007's Next Femme Fatale

Stop presses!

French actress Eva Green will star in the next installment of the endless and increasingly vapid series of James Bond movies.

(You didn't ask, but in my view the last decent Bond movie was the 8th, "Live and Let Die" way, way back in 1973. There have been a total of 21.)

Anyhow, 25-year-old Green, who made her 2003 film debut in "The Dreamers," will play the enticing Vesper Lynd opposite English actor Daniel Craig in his first performance as Bond.

Last year, she appeared in the big-screen crusades bust, er . . . drama "Kingdom of Heaven."

In landing the coveted role of the next "Bond girl," Green edged out a list of contenders reported in the Hollywood trade press to have included Oscar winner Charlize Theron, as well as Thandie Newton, Olivia Wilde and Kimberly Davies.

* * * *

Bet you didn’t know that I once met the real James Bond, who was an ornithologist and Curator of Birds at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. It was at a Christmas party circa 1990.

Bond author Ian Fleming was an avid birdwatcher himself and met Bond in Jamaica after moving there after World War II. They became fast friends and Fleming decided to appropriate Bond’s name when he began writing the 007 series in 1952.

Just thought you'd want to know.