Lois Chiles

Lois Cleveland Chiles (born April 15, 1947)<ref name=Bio>Profile, entertainment.msn.com; accessed April 9, 2016. Template:Webarchive</ref> is an American actress and former fashion model known for her role as Holly Goodhead in the James Bond film Moonraker (1979), and as a hit-and-run driver in Creepshow 2 (1987). Other screen credits include The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), Death on the Nile (1978), Broadcast News (1987), and the television role of Holly Harwood on Dallas (1982–1983).

Early and personal life

Chiles was born in Houston, the daughter of Marion Clay Chiles and Barbara Wayne Kirkland Chiles. Her paternal uncle was oil tycoon and Texas Rangers owner Eddie Chiles.<ref name="superiorpicsbio">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Profile, Yahoo.com; accessed April 9, 2016. Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>"If you don't have an oil well, get one!", barrypopik.com; accessed April 9, 2016.</ref> She had two brothers: Clay Kirkland Chiles (died 1979),Template:Citation needed and William Edmonds Chiles, president and CEO of Bristow Group, Inc. She was raised in Alice, Texas.

Chiles studied 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.<ref name=Bio/> 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<ref name=MFAH/> and Sandy Meisner, among many others.<ref>Lois Chiles goes from Texas to Hollywood and back again, Houston Chronicle [1]</ref> In her New York years, she befriended among others, Tennessee Williams, as well as Andy Warhol, Maureen Stapleton, and models Patty Hanson and Grace Jones.<ref>Lois Chiles goes from Texas to Hollywood and back again, Houston Chronicle [2]</ref>

Chiles moved from New York to Los Angeles around 1978 when she felt she no longer wanted to pursue modeling and focus on acting only. It was also around this time that she lost her younger brother to cancer. Clay Chiles was 25 when he died in 1978 at M.D. Anderson of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, which affected her deeply.<ref>Lois Chiles goes from Texas to Hollywood and back again, Houston Chronicle [3]</ref>

She dated Don Henley but the relationship ended, and later for a time, dated William S. Paley.<ref>Lois Chiles goes from Texas to Hollywood and back again, Houston Chronicle [4]</ref> In 2005, she married money manager Richard Gilder.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They were both honorary co-chairs of Northfield Mount Hermon, a school in Massachusetts. Gilder donated money to the school and they named the Chiles Theater after her.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gilder died in 2020.<ref name="roberts2020-05-14">Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Chiles enjoyed a successful modeling career in the early 1970s. After her role in the` 1972 blaxploitation film Together for Days opposite Clifton Davis, Chiles appeared in supporting roles in some of the biggest films of the 1970s. She played the college girlfriend of Robert Redford in the successful 1973 studio release The Way We Were. She was then cast as Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby (1974) alongside Mia Farrow and, once again, Redford. She again shared the screen with Farrow in the Agatha Christie adaptation Death on the Nile (1978). She also appeared in a small but key role in the thriller Coma (1978).

In her most famous role as NASA astronaut, scientist, and Bond girl Dr. Holly Goodhead, Chiles appeared opposite Roger Moore in Moonraker (1979). Chiles had initially been approached to star in the previous Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, but she declined the role because she was taking a break from acting at the time.<ref name=Bio/>

She appeared in the music video for the Tony Powers song Odyssey in 1982.

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. The time away took a toll on her film career, and she struggled to find roles of the caliber she previously enjoyed. Still, she appeared as a season-long guest star in the 1982–1983 season of television's Dallas, playing independent oil heiress Holly Harwood who becomes entangled with Bobby and J.R. Ewing. Her film roles were smaller, though film critic Pauline Kael gave her good notices for her performances in Alan Alda's Sweet Liberty (1986) and her portrayal of reporter Jennifer Mack in James L. Brooks' Broadcast News (1987) 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.<ref>Creepshow 2 review Template:Webarchive, barnesandnoble.com; accessed April 9, 2016.</ref> In 1989, she appeared uncredited in a cameo as the estranged mother of Ione Skye's character in Say Anything... (1989).Template:Citation needed

In 1985, she appeared as "Maggie" in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in Los Angeles opposite Terence Knox and directed by Jose Ferrer. She stated that it was a major personal triumph to play the demanding role for her as she was not stage-trained.<ref>Lois Chiles goes from Texas to Hollywood and back again, Houston Chronicle [5]</ref>

