Nadja Regin

Nadja Poderegin (2 December 1931 – 6 April 2019),[2][3][4] commonly known by her stage name Nadja Regin (Serbian Cyrillic: Нађа Регин, Nađa Regin), was a Serbian actress. Starting in Yugoslav films in 1949, she developed an international career in the 1950s, appearing in the 1960s in such British TV series like Danger Man, Maigret, The Benny Hill Show and The Saint.

Nadja Regin
Born	Nadežda Poderegin 2 December 1931 Niš, Yugoslavia (now Niš, Serbia)
Died	6 April 2019 (aged 87)[1] London, England[1]
Occupation	Actress, writer, publisher
Years active	1949–1968
Spouse(s)	Michael Szrajber (b. 1922, d. 2009)
Children	Tanya Szrajber (b. 1960)

She had a distinction of being among the rare actresses who appeared in two James Bond movies: as the mistress of Kerim Bey in From Russia with Love and a smaller appearance in the pre-credit sequence of Goldfinger.

Early life

Regin was born as Nadežda Poderegin (Serbian Cyrillic: Надежда Подерегин) on 2 December 1931 in Niš, Serbia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia. She was born to Milka Bajić Poderegin (1904-1971), a professor, and Ignjatije Poderegin, Russian white émigré, a professor and agricultural scientist. She also had a younger sister Jelena Poderegin, nicknamed Ljolja.[5] Her mother was born in Pljevlja, Ottoman Empire (today in Montenegro), while her father was an ethnic Russian born in Kiev, Russian Empire (today in Ukraine).[6]

She grew up in Kraljevo where her father worked as a professor at the High School for Agriculture. He was executed by the German occupation forces during World War II during the Kraljevo massacre in October 1941. Though several people intervened for him to be released, he refused to abandon his colleagues and students which were to be shot by the Germans, so they shot him, too. Her mother Milka was a vocal opponent to the German occupation and was blacklisted by the Germans.[5][6][7]

After the Soviet Red Army arrived in Yugoslavia and participated with the Yugoslav Partisans in forcing out the Germans, a 13-years old Regin shortly acted as an interpreter in the Kraljevo hospital, as she learned Russian from her father. Soon after the liberation, Poderegin family moved to Belgrade where her mother found a new employment.[6]

Education

She began to act as a child, participating in some children adaptations, at the age of 7.[8] In Belgrade, Regin attended the 7th Girls Gymnasium, while both sisters went to the ballet school.[7]

Regin originally planned to study journalism,[6] but entered the Academy for Theatrical Arts in Belgrade in 1950. She was mentored by Joža Rutić and Branko Pleša, while among her classmates were Jelena Žigon, Dragan Laković, Dejan Čavić, Branislav Jerinić, Petar Banićević and Pavle Minčić. She graduated 20 May 1954 in the role of Anka, from the play Lovers by the unknown 16th century author, performing in the Belgrade Drama Theatre.[5][7]

In this period, she was known as "the most beautiful girl in Belgrade". She also has a diploma in literature from the University of Belgrade's Faculty of Philosophy.[5][7]

Acting career

Yugoslavia

Regin's acting career began during her student years. She was noticed by film director Vladimir Pogačić who gave Regin her first role in his 1949 film The Factory Story, which basically acted as her post-graduate studies. In 1950, Vojislav Nanović directed her in his pastoral folk tale The Magic Sword. She again worked with Nanović in 1952 in Frosina.[5]

In 1955 she starred in Ešalon Dr. M, a hugely successful movie directed by Žika Mitrović. A feature dealing with the World War II was Regin's last work in her home country.[5]

International career

She originally expanded her career through several Yugoslav-German co-productions. From the 1954 production of The House on the Coast, directed by Boško Kosanović, she shortened her surname from Poderegin to Regin. It was a story of love triangle, starring also Bert Sotlar and Sybille Schmitz. She and Schmitz played a daughter and a mother who are both in loved in the same man. was screened at the Berlin Film Festival. She was treated as a star at the festival due to the film's popularity and this kick started her international career.[5][6]

On the success of The House on the Coast she was offered a multi-film contract for the German and Austrian territories.[6] Other German-language films include Roman eines Frauenarztes (1954; by Falk Harnack), Du mein stilles Tal (1955; by Leonard Steckel) and Goodbye, Franziska (1957; by Wolfgang Liebeneiner).

In 1963 she starred in the New Zealand's movie Runaway, which also starred young Kiri Te Kanawa. It was Regin's final film appearance.

