Tessa Welborn, 'Dr No' costume designer
a.w.dace
Tessa Welborn
TESSA WELBORN, who has died aged 72, was the designer responsible for the
bikini worn by Ursula Andress in the film Dr No; she was also an actress
and, in her later years, the owner of a private drinking club in the West
End of London.
Tessa Prendergast, as she then was, set up her clothes design business with
a partner in the late 1950s in her native Jamaica. Her most important
commission came when the makers of Dr No invited her to design costumes for
the Bond film, including what was to become the world's most celebrated
bikini.
Miss Andress wore the ivory-coloured bathing costume, adorned with an army
belt and commando knife, as she emerged from the sea on to a tropical beach.
The outfit was sold earlier this year at Christie's to Robert Earl, owner of
the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain, for £41,125.
Tessa Welborn was born Marie Therese Prendergast into a prosperous family in
Jamaica on October 17 1928, although only half a dozen people were ever
allowed to know her age. Her father, Louis Prendergast, was a plantation
owner who died when she was in her infancy; her mother later married Noel
Nethersole, who established the People's National Party with Norman Manley
and became minister of finance.
After school in Kingston, Tessa Prendergast studied at New Rochelle
University, New York, and at the Sorbonne in Paris. She lived for a time in
Italy, and was briefly engaged to Prince Vittorio Massimo.
In the 1950s, Tessa Prendergast became an actress, landing the role of the
Tahitian love interest opposite Burt Lancaster in His Majesty O'Keefe
(1953). The deep sea cameraman was Scottie Welborn, whom she married.
But her acting career did not prosper, and she turned to designing clothes
with a partner, Liz de Lisser. She later moved to London, and in the
mid-1970s took over the Little House Club, in Shepherd Market, Mayfair. The
house, built by Lord Shepherd in 1742, had been a private members' drinking
club since 1928.
Tessa Welborn remained owner - and secretary - of the club until her death,
living above a small bar which attracted members such as John Hurt, Sir
Clive Sinclair, and Viscount Gormanston. She was to be found almost every
night perched at the end of the bar, radiating glamour and absorbing - but
never repeating - the gossip imparted to her by her habitues.
She drank only pink Champagne, except at breakfast, when she favoured a
Bellini; any complaint that it was too early for alcohol was met with the
reply: "Darling, it's cocktail hour somewhere in the world - I can't let
them drink alone."
In 1988 Tessa Welborn helped to establish the Shepherd Market Association,
which has so far raised £146,000 for charity. She had recently been involved
in organising a performance of La Boheme to benefit Arthritis Care and the
Mayur Earthquake Appeal.
Tessa Welborn's marriage to Scottie Welborn was dissolved in 1958; they had
a daughter, who survives her. She married, secondly, William Davies, a
businessman, who predeceased her.
KLAUSINK
bikini herself. At least that's the anecdote found in a number of Bond
reference books.
The Poor Man's James Bond
[NO ... not Kurt Saxon; Alan Stephenson]
"Miss Case is very attractive ... for a woman."