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. 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 from the United States release.Template:Citation needed

Other episodic television work included guest appearances in series such as Hart to Hart (as a psychotic split-personality model), In the Heat of the Night, Murder, She Wrote, and The Nanny. Later career high points included the indie films Diary of a Hitman (1991) and Curdled (1996).<ref name=Bio/> 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.Template:Citation needed

In the spring of 2002, she taught a course in film acting at the University of Houston.<ref name=MFAH>Profile, mfah.org; accessed April 9, 2016.</ref> Unlike some "Bond girls", Chiles has said that "being a Bond girl is a fun way to be remembered", although she jokes that being asked to sigh "Oh, James" is annoying because "you can't live up to people's fantasies".<ref>Talking to Bond Girls Template:Webarchive, stumpedmagazine.com; accessed August 3, 2014.</ref> On other occasions, she stated "I'm proud I'm a Bond Girl. It's not bad at all."<ref>Lois Chiles goes from Texas to Hollywood and back again, Houston Chronicle [6]</ref>

Mostly retired from film, she has spent her later years focusing on art and dividing her time between Houston and New York.<ref name=CuratedTexan>[7], CuratedTexan.com; accessed August 25, 2025.</ref> She returned to film for the first time in 14 years in Guns & Moses in 2024.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	Together for Days	Shelley
1973	The Way We Were	Carol Ann
1974	The Great Gatsby	Jordan Baker
1978	Coma	Nancy Greenly
1978	Death on the Nile	Linnet Ridgeway
1979	Moonraker	Dr. Holly Goodhead
1981	Hart to Hart	Mary Scott / Scottie	TV series, Season 2 (1 episode)
1982	Odyssey	Unnamed	Music video for Tony Powers song
1982–1983	Dallas	Holly Harwood	TV series, Season 6 (22 episodes) and Season 7 (2 episodes)
1984	Raw Courage	Ruth
1986	Sweet Liberty	Leslie
1986	Dark Mansions	Jessica Drake	TV movie
1987	Creepshow 2	Annie Lansing (segment "The Hitchhiker")
1987	Tales from the Hollywood Hills: A Table at Ciro's	Lita Nathan	TV movie
1987	Broadcast News	Jennifer Mack
1989	Say Anything...	Diane's Mother (uncredited)
1989	Twister	Virginia
1990	Burning Bridges	Claire Morgan	TV movie
1990	In the Eye of the Snake	Claire Anzer—Marc's Mother
1990	Murder, She Wrote	Millie Bingham Stafford	TV series, Season 7 (1 episode)
1991	Veronica Clare		TV series, Seasons 1 and 2 (1 episode each)
1991	Bis ans Ende der Welt	Elsa Farber
1991	Diary of a Hitman	Sheila
1992	Obsessed	Louise	TV movie
1993	In the Heat of the Night	Muriel Gray	TV series, Season 6 (1 episode)
1993	Civil Wars	Alexandra Phelps	TV series, Season 2 (1 episode)
1993	Crossroads	Renee	TV series, Season 1 (1 episode)
1993	Lush Life	Lucy	TV movie
1994	L.A. Law	Camilla Greer	TV series, Season 8 (1 episode)
1995	The Babysitter	Bernice Holsten
1995	Flipper	Allison Van Rijn	TV series, Season 1 (1 episode)
1996	Curdled	Katrina Brandt
1996	Wish Upon a Star	Principal Mary Mittermiller	TV movie
1997	Bliss	Eva
1997	The Nanny	Elaine	TV series, Season 4 (1 episode)
1997	Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery	Steamrolled Henchman's Wife (uncredited)
1997	Speed 2: Cruise Control	Celeste
1998	Black Cat Run	Ada Bronnel
2000	Eventual Wife	Susan's Mother	short
2002	Any Day Now	Judge	TV series, Season 4 (1 episode)
2002	Warning: Parental Advisory	Susan Baker	TV movie
2005	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Jillian Stokes	TV series, Season 5 (episode: "Grave Danger")
2006	Kettle of Fish	Jean
2024	Guns & Moses

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Lois Chiles at Turner Classic Movies
• Interview with Lois Chiles focusing on her role on "Dallas"