Barbara (The Silencers)

Barbara is a villainess who was featured in the first Matt Helm spy spoof movie The Silencers (USA 1966). She was played by actress Nancy Kovack (b 1935).

Appearance and character -

A tall, beautiful, blonde, white woman in her early thirties, Barbara wears only a man's white shirt and white stiletto shoes.

The only background information we have on Barbara (no last name is used or credited) is she works for the criminal syndicate BIG O and she has killed Tina's partner in a similar fashion prior to her attempt on Helm's life.

She is obviously a cold-blooded killer, a vamp, able to act a part plausibly well, using her seductive charms to put even very experienced agents such as Helm off their guard in order to kill them.

Weapons -

A slim, stiletto style knife. After Barbara's death, Tina takes a small revolver out of the female assassin's handbag.

Her main weapon is her seductive beauty and seeming vulnerability as she has taken off most of her clothes before meeting her intended victim.

The story -

ICE (Intelligence and Counter-Espionage) secret agent Matt Helm (Dean Martin) must thwart the plans of the evil organization BIG O, which plans to explode an atomic bomb and start World War 3.

Barbara's role in the plot -

Barbara seduces and then kills ICE operatives who are interfering with BIG O's nefarious schemes. Helm is her latest target.

She had previously killed Tina's partner Jim Treynor just before the opening of the movie. It's Tina's legs we see in the phone booth when she calls in that her partner has been killed.

Silencers2-Matt finds Barbaras Bra — Matt makes a big discovery about the mystery woman lurking in his bathroom.

Matt returns to his home finding a trail of women's clothing leading to the bathroom. Matt has been having regular morning sex with his personal assistant Miss Lovey Kravezi and at first, believes that clothes belong to Lovey, but then picking up size 36D black bra he realizes the mystery woman is too well endowed to be his adherent.

Opening his bathroom door Matt finds Barbara wearing one of his dress shirts with nothing else underneath.

Barbara's legs with white shoes (Nancy Kovack) — The deadly Barbara appears unarmed at first sight.

Barbara pretends to be an ICE operative who has been sent to persuade Helm to undertake a new mission he wants to avoid. Matt has retired from ICE and now works as a freelance photographer for a men's magazine (similar to Playboy).

Matt is a ladies man and doesn't want to give up his swinging lifestyle where he beds most of the woman he photographs. He rejects Barbara's advances realizing that she is trying to trick him back into working for ICE. Matt hands back Barbara her bra and panties and goes back to his bar and pours himself a drink.

Matt: Hand in your uniform honey, you're off the team.

Barbara goes for her knife first time (Nancy Kovack with Dean Martin) — Barbara reaches for her dagger.

Barbara follows Matt, telling him that they can work well together. Matt turns her back on her she begins to gently stroke his back and then her elegant soft hands begin to work their way around to his front as she rubs her ample chest in his back. Matt attempts to resists her charms as her hands dip down out of the camera frame.

He continues to ignore her. And it's at this point she first tries to pull her knife on Matt when his back is turned and she's behind him. But the ICE agent turns around to face her at that moment, so Barbara is forced to abandon her initial attempt.

Barbara's light womanly touch starts to change Matt's mind. — The evil Barbara's light womanly touch begins to change Matt's mind about "working together."

Barbara's stroking is starting to change Matt's mind and he turns to kiss Barbara and hold her in his arms. As Barbara has Helm in her clutches and they kiss more passionately. Matt is really getting into her. Maybe they can work well together like she said. As they kiss he plays with the idea of taking her on his next photo shoot in Mexico.

Matt: Have you been vaccinated?

Barbara: Why?

(Matt had earlier promised to take Lovey to Mexico, but now seems to playing with the idea of taking Barbara.)

As they begin to kiss again their hips pressing into each other Barbara makes her second try, retrieving the deadly knife hidden in her hair; she is about to plunge it into Matt Helm when suddenly the voluptuous blonde femme fatale is shot twice in the back as there is the clipped barking sound of two suppressed shots.

Daliah Lavi Silencers — Barbara is taken out for messing with Tina's man.

The shots were fired by Tina (Daliah Lavi), an ICE agent, who seems to have been standing on Matt's balcony watching the whole moot seduction take place. Tina is holding a small automatic pistol with a silencer attached. She is dressed in light blue and has a large broadbrimmed hat.

Tina has a thing for Matt and they were once lovers a few years before.

Tina: Sorry about the interruption, but she likes to scratch.

Matt gently lays the body of his almost lover on the floor. Picking up her knife he examines it. Tina tells Matt to check Barbara's purse. A quick search reveals a revolver loaded with bullets marked with the red and white Big O logo. (Note to evil villains: Don't give your assassins bullets with your logo on them.)

Later it turns out that Tina is a traitor who is also working for the terrorist orgainization Big O. Tina didn't arrive to save Matt as it first appears but must have been part of the hit squad sent to kill him. Tina fired two bullets into one of Big O's top female assassin's back, killing her.

Tina having dispatched Barbara, who was kissing the man she loved, says to Matt coyly.

