Ursula Andress voted top siren by men, but women disagree

The actress Ursula Andress has been voted the top film siren according to men, but women favour Audrey Hepburn, according to a poll by Radio Times.

Andress, the Swiss actress famed for her role in the James Bond film Dr No, was voted favourite by men, followed by Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Fisher and Jane Fonda. However, women voted for Audrey Hepburn, famed for her role as the sophisticated Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She was followed by Julie Andrews, Judy Garland and Julia Roberts. A poll of 2,000 people voted for their favourite and the top 50 – which spans over 75 years of cinema - is available in Radio Times, out on Tuesday 6 April.

Barry Norman, the film reviewer, said the public had a “penchant for naughty girls”.

He said: “You seem to have a penchant for naughty girls, women who play hookers: Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman and, of course – top of the heap – Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, although in the demure age in which it was made, just before the Swinging Sixties got under way, the nature of her profession couldn’t be specified.

“In fact there could easily have been a fourth – the Oscar-winning Jane Fonda in Klute, but instead you chose her for Barbarella and, as an impressionable young man who interviewed her in Rome in 1967 when she was actually wearing that erotic costume, I can well understand why. It was an unnerving experience, as you can imagine. I didn’t know where to look never mind what to say. As interviews go, it was a washout. Memorable, though.”

Andrew Collins, film editor at the Radio Times, added: “It comes as little surprise that RT’s male voters put Ursula Andress’s definitive Bond girl Honey Ryder in Dr No at number one, while she failed to make the female voters’ top ten. However, the men also fancied The Graduate’s seductive older woman Mrs Robinson, which at least exonerates them from ageism – even if Anne Bancroft was only 36 at the time!”

Top 50 results given below:

TOP 5, AS VOTED BY MEN

1 Ursula Andress Dr No
2 Sigourney Weaver The Alien saga
3 Carrie Fisher Star Wars
4 Jane Fonda Barbarella
5 Audrey Hepburn Breakfast at Tiffany’s

TOP 5, AS VOTED BY WOMEN

1 Audrey Hepburn Breakfast at Tiffany’s
2 Julie Andrews The Sound of Music
3 Julie Andrews Mary Poppins
4 Judy Garland The Wizard of Oz
5 Julia Roberts Pretty Woman

Commenting on the results, RT film expert Barry Norman said:

“You seem to have a penchant for naughty girls, women who play hookers: Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman and, of course – top of the heap – Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, although in the demure age in which it was made, just before the Swinging Sixties got under way, the nature of her profession couldn’t be specified. In fact there could easily have been a fourth – the Oscar-winning Jane Fonda in Klute, but instead you chose her for Barbarella and, as an impressionable young man who interviewed her in Rome in 1967 when she was actually wearing that erotic costume, I can well understand why. It was an unnerving experience, as you can imagine. I didn’t know where to look never mind what to say. As interviews go, it was a washout. Memorable, though.”

Commenting on the results, RT film editor Andrew Collins said:

“It comes as little surprise that RT’s male voters put Ursula Andress’s definitive Bond girl Honey Ryder in Dr No at number one, while she failed to make the female voters’ top ten. However, the men also fancied The Graduate’s seductive older woman Mrs Robinson, which at least exonerates them from ageism – even if Anne Bancroft was only 36 at the time!”

RT READERS’ TOP 20 (both men and women)

1 Audrey Hepburn Breakfast at Tiffany’s
2 Julie Andrews The Sound of Music
3 Sigourney Weaver Alien
4 Ursula Andress Dr No
5 Julie Andrews Mary Poppins
6 Julia Roberts Pretty Woman
7 Judy Garland The Wizard of Oz
8 Vivien Leigh Gone with the Wind
9 Marilyn Monroe Some Like It Hot
10 Ingrid Bergman Casablanca
11 Carrie Fisher Star Wars
12 Doris Day Calamity Jane
13 Bette Davis What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
14 Jane Fonda Barbarella
15 Jodie Foster The Silence of the Lambs
16 Anne Bancroft The Graduate
17 Geena Davis/Susan Sarandon Thelma & Louise
18 Uma Thurman Kill Bill Vol 1 & 2
19 Julie Christie Doctor Zhivago
20 Audrey Tautou Amélie
21 Katharine Hepburn The African Queen
22 Uma Thurman Pulp Fiction
23 Honor Blackman Goldfinge
24 Glenn Close Fatal Attraction
25 Liza Minnelli Cabaret
26 Barbara Windsor The Carry On series
27 Raquel Welch One Million Years BC
28 Sharon Stone Basic Instinct
29 Maggie Smith The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
30 Bette Davis All about Eve
31 Katharine Hepburn The Philadelphia Story
32 Janet Leigh Psycho
33 Béatrice Dalle Betty Blue
34 Meryl Streep Sophie’s Choice
35 Elizabeth Taylor Cleopatra
36 Celia Johnson Brief Encounter
37 Lauren Bacall To Have and Have Not
38 Marilyn Monroe The Seven Year Itch
39 Frances McDormand Fargo
40 Meg Ryan When Harry Met Sally
41 Sissy Spacek Carrie
42 Fay Wray King Kong
43 Edith Evans The Importance of Being Earnest
44 Joyce Grenfell The Belles of St Trinian’s
45 Hattie Jacques The Carry On series
46 Catherine Deneuve Belle de Jour
47 Diane Keaton Annie Hall
48 Brigitte Bardot And God Created Woman
49 Pam Grier Jackie Brown
50 Grace Kelly Rear Window

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