She will be forever remembered as the fresh-faced Bond beauty in The Living Daylights.
But 40 years on, Maryam d’Abo is content to age gracefully, she has admitted.
The actress, who is returning to the spotlight for a turn on the London stage later in February, says she has ruled out the cosmetic surgery which has become so popular among her peers.
‘It’s not my thing,’ says the 65-year-old. ‘I have not grown up with that world. I grew up with a world of wonderful actresses like Jeanne Moreau and Simone Signoret who aged naturally. I wouldn’t dare go there!’
And despite playing Kara Milovy alongside Timothy Dalton as 007 in the 1987 film, she adds: ‘I never saw myself as beautiful in the times when that’s how people saw me.
‘You don’t go walking around thinking, “Oh I’m beautiful!”
Maryam d’Abo will be forever remembered as the fresh-faced Bond beauty in The Living Daylights. Ms d’Abo pictured during its filming in 1986
Maryam d’Abo is pictured in 2023. The actress is content to age gracefully, she has admitted
Maryam D’Abo with Timothy Dalton in 1986. Despite playing Kara Milovy alongside Dalton as 007 in the 1987 film, she adds: ‘I never saw myself as beautiful in the times when that’s how people saw me’
‘There are some mornings when you wake up and you feel great, and others when you don’t feel great.
‘I feel like any normal human being, that ageing is not an easy process and you have your ups and downs, good days and bad days.’
The star has had a few difficult years after suffering a brain haemorrhage in 2007, which resulted in surgery. This has affected her memory and has left her ‘anxious’ about learning lines.
Her new play, Spanish Oranges, written by her friend Alba Arikha, will be the first time she has appeared on stage in more than 25 years.
‘If there’s anything that’s affected me from the brain haemorrhage it’s been my memory,’ she says. ‘I think it’s a combination of age and that.
‘Your muscle is weaker because it’s been intrusive, they opened my skull and put a tiny little metal in there. I feel like the memory muscle has been weakened.
Maryam, who was raised in Paris and Geneva, lost her husband, Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire director Hugh Hudson, in 2023
‘I was told that everything would be enhanced after the operation, and I had terrible memory after the operation but that’s also due to all the drugs I was put on.
‘Learning lines is hell. But ask any actor of a certain age what it’s like learning lines when you’ve got a lot of them.
‘I’m anxious about it because of that.’
Maryam, who was raised in Paris and Geneva, also lost her husband, Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire director Hugh Hudson, in 2023. The couple had been married for 20 years, although he was 24 years her senior.
They had no children, and Maryam says she has ‘no regrets’ because the world is in a ‘dark place’.
But of Hudson’s death she says: ‘You have to keep going. You can’t stop and have self-pity – that doesn’t get you anywhere. Many people out there are in a much worse situation than I am at this time.
‘You don’t go walking around thinking, “Oh I’m beautiful!”, Maryam d’Abo said. The actress is pictured in 1986
Timothy Dalton and Maryam d’Abo attend an event, pictured together in the 1990s
‘If there is one man in my life he’s my dog,’ Maryam d’Abo says. ‘He was our (Hudson’s) dog and we loved him dearly. He’s 13 now, and all my friends and I adore him’. The actress is pictured with Dalton in 1986
‘At the moment I just want to be in the familiar comfort zone of my friends. The friendships have been extraordinary through a grieving.’
There is no new relationship in her life – except a rather special connection with the French Basset hound, Winston, she owned with Hudson.
‘If there is one man in my life he’s my dog,’ she says. ‘He was our dog and we loved him dearly. He’s 13 now, and all my friends and I adore him.
‘He goes everywhere with me, even to rehearsals.’
Spanish Oranges is at The Playground Theatre in London from February 11 until March 7.