UK career

Regin moved to London in the mid 1950s. She described the relocation as a "sort of a professional suicide" since she spoke no word of English at the time.[6] Still, she soon acted in British project like the seriesThe Adventures of William Tell, which was her television debut, and The Invisible Man, and the movie Don't Panic Chaps!. The movie tells a story of British and German soldiers stranded on an island, who decide to peacefully co-exist because they can't leave. However, one day a girl, played by Regin, arrives to the island and the soldiers resume fighting, this time because of her. Regin cited this movie as her personal favorite.[6]

She appeared in numerous British TV series and movies in this period: International Detective, Danger Man (where she played a Christine Keeler-sque character), Maigret, Richard the Lionheart, The Benny Hill Show, Crane, The Saint and Comedy Playhouse.[5][6] She also rehearsed for the episode "Girl on the Trapeze" of the TV series The Avengers, but ultimately the role on the recording went to actress Mia Karam.[9] Her last appearance was in the 1968 episode of Dixon of Dock Green, after which she retired from acting.[5] As a main reason for quitting acting, Regin stated her wish to spend more time with her daughter. At first she rejected offers for working outside of the United Kingdom, and then scrapped the acting career altogether.[6]

She stated that, though learned the language well in time, her Slavic accent was an obstacle for more diverse roles: "I was condemned to accept the roles of spies and foreign girls, and you hadn't much of those. In London I forever was just like that - a foreigner".[5][6]

Bond girl

Regin is among the few actresses who appeared in two James Bond movies. In 1963 From Russia with Love she played the mistress of Kerim Bey, played by Pedro Armendariz. In 1964 in Goldfinger, she played a Mexican belly dancer Bonita, a smaller appearance in the iconic pre-credit sequence. Regin herself stipulated that she suspects they called her to appear in Goldfinger as a compensation because she was meant to have more scenes in From Russia with Love.[6][10]

She spoke very fondly of Armendariz: "he was a real gentleman. And when we were filming scenes from the From Russia With Love, from the James Bond franchise, he [Armendariz] was severely ill, actually, he was dying. Director Terence Young was aware of what is happening to Armendariz so he decided to film all his scenes, including those with me, in only one day. Armendariz succumbed to the illness later that year, 1963". She also described Sean Connery as a great professional.[5]

Regin kept private about her franchise work and gave only few interviews.[6] "Movie Memories" magazine interviewed her in 2015 about her Bond roles. In 2018, though 87-years old, she participated in some of the happenings regarding the "Year of James Bond" in the United Kingdom, as part of the 65th anniversary of the first James Bond novel, Casino Royale.[5]

Of successor Bond Girls, she especially praised Bérénice Marlohe from Skyfall, and generally described it as a "very powerful film", despite she is nostalgic to the older entries in the franchise.[6]

Literary career

In the 1970s her work included reading and selecting film scripts for production by film companies including Rank Films and Hammer Films. In 1980, she and her sister Jelena formed Honeyglen Publishing Ltd, a small publishing company, specializing in philosophy and art history, belles-lettres, biography, and some fiction. She published her mother's only novel, The Dawning (Svitanje in Serbian), in 1978. Regin compiled the last quarter of her mother's book from her notes, as her mother died before finishing it. Regin also personally translated the book in English and published in 1988. The book was later also translated in French.[5][6][11]

Nadja authored several works herself. Her novel, The Victims and the Fools, was published as an ebook under her full name Nadja Poderegin. She also wrote a children's story, The Puppet Planet, and in the years prior to her death, she worked on her memoirs, titled Recollections.[5]

Personal life

In Cannes, Regin met Michael Szrajber (1922-2009), a Polish born British World War II parachute airman turned industrialist. Szrajber was a member of the 1st Independent Parachute Brigade and participated in the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944. The couple married and moved to the United Kingdom. They had one daughter, Tanya, born in 1960. After moving to London, Regin also took her mother and sister with her.[5][6]

She was fluent in five languages: Serbo-Croatian, Russian, English, French and German.[6] She learned English in only few months after moving to London. She credited this in part to her extensive reading of Somerset Maugham's works.[6]

In 1999, she was among the organisers of the London demonstrations against the NATO bombing of Serbia.[5]

Media reported Regin's death on 8 April 2019.[4][12][13]

Filmography

Films

Year	English title	Original title	Role	Director
1949	The Factory Story	Priča o fabrici	Textile worker	Vladimir Pogačić
1950	The Magic Sword	Čudotvorni mač	-	Vojislav Nanović
1952	Frosina	Frosina	-	Vojislav Nanović
1954	The House on the Coast	Das Haus an der Küste	Marina	Boško Kosanović
1954	Gynecologist's Tale	Roman eines Frauenarztes	Nina Bertens	Falk Harnack
1955	Echelon of Dr. M.	Ešalon dr M.	Hatidža	Žika Mitrović
1955	My quiet valley	Du mein stilles Tal	Rita	Leonard Steckel
1955	Rooster on the front	Der Frontgockel	Claudette, the French girl	Ferdinand Dörfler
1957	The Man Without a Body	-	Odette Vernet	Charles Saunders and W. Lee Wilder
1957	The Country Wife	Die Unschuld vom Lande	Lollo	Rudolf Schündler
1957	Goodbye, Franziska	Franziska	Helen Philipps	Wolfgang Liebeneiner
1957	Everything will be fine	Es wird alles wieder gut	Lucilla Coletti, the artist	Géza von Bolváry
1959	Don't Panic Chaps!	-	Elsa	George Pollock
1960	We Will Never Part	Wir wollen niemals auseinandergehn	Livia	Harald Reinl
1961	You Must Be Blonde on Capri	Blond muß man sein auf Capri	Helga Wagner	Wolfgang Schleif
1962	Number Six	-	Nadia Leiven	Robert Tronson
1962	Solo for Sparrow	-	Mrs. Reynnolds	Gordon Flemyng
1962	The Fur Collar	-	Marie Lejeune	Lawrence Huntington
1963	Stranglehold	-	Lilli	Lawrence Huntington
1963	From Russia with Love	-	Kerim's Girl	Terence Young
1964	Goldfinger	-	Bonita	Guy Hamilton
1964	Downfall	-	Suzanne Crossley	John Llewellyn Moxey
1964	Runaway	-	Laura Kossovich	John O'Shea

