Beautiful, wide-eyed Czechoslovakian cellist, portrayed by Maryam d’Abo, who falls in love with James Bond (Timothy Dalton) in The Living Daylights. Drawing from Ian Fleming’s original short story, Kara is introduced as a Soviet sniper, supposedly assigned to liquidate defecting Russian general Georgi Koskov (Jeroen Krabbé). In reality, she’s an innocent dupe whom her lover/patron Koskov talks into posing as a sniper to convince British intelligence that his defection is genuine.

Staring at her stunning features through the crosshairs of his own sniper rifle, Bond—on a mission to kill any potential assassin—hesitates and shoots the rifle out of Kara’s hands instead. After Koskov is whisked away to England and safety, only to be quickly recaptured in what the British are supposed to think is a KGB operation, Bond returns to Bratislava to find Kara and question her. Again mesmerized by her beauty during an afternoon concert, 007 follows her and discovers that she’s being shadowed by the KGB (they’re suspicious of her supposed involvement with a defector).

Posing as a friend of the missing Koskov, Bond helps Kara escape into Austria—after a wild ride in his Aston Martin. Vienna is a treat for Kara, who has never been outside her native country but dreams of one day performing at Carnegie Hall. Bond buys her a beautiful evening gown (“Who will pay?” she asks; “Georgi, of course,” he replies) and enjoys touring Vienna with her, including a romantic interlude on a Ferris wheel, where they kiss for the first time. They finally track Koskov to Tangier, where Bond joins forces with the KGB’s General Pushkin (John Rhys-Davies), who is also suspicious of Koskov’s involvement with sinister arms dealer Brad Whitaker (Joe Don Baker).