She exuded a mix of raw beauty, power and independence that has been replicated - with varying degrees of success - in every James Bond film since.

But it’s another Bond woman - the first Bond woman - who set the tone for the films that followed.

Use our interactive to find out more about all the women in the James Bond films

In the opening scenes of Dr No, an elegant brunette in a red off-the-shoulder gown is playing bacarrat at a casino. An unseen man deals cards. She plays - and loses - each hand to him until she insists on raising the stakes.

The man - still unseen - says to her : “I admire your courage, Miss, er ...?”

“Trench, Sylvia Trench. I admire your luck, Mr ...”

The camera then cuts to Sean Connery’s face, lighting a cigarette. “Bond, James Bond.”

Thus, one of the most famous lines in cinema was born.

But it wasn’t easy. Eunice Gayson, who played Sylvia Trench in Dr No and returned for From Russia With Love, revealed in 2012 how she helped Connery deliver the iconic line.

“I’d known Sean for years and I’d never seen him so nervous as he was on that day because of all these delays,” she said.

“He had to say Bond, James Bond, but he came out with other permutations like Sean Bond, James Connery. ‘Cut! Cut! Cut!’

“(Director) Terence Young told me to take him away for a drink - even though he was meant to be on the wagon - so I took him off for a drink or two and he came back on set and said, ‘Bond, James Bond’. It was so wonderful. The day took off from that moment - he was so relaxed.”

Bond, of course, has always been relaxed around women. Even if those women have been intimidating. It’s one of the paradoxes of the 007 franchise: the women are spectacular to look at and larger than life - but the producers have been pilloried for sexualising them.

Ursula Andress’s character Honey Ryder is first seen emerging from the water. In Ian Fleming’s novel, she was naked. That would never do in the cinema, so she was decked out in a revealing white bikini.

The film was a success, swimsuit sales soared, and Andress became an overnight pin-up.

Then there is Pussy Galore (played by Honor Blackman) in Goldfinger. After you stop the schoolboy sniggering at her risque name, you’re left with a woman who runs a fleet of scary female pilots. She was once described as “one of the most commanding, authoritative women in popular culture for the time”.

Strong characters have been a staple, as have the cringe-worthy names (Plenty O’Toole, Holly Goodhead, Xenia Onatopp, Chew Mee et al) and the scripts littered with puns (especially in the Roger Moore era).

Among the best, this from Diamonds Are Forever when Bond (Connery) meets Plenty O’Toole (Lana Wood):

Plenty: Hi, I’m Plenty.

Bond: But of course you are.

Plenty: Plenty O’Toole.

Bond: Named after your father, perhaps?

Or, from Goldeneye, when Bond (Pierce Brosnan) has a romp with assassin Xenia Onatopp (Famke Jannsen):

Xenia Onatopp: You don’t need the gun

Bond: That depends on your definition of safe sex.

And in Goldfinger, Bond wakes up on a plane to find a woman standing over him, who introduces herself:

Pussy: My name is Pussy Galore.

Bond: I must be dreaming.

Girls on film: The women who made James Bond

But some of the most memorable banter was when Bond would encounter the indefatigable Miss Moneypenny back at MI6 headquarters.

Technically, Moneypenny’s not a “Bond girl” because she had a strictly professional relationship with 007, but the underlying sexual tension between them and resulting banter has become a key ingredient to the films.

In You Only Live Twice, Moneypenny is passing on a code phrase to 007:

MoneyPenny: We tried to think of something that you wouldn’t forget.

James Bond: Yes?

MoneyPenny: “I, love, you”. Repeat it please, to make sure you get it

James Bond: Don’t worry, I get it.

In later films, their exchanges became far more risque.

In Die Another Day, Bond is in bed with his Swedish language tutor when Moneypenny calls.

Bond: I always enjoyed learning a new tongue.

Moneypenny: You always were a cunning linguist, James.

Lois Maxwell, who died in 2007 after spending her final years living in Perth, played Moneypenny in the first 14 Bond films and made the role her own. Despite limited screentime, she is one of the most enduring characters.

Maxwell’s Moneypenny was summed up by London’s Daily Telegraph: “The other women in Bond films are two-dimensional, who only ever want to go to bed with him or stab him, but there is one who loves him, though she knows nothing will ever come of this.

“That is the way Lois Maxwell played Moneypenny, making her the one grown-up among sexpots and psychopaths.”

It’s not just on the big screen that Bond has encountered or relied on some strong female characters.

The spy’s creator, Ian Fleming, had his own real-life Miss Moneypenny to help him pen the adventures of 007.

A batch of letters written by the author reveal how he relied on the valuable input of his secretary, Jean Frampton.

Excerpts of some of the letters, in which Fleming often asks for Mrs Frampton’s advice on his Bond manuscripts, have been released in Britain ahead of their auction next month.

In their letters the pair discuss various Bond books including Thunderball, The Man with the Golden Gun, You Only Live Twice and A View to a Kill.

In one letter dated March 31, 1960, Fleming said: “I have written a full-length James Bond story, provisionally called Thunderball.

“I am afraid this is not a good transcript and I would be deeply obliged if you would apply your usual keen mind to any points - absolutely any - that might help the book get into shape.

“I only ask you to undertake it because your occasional comments on the work you have done for me have been so helpful.’’

Mrs Frampton appeared to enjoy her role revising Fleming’s work.

In one of her letters to the author she wrote: “I still regret the end of Thunderball, as my naive and literal mind would like to know what exactly happened to the Disco and the rest of her crew and the bombs, how Domino escaped, and, of course, what about Blofeld (or does he live to fight another day?)”