HER SWINGIN' '60s CREDENTIALS: After working as a London model, this stylish British beauty played "Miss Goodthighs" in the Bond spoof Casino Royale and then memorable movie love interests for Frank Sinatra in The Detective and for Steve McQueen in Bullitt.
CATEGORIES OF SWINGIN' CHICK: Bond Beauty, Movie Star, and Model
BIRTH: She was born in 1944, making her a foxy fifteen at the beginning of the '60s. Her moniker at birth: Winnifred Jacqueline Fraser-Bisset, she's sometimes credited as Jackie in her films, and in Casino Royale she's billed as Jacky (her last name is pronounced BISS-et, by the way). Her exotic birthplace: Weybridge, England, about fifteen miles southwest of London.
IMPACT ON THE '60s: Jacqueline's star rose rapidly in the '60s, but her greatest fame came in the '70s when she dressed light for The Deep. So strong was her impact, Playboy ranked her #86 when the magazine published its list of the "100 Sexiest Stars of the Century" in January, '99 (also on that Playboy list were two-dozen other Swingin' Chicks of the '60s, including #1 Marilyn Monroe, #14 Anita Ekberg, and #42 Angie Dickinson).
CAREER IN THE '60s: She started as a model in '64, then she worked as an extra in The Knack...and How to Get It in '65, which led to a burst of two films a year for the rest of the decade. Her character in Casino Royale ('67), Miss Goodthighs, had a three-minute scene with Peter Sellers in a hotel room, where she simultaneously seduced and drugged him. She was later killed off by Ursula Andress's character. Among Jacqueline's other '60s films was Two for the Road, a starring vehicle for Audrey Hepburn. Jacqueline's role in The Detective ('68) was supposedly intended for Mia Farrow until Frank Sinatra, playing the shamus, told his young wife to am-scray. Bullitt ('68) propelled Jacqueline to further stardom and set her up for the great decade to come.
CAREER OUTSIDE THE '60s: The '70s got off to a great start for Jacqueline with the role as Gwen, the sexy stew who had Dean Martin's love child in the Oscar-nominated blockbuster Airport ('70). She's the one who's standing closest to the mad bomber when he detonates his briefcase, and she takes the full force of the concussion. At the end of the movie she's wheeled out on a gurney with Dino hovering over her. Later roles include Day for Night in '73, Murder on the Orient Express in '74, The Deep in '77 with its legendary wet T-shirt action, Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe in '78, Class in '83, Under the Volcano in '84, and Dangerous Beauty in '98. She's now got about sixty films on her resume. Not just a gorgeous star, she's listed as Producer of Rich and Famous in '81.
TALENT: With those looks, she didn't need much talent, but she's probably a better actress than most people realize, as verified by the numerous acting awards she's been nominated for: Golden Globes in '69, '79, and '85, and an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in '99 for "Joan of Arc." Her Golden Globe nomination in '69 was for Most Promising Newcomer, the movie was The Sweet Ride (that award was won that year by another Swingin' Chick of the '60s, Olivia Hussey, in Romeo and Juliet). The older McQueen said of his young paramour in Bullitt: "She catches good; she can throw it back to you with a great depth for a girl of that age."
HER '60s LOOK: She's got one of the most perfect faces in movies — a timeless look that transcends fashion, considered by no less than Steve McQueen to be the most beautiful of any actress he worked with. When we ran a poll at this site where visitors could vote on various categories, she was one of the ten nominees in the poll for Prettiest Face, coming in second behind Sharon Tate and ahead of Catherine Deneuve. Curvy, leggy, athletic — physically she had a great look that was only hinted at in most of her '60s movies. In Casino Royale she's dressed only in a short nightshirt for her one scene, revealing her long legs to good effect. All her formidable assets were revealed to more stunning effect in 1977's The Deep.
LIFESTYLE: A swingin' London model, she reportedly had an affair with a married Steve McQueen on the set of Bullitt. Then in '68 she moved in with actor Michael Sarrazin, the guy in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? with Jane Fonda. She was also romantically linked to superstars of the decade -- Frank, Dean, Terence Stamp, and Marcello Mastroianni. For much of the '80s Jacqueline took up with balletboy Alexander Godunov, whose real name was Boris. He defected to the U.S. in '79, and he died of "natural causes" -- though rumors pegged those causes as AIDS -- at the age of 46 in '95. In February 2002 she told columnist Liz Smith why she, like many famous actresses, never married:
"I'm not against marriage, but I'm afraid if I married, I might become lazy about everything. I would start nagging. I nag enough as it is. I have this tendency to 'make suggestions.' I have a hard enough time keeping my mouth shut being single; imagine how I would be if married."
EXTRAS: Miss Goodthighs was one of three Bond babes with a "good" name: Dr. Holly Goodhead, played by Lois Chiles in Moonraker, and Mary Goodnight, played by Britt Ekland in The Man with the Golden Gun ... Jacqueline claimed in a televised interview that she didn't like the name Goodthighs because she didn't think she had particularly good thighs, and the name just brought attention to one of her weakest attributes ... what's more, though her scenes only took two days to film, the producers kept her on the set for ten weeks, working her into the backgrounds of other scenes as one of Orson Welles' gang members ... in June of 2001 Bullitt was ranked #36 (right behind Jurassic Park) on the American Film Institute's list of the most thrilling movies of all time (Psycho with Janet Leigh was #1) ... Jacqueline's page here at Swingin' Chicks of the '60s continues to be in the top three in terms of number of visits.