Tina: Aren't you going to thank me.

Matt gives her a quick kiss on the lips and she sighs deeply.

Tina then shows Matt that Barbara also has a partner who is waiting for her in Helm's garage and there are also four other men in a black sedan parked across the street. They must know that Helm is an extremely dangerous agent who can and does take on an army by himself. However, he is known to have a weakness for the women and so Big O has sent Barbara and her team in to distract and terminate Helm once and for all.

Evil Barbara's corpse on the floor as Tina and Helm chat (Nancy Kovack with Daliah Lavi and Dean Martin) (Large) — Tina and Matt contemplate his late Blonde Femme Fatale.

Tina, as it turns out learned of the plan to kill her once and future lover and decided to step in and save Helm from the Blonde Femme Fatale with the sharp knife.

The beautiful Barbara whom Matt was about to make love to now lays on the floor. Tina realizes that they need to get rid of the body so Matt's cleaning woman (e.g. his P.A. Lovey) won't be upset by it. Apparently, Apparently, Tina knows about Matt's domestic affairs. Matt and Tina put Barbara's body in Matt's bed where it won't arouse suspicion.

Tina and Matt prepare to leave, exiting to the garage where they encounter Barbara's backup man is very upset having seen that his beautiful accomplice has been gunned down.

Thug: It's a pity you had to kill her, she was really valuable to us!

Matt kills the Thug with a trick knife shooting camera. Tina and Matt get into his car and he backs out of his garage and kills a third assassin with a shotgun.

Tina has cost Big O three agents. But at least she stopped Barbara from sleeping with and or slaying the man she loves.

Viewpoint - Barbara only appears in one sequence of the movie, near the beginning. Her early disappearance deprives the rest of the film of a notable villainess. However, the single scene featuring Kovack's seductively evil Barbara, with her classic, fitting (and fairly graphic) demise, is a favorite among many villainess fans.

Trivia[]

Nancy Kovack appeared as Monique in the 1964 episode ‘Hail To The Chief’ for the tv series ‘Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea’.
Nancy Kovack appeared as the evil nurse Miss Flostone in the 1965 episode "The Brain-Killer Affair" for the TV series "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."
Nancy Kovack appears as Rita Mitchell, a rich snobby actress in the 1965 episode "The Moving Finger" for the TV series "I Dream of Jeannie".
Nancy Kovack appears (with brunette hair) as Sheila Sommers, the ex-girlfriend of Darrin Stephens (Dick York) in two episodes of the TV series "Bewitched" from 1964-1968. As a blonde, she played other villainesses (perhaps being a perfect cast for the trope of the “evil blonde” https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Blondes_Are_Evil),
Nancy Kovack appeared as Queenie, the Joker's henchwoman in the 1966 episodes "The Joker is Wild" and "Batman is Riled" for the TV series "Batman".
Nancy Kovack appeared as Bronwyn in the 1967 episode "Apollo" for the TV series "I Spy".
Nancy Kovack appeared as Clio Vanita in the 1969 two-part episode "Cousin Serena Strikes Again" for the TV series "Bewitched".
Nancy Kovack appeared as Nona in the 1969 episode ‘A Private Little War’ for the tv series ‘Star Trek’.
Nancy Kovack appeared as Sonja, the KAOS agent in the 1969 episode "The Night They Raided Knights" in the TV series Get Smart.
Barbara Herarra is a character in the first Matt Helm book -"Death of a Citizen" published in 1960 by Donald Hamilton In the book Barbara meets Matt at a party, he's a retired spy-assassin who served in WWII, he is now working as a photographer. Barbara wants his help getting published. A few days later he finds Barbara's lifeless body in his bathroom. She has been shot in the back of the head. Barbara Hararra is the citizen whose death triggers Matt's re-entry into the spy business. Matt has to find out who killed her and why. The spy business is a game he left at the end of World War II 14 years before.
In the books, Matt Helm is of Swedish descent. The series creator Donald Hamilton (1916 – 2006) was born in Sweden but after Dean Martin won the part Matt Helm is now considered an Italian icon.
Corinne Cole - the Voluptuous Blonde Femme Fatale 2.0 beds Matt at last.

Nancy Kovack was supposed to appear at the beginning of the next movie Murderer's Row as Miss January, another female assassin trying to seduce, sleep with and kill Matt Helm. However, Nancy Kovack was unavailable (as she was getting married at the time of shooting) so the part of Miss January was played by Playboy model Corinne Cole. (Cole was the Playboy Playmate of the Month in May 1958).
Reoccurring character - It would be strange to have Nancy Kovack as a re-occurring Voluptuous Blonde Femme Fatale character who appears at the beginning of each movie attempts to sleep with Matt Helm and then attempts to kill him and then somewhere in the process of lovemaking is then herself killed. It's not clear if the filmmakers, had they cast Nancy Kovack again, intended the Voluptuous Blonde Femme Fatale to be Barbara's sister or just a random "other woman" who looked like Barbara.

Barbara (The Silencers)

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