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958	The Adventures of William Tell	Maddelena	episode The Bride
1959	The Invisible Man	Princess Taima	episode Man in Power
1959	Rendezvous	Mary Darwin	episode Murder in Berkeley Square
1960	ITV Television Playhouse	Estelle	episode Once a Crook
1961	International Detective	Nora Galloway	episode The Anthony Case
1961	Danger Man	Melina	episode Find and Destroy
1961	Maigret	Maria	episode The Winning Ticket
1962	Parbottle Speaking	Zuhra	Main cast
1962	Brothers in Law	Nina Zoffany	episode Special Examiner
1962	Richard the Lionheart	Shirin	episode The Lord of Kerak
1962	Six More Faces of Jim	-	episode The Face of Wisdom
1963	The Benny Hill Show	Russian Girl	episode The Vanishing man
1963	Zero One	Didi Druson	episode The Creators
1963	Man of the World	Maria	episode In the Picture
1963	Crane	Maria Cortez	episode The Golden Attraction
1964	Secret Agent	Ira	episode The Professionals
1965	The Flying Swan	Tanja Sykes	episode Company Property
1965	Riviera Police	Lisa	episode The Lucky One Was the Snake
1965	The Third Man	Aldrina	episodes Members Only parts 1 & 2
1966	The Liars	Madame Moraldi	episode 1.1
1966	Donaugeschichten	-	episode W. M. und die Diplomatie
1966	The Man in Room 17	Roxana Polynescu	episode The Catacombs
1967	The Saint	Lucille Legrand	episode The Art Collectors
1967	Armchair Theatre	Ylena Davos	episode Reason for Sale
1967	Death happens to other people	Bettina	TV movie
1967-1968	Comedy Playhouse	Smyrna, the maid / Frederique Duval	episodes The Old Campaigner and Stiff Upped Lip
1968	The World of Beachcomber	-	episodes 1.4 and 1.6
1968	Dixon of Dock Green	Mrs. Green	episode Ania

References

1. "Читуља – Нађа Подерегин, 1931–2019" [Obituary – Nađa Poderegin, 1931–2019]. Politika (in Serbian). 9 April 2019. p. 27.
2. "BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, David Thouless, Nadja Poderegin, Ian Cognito, Dr Michael O'Donnell, Les Reed". BBC.
3. "Nadja Regin: Serbian actor who found fame alongside Sean Connery in From Russia With Love and Goldfinger". The Independent. 22 April 2019.
4. "Bond actress Nadja Regin dies aged 87". 8 April 2019. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
5. Srebrenka Ilić (27 April 2019). "На берлинску премијеру с ношњом у коферу" [To the Berlin premiere with a folk costume in a suitcase]. Politika-Kulturni dodataka, year LXIII, No. 2 (in Serbian). p. 3.
6. Luke G. Williams. "Exclusive interview with Nadja Regin - The biggest strength you can have is love". James Bond 007 Magazine.
7. Ferid Mujezinović (15 September 2006). "Buntovnica s razlogom" [She-rebel with a cause]. Politika (in Serbian).
8. "Preminula lepotica iz Niša: Glumila u drugom nastavku Bonda i prešla po "trnju" do zvezda" [A beauty from Niš passed away: she acted in the second Bond sequel and walked through hardships to the stars] (in Serbian). B92. 8 April 2019.
9. "The Avengers Declassified: Keel and Steed". www.declassified.hiddentigerbooks.co.uk.
10. V.M.P. (8 April 2019). "Odlazak Srpkinje koja je zavela Bonda" [Departure of the Serbian girl who seduced Bond] (in Serbian). Večernje Novosti.
11. The directors of Honeyglen Publishing are Jelena Poderegin-Harley and Nadja Poderegin-Szrajber; Honeyglen Publishing Limited; Companies in the UK
12. "Preminula Nađa Regin, Bondova glumica iz Srbije" [Nađa Regin passed away, Bond's girl from Serbia]. Politika (in Serbian). 8 April 2019.
13. James Bond on Twitter [@007] (8 April 2019). "In memory of Nadja Regin" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

External links

• Nadja Regin at IMDb
• Honeyglen Publishing Limited; Companies in the UK