20 Things You Didn’t Know About Thunderball (1965)

5. “She Repents And Then Immediately Returns To The Side Of Right And Virtue...But Not This One!”

Thunderball Domino
MGM/UA

Fiona Volpe’s derision of James Bond’s ability to turn women to his side was drawn from a critical review of Honor Blackman’s Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.

Originally, Volpe was a red-headed Irish SPECTRE agent named Fiona Kelly. However, even though Luciana Paluzzi was unsuccessful in obtaining the role of Domino, the filmmakers were so impressed by her that they cast her as Fiona, who was transformed into an Italian assassin and renamed Fiona Volpe.

Fiona’s roots were in the original Thunderball script from 1959 that Ian Fleming had collaborated on with Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, Ivar Bryce, and Ernest Cuneo in which there was a double agent named Fatima Blush.

Fatima was portrayed by the similarly beautiful Barbara Carrera in McClory's unofficial remake of Thunderball, which also starred Sean Connery: Never Say Never Again (1983).

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I started writing for WhatCulture in July 2020. I have always enjoyed reading and writing. I have contributed to several short story competitions and I have occasionally been fortunate enough to have my work published. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I also started reviewing films on my Facebook page. Numerous friends and contacts suggested that I should start my own website for reviewing films, but I wanted something a bit more diverse - and so here I am! My interests focus on film and television mainly, but I also occasionally produce articles that venture into other areas as well. In particular, I am a fan of the under appreciated sequel (of which there are many), but I also like the classics and the mainstream too.