Ursula Andress
Bibliography

My Andress collection is simply not big enough in order to be able to create anything remotely looking like a complete overview over everything that’s been written about her. Besides: In her heyday she was the gossip columns’ favourite star, so if you come across society, TV or women’s magazines of the 1960s and 70s, chances are great that you’re bound to find *something* on Andress in a good number of them. Never mind the myriad magazines, books and articles dedicated to James Bond and her appearance in Dr. No.

So let’s cut to the chase. Here’s a list of the really important stuff, her most notable appearances in Playboy magazine:

Playboy 06/65: This edition was used to promote the release of Hammer’s SHE. It’s a 12 page spread of nude photos taken by her then husband John Derek. According to the blurb on the cover these are the first published nude pictures of Andress ever.
Playboy 08/65: 7 Andress pictures to promote What’s New, Pussycat? Woody Allen topless. Seriously!
Playboy 07/66: 8 pages, some of them also showing Jean-Paul Belmondo
Playboy 11/73: 8 pages again taken by John Derek
Playboy 04/76: The pictorial inside is titled “Incomparably Ursula”. On the cover it says: “Andress Undressed – The triumphant return of Ursula”. Was that the origin of the Ursula Undress joke or does that date earlier?

All these magazines are nearly always available on Ebay.

Other  magazine appearances of note:

Peep Show (01/56): 3 pages

Chicago Sun-Times (June 23, 1963): Cover photo and article by Lloyd Shearer “Ursula Andress – She’s headed for stardom”

Look (November 05, 1963): Profile on Andress

Modern Man Yearbook of Queens (Spring 1964): 4 pages

7 Dias (September 28, 1965): Argentine magazine with Andress cover and pictures inside

Esquire (01/66): Cover and 2 pages inside to promote The Tenth Victim

Confidential (02/1966): Great looking sleaze mag. I don’t have it. But I want it.

Beau (12/66): Cover and 3 pages

Cine Revue (March 27, 1980): French magazine with Andress cover photo and several pages about her mad, jet setting life including a bunch of photos, some of them topless.

Ursula Andress' Autobiography and books about her:

Hello #86ff (January 20, 1990): From a time when Hello Magazine was a bit more than just an excuse to see celebrity houses and weddings. This is the closest Andress ever came to writing an autobiography. A series called “Living for Love”. A wealth of info on the actress plus a lot of often rare photos. I only own issue #87, the second part in the series, so I know that there was one before and one after, but I am not certain how many there were in total.

The first book/booklet (48 pages) ever written about her appears to be Renaud de Laborderie’s “Ursula Andress. In Words and Pictures – the remarkable career of Ursula Andress” from 1965, the forth in a series called “The Great Ones”.

In 1980 a French book on Andress was published. It was simply called “Ursula Andress” and was written by genre author Britt Nini.

Sean Catherine Derek wrote a very intriguing sounding book in 1982 called “Cast of Characters: What is it like to grow up in Hollywood when your father is John Derek and stepmothers are Ursula Andress, Linda Evans and Bo Derek”.

I am not personally familiar with any of these books, but would greatly appreciate any feedback from people who know more about these.

You may also want to look out for the Oxford World Classics Edition of H. Rider Haggard’s SHE. It’s the one edition of the novel with Andress on the cover that is currently still available. Some other editions of 1960s had previously been published to tie in with the original release of the film.