Lois Chiles
Encyclopedia
Lois Cleveland Chiles is an American actress and former fashion model known for her role as Dr. Holly Goodhead
in the 1979 James Bond
film Moonraker
.
, the daughter of Barbara Wayne Kirkland and Marion Clay Chiles, who was the brother of oil tycoon and Texas Rangers
owner Eddie Chiles
. She has a deceased brother, Clay Kirkland Chiles, and a living brother, William Edmonds Chiles, president and CEO of Bristow Group, Inc
. Chiles was raised in Alice
, Texas. She received her education at the University of Texas at Austin
and the former Finch College
in New York City
, where she was discovered by a Glamour
editor looking for a young woman to feature on the cover of the magazine's annual college issue. She landed the job and soon had contracts with Wilhelmina Models
in New York and Elite Models in Paris. Later, she studied acting under Roy London
.
, in which she played opposite Robert Redford
and Barbra Streisand
as the college sweetheart of Redford's character. She was then cast as Jordan Baker in 1974's The Great Gatsby
, alongside Mia Farrow
and, again, Robert Redford. In 1978, she appeared in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie
's Death on the Nile
as the murder victim Linnet Ridgeway Doyle, and in 1979, she appeared in what is perhaps her most famous role, that of NASA
astronaut
, scientist, and Bond girl
, Dr. Holly Goodhead
opposite Roger Moore
's James Bond in Moonraker
. Chiles had initially been approached to star in the previous Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me
, but she declined the role as she was taking a break from acting at the time. She also appeared in a small role in the noted thriller Coma
(1978), one of the many films where she played a murder victim.
Chiles lost her youngest brother to Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1978, which contributed to her decision to take a three-year hiatus from acting just as her career seemed to be blossoming. Her film career never fully recovered, and she struggled to find roles of the caliber she had previously enjoyed, though film critic Pauline Kael
gave her good notices for her performances in Alan Alda
's Sweet Liberty
(1986). Chiles' portrayal of reporter Jennifer Mack in James L. Brooks
' Broadcast News
(1988) was also well received, as was her turn in George A. Romero
's horror flick Creepshow 2
in 1987 as a hit and run
driver, though it is clearly a low budget picture. In 1989, she appeared uncredited in a short but effective cameo as the mother of Ione Skye
's character in Say Anything (1989). She has since appeared as a stuffy high school principal in the 1996 Disney
film Wish Upon a Star
and as a frightened cruise passenger in the critically panned Speed 2: Cruise Control
in 1997, and she made a cameo appearance
in the international release of the 1997 Bond
-spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
, though her scene was cut in the U.S.
release.
Chiles has also done some work in television, playing J.R.'s love interest Holly Harwood in the 1982–1983 season of Dallas
and guest appearances in shows such as Hart to Hart
(as a psychotic split-personality model), In the Heat of the Night
, and Murder, She Wrote
. Later high points included the indie films Diary of a Hit Man (1991) and Curdled
(1996). In 2005, friend Quentin Tarantino
, with whom she had previously worked on the set of Curdled
, recruited her to appear in the two-episode finale of season five of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
, which he wrote and directed.
In the spring of 2002, she taught a course in film acting at the University of Houston
. Unlike some "Bond girl
s", Chiles good naturedly says that "being a Bond-girl is a fun way to be remembered" although she jokes that being asked to sigh "Oh, James" is annoying as "you can’t live up to people’s fantasies". Chiles is still friendly with the Bond producers and often attends premieres of the series' films and other events.
of the Eagles. Her father died in 1997.
In 2001, she began battling breast cancer
. In 2005, she was married for the first time, to Wall Street
financier
and philanthropist
Richard Gilder
.
She resides primarily in New York and Houston
.
Holly Goodhead
Dr. Holly Goodhead is a fictional character from the James Bond franchise, portrayed by Lois Chiles. She does not appear in any of the novels, solely appearing in the film version of Moonraker. However, her character is somewhat similar to Gala Brand, who is the female lead character in the...
in the 1979 James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film Moonraker
Moonraker (film)
Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
.
Early life
Chiles was born in Houston, TexasHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, the daughter of Barbara Wayne Kirkland and Marion Clay Chiles, who was the brother of oil tycoon and Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
owner Eddie Chiles
Eddie Chiles
Harrell Edmonds "Eddie" Chiles was the founder of the Western Company of North America and an owner of the Texas Rangers. He was also the paternal uncle of actress Lois Chiles....
