Barbara Ann Goldbach, an American actress and model, was born on August 27, 1947, in Queens, New York, to Howard and Marjorie Goldbach. Her father was a policeman, and Barbara is the oldest of five children.
She met her first husband, Augusto Gregorini, in New York in 1966, while working as a model, and he was visiting from Italy for a business trip. Barbara followed him to Italy, and they married in 1968. They had two children, Francesca (born 1969) and Gian Andrea (born 1972),with Gian Andrea being born with cerebral palsy, although an operation improved his condition.
During her time in Italy, Barbara began her acting career, starting with the TV mini-series Odissea in 1968, and later appeared in several films, including Black Belly of the Tarantula and Short Night of the Glass Dolls, as well as the crime-thrillers Stateline Motel and Street Law.
In 1975, Barbara and Augusto separated, and she moved to Los Angeles, California to further her career. They divorced in 1978, and shared custody of their two children. Barbara received her most famous role as Russian secret agent Major Anya Amasova / Agent XXX in The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977.
She continued to work in Italian cinema, earning her the "Queen of the B Movies" label, and appeared in several films, including The Great Alligator and Screamers. Barbara was also in consideration for the Tiffany Welles role in Charlie's Angels but lost out to Shelley Hack due to being deemed too attractive for the role.
She then appeared in the comedy Up the Academy, produced by her then-boyfriend Danton Rissner, and played a menaced TV reporter in the sleazy horror film The Unseen. Barbara met Ringo Starr on the set of Caveman in 1980, and they became a couple during the filming. They married on April 27, 1981, and spent the 1980s partying, eventually entering a rehab clinic in Tucson, Arizona to straighten their lives out in 1988.
By then, Barbara's show business career was over, and she went on to receive her Master's degree in psychology from UCLA, focusing on charity work.
