Welborn was born in
Kingston, Jamaica on 17 October 1928. Her father, Luke Welborn, was a wealthy plantation owner who died while Tessa was in her infancy. Her mother later married
Noel Nethersole, an Oxford-educated economist and star cricketer who, along with future Prime Minister
Norman Manley, established the
People's National Party. Her step-father served as Jamaica's minister of finance from 1955 to 1959, and founded the
Bank of Jamaica. Several years after his death in 1959, his image appeared on the Jamaican $20 banknote. She was raised in London, England. Although she would spend most of her life in Britain, she regularly visited Jamaica, and at times lived and worked there. With her looks and figure, Welborn gained notice while singing and dancing at London's Pigalle nightclub. She began doing bit parts in British films, mostly in "exotic" roles, such as performing the
Dance of the Seven Veils in the film
Song of Paris. She caught the attention of Warner Brothers, with whom she signed in the early 1950s. She appeared as a Polynesian girl in ''
His Majesty O'Keefe, starring Burt Lancaster, and then in a larger role in Manfish'', an adventure film shot in her native Jamaica. She became best known, however, for her glamor photos in magazines and her "scandalous affairs", such as a widely publicized 1955 incident in Rome, in which King
Farouk of Egypt and an unnamed Italian prince allegedly came nearly to blows in vying for her affection. Although known for her imperious temper and connections with European royalty, these stories were almost certainly exaggerated. In 1953 she had married American cinematographer Scotty Welbourne, with whom she had a child. In the late 1950s she left acting to start a clothing design business with Liz de Lisser in
Montego Bay, Jamaica. Although divorced in 1958, she used the name "Welborn". In 1962, the producers of the
James Bond film
Dr. No (which was to be filmed in Jamaica) asked Welborn to provide wardrobe for actress
Ursula Andress. Working with Andress, she created
the ivory hipster bikini which, daring for its time, started a new trend in women's swimwear, made Andress a major star, and became an enduring movie icon. Said Andress: "This bikini made me into a success. As a result of starring in Dr. No as the first Bond girl, I was given the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially independent." ==Filmography==