Any woman who appears in a Bond film is bound to show a little skin—even if it’s not for 007 himself, but for the man sent to kill him, Donald “Red” Grant. In From Russia with Love (1963), supple, fair-haired Jan Williams plays a masseuse who strips down to a full-coverage bikini bottom, and a barely covering bikini top with straps so thin they look like they’re going to snap trying to hold everything up. She only has about 46 seconds of screen time, but it’s a really good 46 seconds. One of the most photographed British models of the early 1960s, it was no surprise she would fall into film and television roles, sharing her beauty with a new audience. After a small, uncredited part in the flick Carry on Cruising (1962), she landed a recurring role throughout 1962 in the TV series The Rag Trade. Small parts in The Human Jungle and ITV Television Playhouse followed in 1963 before Bond, James Bond, came calling. Splitting time between modeling and acting, jammin’ Jan stuck to television after Russia, popping up on such British series as The Graham Stark Show and The Big Noise in 1964; Not Only…But Also in 1965; as Wilhelmina in Two of a Kind and in two episodes of Doctor Who as a Guardian, both in 1966; ITV Play of the Week in 1964 and again in 1967; and as Girl Cleaner in Man in a Suitcase in 1968 with Richard Bradford as McGill “Mac.” Mr. Skin is still thinking about that 46 seconds. You?