. She has a deceased brother, Clay Kirkland Chiles, and a living brother, William Edmonds Chiles, president and CEO of Bristow Group, Inc
Bristow Helicopters
Bristow Helicopters is a British helicopter airline originally based at Aberdeen Airport, Scotland, part of the Bristow Group based in Houston, Texas, USA....
. Chiles was raised in Alice
Alice, Texas
At the 2000 census, there were 19,010 people, 6,400 households and 4,915 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,597.4 per square mile . There were 6,998 housing units at an average density of 588.0 per square mile...
, Texas. She received her education at the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
and the former Finch College
Finch College
Finch College was a baccalaureate women's college located in Manhattan, New York City, New York. It began as a finishing school for wealthy young women and later evolved into a liberal arts college...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where she was discovered by a Glamour
Glamour (magazine)
Glamour is a women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. Founded in 1939 in the United States, it was originally called Glamour of Hollywood....
editor looking for a young woman to feature on the cover of the magazine's annual college issue. She landed the job and soon had contracts with Wilhelmina Models
Wilhelmina Models
Wilhelmina Models is a modeling agency founded in 1967 by the model Wilhelmina Cooper and her husband Bruce Cooper in Manhattan Starting in 2010, Wilhelmina Models started a sub-brand called "Digital Empire Modeling" for new digital-era modeling talents....
in New York and Elite Models in Paris. Later, she studied acting under Roy London
Roy London
Roy London was an American actor and acting coach and teacher.-Early life:London was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. A math prodigy at age five, London was on the radio show, Quiz Kids, and educated at the experimental elementary school at Hunter College, NYC...
.
Career
In the early 1970s, Chiles enjoyed a successful modeling career. She made her big-screen debut in Together for Days in 1972, followed by 1973's The Way We WereThe Way We Were
The Way We Were is a 1973 American romantic dramatic film co-starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, directed by Sydney Pollack. The screenplay by Arthur Laurents was based on his college days at Cornell University and his experiences with the House Un-American Activities Committee.A box...
, in which she played opposite Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
and Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
as the college sweetheart of Redford's character. She was then cast as Jordan Baker in 1974's The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby (1974 film)
The Great Gatsby is a 1974 romantic drama film distributed by Newdon Productions and Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton and produced by David Merrick, from a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola based on F...
, alongside Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow is an American actress, singer, humanitarian, and fashion model.Farrow first gained wide acclaim for her role as Allison Mackenzie in the soap opera Peyton Place, and for her subsequent short-lived marriage to Frank Sinatra...
and, again, Robert Redford. In 1978, she appeared in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's Death on the Nile
Death on the Nile (1978 film)
Death on the Nile is a 1978 film based on the Agatha Christie mystery novel Death on the Nile, directed by John Guillermin. The film features the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot played by Peter Ustinov plus an all-star cast. It takes place in Egypt, mostly on the Nile River...
as the murder victim Linnet Ridgeway Doyle, and in 1979, she appeared in what is perhaps her most famous role, that of NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
, scientist, and Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
, Dr. Holly Goodhead
Holly Goodhead
Dr. Holly Goodhead is a fictional character from the James Bond franchise, portrayed by Lois Chiles. She does not appear in any of the novels, solely appearing in the film version of Moonraker. However, her character is somewhat similar to Gala Brand, who is the female lead character in the...
opposite Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
's James Bond in Moonraker
Moonraker (film)
Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
. Chiles had initially been approached to star in the previous Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me
The Spy Who Loved Me (film)
The Spy Who Loved Me is a spy film, the tenth film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum...
, but she declined the role as she was taking a break from acting at the time. She also appeared in a small role in the noted thriller Coma
Coma (film)
Coma is a 1978 suspense film based on the novel of the same name by Robin Cook. The film rights were acquired by director Michael Crichton, and the movie was produced by Martin Erlichmann for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
(1978), one of the many films where she played a murder victim.
Chiles lost her youngest brother to Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1978, which contributed to her decision to take a three-year hiatus from acting just as her career seemed to be blossoming. Her film career never fully recovered, and she struggled to find roles of the caliber she had previously enjoyed, though film critic Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
gave her good notices for her performances in Alan Alda
Alan Alda
Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo , better known as Alan Alda, is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and author. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce in the TV series M*A*S*H...
's Sweet Liberty
Sweet Liberty
Sweet Liberty is an American comedy film written and directed by Alan Alda, and starring Alda in the lead role, alongside Michael Caine and Michelle Pfeiffer, with support from Bob Hoskins, Lois Chiles, Lise Hilboldt and Lillian Gish....
