‘Bond Girl’ to build homes in Pangasinan

MANILA, Philippines - Hollywood actress Rachel Grant, known for her role as the Bond Girl in the film “Die Another Day,” will be in Alaminos City, Pangasinan today to lead the “Building the Path of Hope” program at the Hundred Islands Gawad Kalinga Eco-Village. The bricks to be used are made of plastic waste.

Mayor Hernani Braganza said the involvement of a popular actress, model, writer, martial artist, humanitarian in the project is a source of inspiration and a big boost.

The Philippines-born Grant, with an English father and Filipina mother, will also visit the Mangrove Forest Park in Barangay Bued in Alaminos to plant mangroves. She will proceed to the Giant Clam Garden for coral replanting.

In her homepage, Grant is described as a “supporter of the United Nations recognized slum re-building scheme Gawad Kalinga” and has helped rebuild slum houses, pave streets and paint homes. She launched Breast Cancer Awareness Month twice in the UK – once absailing down London’s tallest rugby stadium.

Trivia in Grant’s homepage reveals that her grandfather, Raymond, Baron de Longueuil, was cousin to the current Queen Elizabeth of England. Her paternal great-grandmother, Ernestine Maud Bowes-Lyon, was first cousin to the late Queen Mother. That makes her third cousin to Princes William and Harry.

Grant was crowned Miss Hawaiian Tropic, Great Britain 1998 and she is reported to have an IQ of 140.

Grant played the role of a Chinese intelligence agent acting as a masseuse sent to gain information from Bond, played by Pierce Brosnan, in “Die Another Day.”

She was also part of the movie “Until Death” with Jean Claude Van Damme, an assassin in “The Tournament” with Robert Carlyle and body double to Angelina Jolie in “Tomb Raider.”