Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen
Photos courtesy of Gloria Hendry
Gloria Hendry is an American actress and singer who worked with Sir Sidney Poitier in his movie “For Love of Ivy”, starred with Fred Williamson in “Black Caesar” and became the first Black Bond girl, playing Rosie Carver in Live and Let Die (1973) with Sir Roger Moore. She is scheduling a singing tour for 2025 singing Latin Jazzie Bond Songs and the American Songbook with my All-Star (18 piece) Big Band and touring her book, titled, “Gloria Hendry, 007 Bond, Bunny, Black Renaissance” (Independent Filmmaking times),” at the Barnes & Noble stores. Go Check Her Book Out!
KB: Did you always want to be an actress growing up?
No, I wanted to be a Civil Rights attorney. However, my counsellor, when I was in the 7th grade, patted the back of my hand and said you can be a legal secretary. So, I attended and graduated from Essex County College of Business and Law. Then I had the fortune to work for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People with attorneys Roy Wilkins [who won the de facto segregation case, Brown v. Board of Education], Robert Banks and Barbara Morris, during the time when women of color or any woman rarely became an attorney.
KB: What was your favorite movie as a kid?
As a young girl the family entertainment was listening to Jazz and gospel music on the radio and vinyl albums on the Victrola. I seldom went to the movies. When I did, I fell in love with Dorothy Dandridge in “Carmen Jones”, and Joan Crawford and Mercedes Cambridge in “Johnny’s Guitar”, and Lena Horne in the many reruns of the film “Stormy Weather,” and the song “Stormy Weather”.
KB: You worked with Sir Sidney Poitier in his movie “For Love of Ivy”?
One day while working as a Bunny at the New York Playboy Club, the director, Daniel Mann, and his casting director, were seated at my station. He asked “how would you like to be in a movie”? Since I was often asked that similar question, I told him to speak to the Bunny Mother. So he did. After the film, I would often stop by his office for advice in between auditions. He was a great mentor and friend.
KB: How did you get the part in “Black Caesar”? How was it working with Fred Williamson?
A friend of mine, Ken Menard who is Sidney Poitier’s often stand-in, suggested that I go to California where there are lots of film roles. When I arrived in California, I met up with my upcoming agent who immediately drove me to meet the producer and writer Larry Cohen, who was shooting a film with Fred Williamson called “Black Caesar”. He said that there is nudity, and how did I feel about it? I said, as long as the set is private and he wears a sock. Without speaking a word from the script, I was hired on the spot. Today “Black Caesar” is a Turner Classic Film.
KB: How did you get the part as Rosie Carver in the Bond film “Live and Let Die”?
My manager, Lloyd Kolmar, called me from New York, while in California shooting “Black Caesar” with Fred Williamson [today a Turner Film Classic]. He said they want to see me in New York for a James Bond film. I said why? I am not white with blue eyes, or tall, or have a big bust. Plus, I will be starting another film, “Hit Man”, co-starring with Bernie Casey. Also, I have to pay my way to NYC for a film role that 95% of the time I will not get. We went back and forth until he convinced me to return to NYC to audition. The rest is history. From NYC, Harry Saltzman, my producer, flew me to New Orleans to meet the famous director Guy Hamilton, and Roger Moore, the Saint.
We all talked and they took me to the set and asked if I would like to stay over. I said No. I returned to NYC and at my expense flew back to California. After a week or so my manager called and said, “You got the film “Live and Let Die” without reading one line. This film production treated me like I had a leading role, and I had the fortune to shoot interiors at the famous Pinewood Studio in London. Often on Fridays, we had lavish dressed up dinners with the entire cast and crew. I fell in love with a Jamaican gentleman. For several years after, I returned to Jamaica until distance made us grow apart. Today, “Live & Let Die” is one of the top 007 Bond films with a major cast of African Americans that took place in New York’s Harlem.
KB: Are there people you would love to collaborate with or wished you had?
Yes, Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Yul Brynner, Robert De Niro, Richard Roundtree.
KB: If you could star in a movie with 2 co-stars: Who would you choose? Who would be directing?
Directed by Denzel Washington, starring Gloria Hendry and Richard Roundtree or Denzel Washington or Idris Elba.
KB: What are you currently doing?
Currently I am scheduling my singing tour for 2025 singing Latin Jazzie Bond Songs and the American Songbook with my All-Star (18 piece) Big Band.
I completed two films, one is my first comedy, “Roger and Doris Trying to Make a Film” and a romantic film, “A Lover’s Vow” from a novel written by the prolific Brenda Jackson (who wrote 150
novels).
I’m touring my book, titled, “Gloria Hendry, 007 Bond, Bunny, Black Renaissance” (Independent Filmmaking times),” at the Barnes & Noble stores, who’s also my distributor.
I’m recording in Sweden an original song for the International scene and and I’m producing my feature film of my life.
Check out Gloria’s new book: HERE
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