(1986). Chiles' portrayal of reporter Jennifer Mack in James L. Brooks
James L. Brooks
James Lawrence Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter. Growing up in North Bergen, New Jersey, Brooks endured a fractured family life and passed the time by reading and writing. After dropping out of New York University, he got a job as an usher at CBS, going on to write for the...
' Broadcast News
Broadcast News (film)
Broadcast News is a 1987 romantic comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by James L. Brooks. The film concerns a virtuoso television news producer , who has daily emotional breakdowns, a brilliant yet prickly reporter and his charismatic but far less seasoned rival...
(1988) was also well received, as was her turn in George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
's horror flick Creepshow 2
Creepshow 2
Creepshow 2 is an American horror comedy anthology film directed by Michael Gornick, who was George A. Romero's cinematographer on the original Creepshow. Released in 1987, the screenplay for Creepshow 2 was penned by Romero , and once again based upon stories by Stephen King...
in 1987 as a hit and run
Hit and run (vehicular)
Hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic accident , and failing to stop and identify oneself afterwards...
driver, though it is clearly a low budget picture. In 1989, she appeared uncredited in a short but effective cameo as the mother of Ione Skye
Ione Skye
Ione Skye Lee is an English-born American actress, who became a teen idol after the 1989 movie Say Anything.... In 2006 VH1 placed her at number 84 in the "100 Greatest Teen Stars" list.-Early life:...
's character in Say Anything (1989). She has since appeared as a stuffy high school principal in the 1996 Disney
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
film Wish Upon a Star
Wish Upon a Star
Wish Upon a Star is a 1996 television film directed by Blair Treu, written by Jessica Barondes, and starring Katherine Heigl and Danielle Harris. It focuses on two teenage sisters that magically swap bodies because of a wish made on a shooting star...
and as a frightened cruise passenger in the critically panned Speed 2: Cruise Control
Speed 2: Cruise Control
Speed 2: Cruise Control is a 1997 action–thriller film, and a sequel to Speed . The film was produced and directed by Jan de Bont, and written by Randall McCormick and Jeff Nathanson, based on a story by de Bont and McCormick. Sandra Bullock stars in the film, reprising her role from Speed,...
in 1997, and she made a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
in the international release of the 1997 Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
-spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a 1997 American science fiction/action-comedy film and the first film of the Austin Powers series. It was directed by Jay Roach and written by Mike Myers who also stars in the title role. Myers also plays Dr. Evil, Austin Powers' arch-enemy...
, though her scene was cut in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
release.
Chiles has also done some work in television, playing J.R.'s love interest Holly Harwood in the 1982–1983 season of Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
and guest appearances in shows such as Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...
(as a psychotic split-personality model), In the Heat of the Night
In the Heat of the Night (TV series)
In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...
, and Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
. Later high points included the indie films Diary of a Hit Man (1991) and Curdled
Curdled (film)
Curdled is 1996 black comedy written and directed by Reb Braddock. The film stars Angela Jones as a Colombian immigrant who takes a crime scene cleanup job, and discovers evidence about a local serial killer dubbed the "Blue Blood Killer" for his targeting of socialites...
(1996). In 2005, friend Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, with whom she had previously worked on the set of Curdled
Curdled (film)
Curdled is 1996 black comedy written and directed by Reb Braddock. The film stars Angela Jones as a Colombian immigrant who takes a crime scene cleanup job, and discovers evidence about a local serial killer dubbed the "Blue Blood Killer" for his targeting of socialites...
, recruited her to appear in the two-episode finale of season five of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, which he wrote and directed.
In the spring of 2002, she taught a course in film acting at the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
. Unlike some "Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
s", Chiles good naturedly says that "being a Bond-girl is a fun way to be remembered" although she jokes that being asked to sigh "Oh, James" is annoying as "you can’t live up to people’s fantasies". Chiles is still friendly with the Bond producers and often attends premieres of the series' films and other events.
Personal life
Shortly after the death of her younger brother Clay, with whom she was especially close, she ended a long-term romance with Don HenleyDon Henley
Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...
of the Eagles. Her father died in 1997.
In 2001, she began battling breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...
. In 2005, she was married for the first time, to Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
financier
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...
and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
Richard Gilder
Richard Gilder
Richard Gilder, co-founder of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, heads the brokerage firm Gilder, Gagnon, Howe & Co. The firm's specialty is trading leveraged stocks and shortselling. After working at the brokerage firm of A.G. Becker & Co., Gilder founded the firm now known as...
.
She resides primarily in New York and Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
.