Andress was at a party when she met a film producer who offered her a screen test for a role in an Italian film. She was successful and was cast in walk-on parts in An American in Rome (1954) (starring Alberto Sordi), The Sins of Casanova (1955) (starring later Bond ally Gabriele Ferzetti), and La catena dell'odio (1955). She was seen by a Hollywood executive who persuaded her to try her luck in Hollywood.

Andress arrived in Hollywood in late 1955. That spring she was signed to a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures, starting at $287 a week. The contract brought no acting roles, owing to her reluctance to learn English. "I spent most of my time watching old Marlene Dietrich movies", she said. Andress received some publicity for dating James Dean shortly before the actor's death. She bought herself out of her contract and in 1956 signed with Columbia Pictures. She made no films for them either. She stayed in Hollywood when she married John Derek in 1957. In 1959, it was announced she and Derek would star in a film, High Variety, but no film resulted.

Andress returned to acting in 1962 in an episode of Thriller, "La Strega" (1962), with Alejandro Rey. She became internationally famous as Honey Ryder, a shell diver and James Bond's object of desire in Dr. No (1962), the first Bond film, even though her dialogue had to be dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl. In what became an iconic moment in cinematic and fashion history, she rose out of the Caribbean Sea in a white bikini sporting a large diving knife on her hip. The calypso singing her character did in that scene was dubbed by Diana Coupland. The scene made Andress a "quintessential" Bond girl. Andress later said that she owed her career to that white bikini: "This bikini made me into a success. As a result of starring in Dr. No as the first Bond girl, I was given the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially independent". The bikini she wore in the film sold at auction in 2001 for £41,125. In 2003, in a UK Survey by Channel 4, her entrance in Dr. No was voted #1 in "the 100 Greatest Sexy Moments". Andress won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year in 1964 for her appearance in the film.

Andress followed it playing the female lead in an Elvis Presley musical, Fun in Acapulco (1963). She was billed after Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Anita Ekberg in 4 for Texas (1963); her casting in the latter led to the title being changed from Two for Texas. Both films were widely seen. Less so was a film Andress starred in alongside Derek, Nightmare in the Sun (1965).

In 1965, nude photographs of her from Nightmare in the Sun were published in Playboy; it was the first of seven times she was pictured in the magazine over the next fifteen years. When asked why she had agreed to do the Playboy shoot, Andress …

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Andress has stated that she lost her virginity to married actor Daniel Gélin in 1953, when she was 17 and he was 32. She dated Dennis Hopper and James Dean after moving to the US in 1955, and that same year began an affair with actor/director John Derek, a married father of two who walked out on his wife, Pati Behrs, and their family to be with 19-year-old Andress. Derek and Andress wed on 2 February 1957, in Las Vegas, but separated in 1964 over her affair with Once Before I Die co-star Ron Ely, officially divorcing in 1966. During the interim, the separated but still married Andress publicly dated John Richardson, her co-star from She, and Marcello Mastroianni, her co-star from The 10th Victim.

From 1965 to 1972, Andress lived with her Up to His Ears co-star Jean-Paul Belmondo. He was, she says, the love of her life. Her next live-in relationship was with another co-star, Stateline Motel's Fabio Testi, from 1973 to 1977 (except for one year when they broke up). She also dated Ryan O'Neal, John Delorean, Helmut Berger, Paolo Pazzaglia, Johnny Dorelli, Franco Nero, with whom she later starred in Red Bells, Nels Van Patten, and Ricci Martin.

When Andress broke her arm in late summer 1978, the official story had it that she'd been struck by Hurricane Norman while bodysurfing in Malibu, but rumors flew that she actually suffered the injury during a fight with her on-again/off-again boyfriend O'Neal. O'Neal and Andress were in a relationship twice, first from 1972 to 1973, then again from 1977 to 1978.

Andress lived with actor Harry Hamlin after meeting on the set of Clash of the Titans in 1979. She gave birth to their son, Dimitri Alexander Hamlin, on 19 May 1980. The night of her delivery, Linda Evans drove Andress to the hospital while Evans' assistant Bunky Young retrieved Hamlin from the set of King of the Mountain. Although she was engaged to Hamlin, the couple never married. In 1983, Hamlin broke up with her.

In the mid-1980s, Andress was romantically involved with soccer player Paulo Roberto Falcão, actor Gerardo Amato, singer Julio Iglesias, real estate developer Stan Herman, and bodybuilder Mario Natokis. In 1986, she began dating future Sicilian Regional Assembly member Fausto Fagone, then a university student; he was 20 and she was 50. The relationship, which infuriated Fagone's parents, lasted until 1991. Later that year, Andress briefly dated martial arts expert Jeff Speakman, but has not been publicly linked with anyone since.

In 2017, Andress sold her home in Beverly Hills at a considerable profit. She also has resided in Florida, Virginia, and Spain. As of 2022, Andress splits her time between an a…

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• Ursula Andress at IMDb
• "Happy Birthday Ursula Andress". 10vor10. 18 May 2006. Archived from the original on 16 December 2013. On the occasion of the inauguration of the Swiss Consulate General in Scotland, Ursula Andress celebrates her 70th birthday on board the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh