thunderball.

Paluzzi's very first film was an uncredited walk-on part in Three Coins in the Fountain (1954). She went on to appear in many movies, most of which were made in her native Italy. In her early films, she is credited as Luciana Paoluzzi.

Even though Paluzzi had an extensive resume before and after her brush with James Bond, audiences worldwide still remember her best as the sexy and deadly Thunderball villainess Fiona Volpe. Paluzzi originally auditioned for the part of the lead Bond girl, Dominetta "Domino" Palazzi. The producers eventually cast former Miss France Claudine Auger, changing the Domino character from an Italian to a French woman. Paluzzi was crestfallen when she found out she didn't get the part of Domino, but rejoiced when she found out her consolatory prize was the part of the "bad girl", Fiona Volpe, which she said was "more fun to play".

She is on the list of actresses who have been whipped in a movie. Hers was 1966's, One Eyed Soldiers.

She was also second female lead in the Frankie Avalon-Annette Funicello vehicle Muscle Beach Party (1964).

Years later, Paluzzi admitted that being a Bond girl is a double edged sword. She was amazed at the level of fame, publicity and recognition she got from Thunderball, but as a result of being in such an outlandish film, she was taken less seriously as an actress by her peers.

In 1975, Paluzzi acted alongside fellow Bond girl Ursula Andress in The Sensuous Nurse.

Paluzzi was married to Brett Halsey from 1960-1962. The marriage ended in divorce and the couple had one son together. She remarried in 1980 to Michael Solomon. She and her husband currently reside in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California.