Barbara Carrera
Barbara Kingsbury Carrera is a Nicaraguan-born American actress, model, and painter. She is a two-time Golden Globe Award nominee, New Star of the Year – Actress for The Master Gunfighter and Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture for the James Bond film Never Say Never Again.
She is also known for her roles in The Island of Dr. Moreau, Condorman, I, the Jury and Lone Wolf McQuade. Carrera also played Clay Basket on the miniseries Centennial, and Angelica Nero on Dallas (1978 [TV series, season 9)|the ninth season] of CBS prime time soap opera Dallas.
Early life
Barbara Kingsbury was born in San Carlos, Nicaragua. Her mother, Florencia Cajina Herrera, was Nicaraguan, and her father, Louis Kingsbury, was an American who worked for the US embassy in Nicaragua.Sometime after the age of ten, Carrera moved to the United States to live with her father. She moved to New York at the age of 15.
Career
Kingsbury began a career as a model at the Eileen Ford agency at the age of 17, at which point she changed her last name to her mother's maiden name, Carrera. Her first film appearance was a cameo as herself in Jerry Schatzberg's Puzzle of a Downfall Child. In 1972, she appeared on the screen in a publicity role for Chiquita bananas. Carrera has appeared on the pages and covers of such magazines as Vogue, Paris Match, Harper's Bazaar, and twice posed for Playboy.In 1976, Carrera earned her first Golden Globe nomination for her role in The Master Gunfighter. She later played in such films as The Island of Dr. Moreau, Lone Wolf McQuade, Condorman, Point of Impact, Tryst and Embryo. For her portrayal of the villainess Fatima Blush in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again, she earned a 1984 Golden Globe nomination for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture". She worked opposite Laurence Olivier in Wild Geese II the following year.
On television, Carrera played a part in the soap opera Dallas as Angelica Nero, and more prominently, in the historical miniseries Centennial in 1978 and Masada in 1981. These roles brought her to the mainstream attention of American audiences. She also starred as Emma Eliza Cole in the miniseries Emma: [Queen of the South Seas] in 1988. Carrera appeared with fellow "Bond Girls" Maude Adams and Kristina Wayborn in That '70s Show episode "The First Time" as bridesmaids for another former Bond Girl, Tanya Roberts, in the role of Midge Pinciotti. Since Paradise, Carrera has not appeared in films or television.
In 1989, Carrera starred with Bette Davis in Wicked Stepmother, Davis's final film role, in which both actresses played mother and daughter witches. When Davis needed to appear younger, she would inhabit Carrera's body to attract young men.
In 1997, Carrera was appointed Ambassador-at-Large for Nicaragua and was given a Diplomatic passport by then-president Arnoldo Alemán.
Carrera is also an acclaimed painter and her work has been showcased in the Makk Galleries, with Americo Makk, in Beverly Hills, California since the 1980s, and the Roy Miles Gallery in London, England. In May 2002, her works were exhibited at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum and have typically been sold for up to $12,000.
Personal life
Carrera has been married and divorced three times, her spouses being:- Kurt von Hoffman.
- Uwe Harden, a German fashion model and actor. Married in 1972, they divorced in July 1976.
- Nicholas Mark Mavroleon, a Greek shipping magnate, a few years her junior, who is the younger and only surviving son of Manuel Basil Mavroleon.
Carrera has no children.