Karin Dor, the German actor who played Bond girl Helga Brandt in You Only Live Twice, has died aged 79, writes independent.co.uk.

The news was announced by her son who confirmed Dor had died in a care home on Monday.

Dor became popular in the 1960's for playing heroines in Karl May and Edgar Wallace films but is best remembered for playing an assassin sent to kill James Bond - played by Sean Connery - in 1967 film You Only Live Twice.

Bond fans will recall her character initially kidnapping 007 before being seduced by the British spy - an act that sees Brandt fed to a pool of piranhas by the villainous Blofeld.

Another of her key credits was in Alfred Hitchcock film Topaz, having initially found fame in Germany for acting in dozens of German films throughout the 1950s and 60s.

The actress, as reported by Bild newspaper, failed to fully recover from a heavy fall she suffered last year.

Dor - who scored her first acting gig aged 17 - was married three times, her most recent husband being US stuntman and actor George Robotham who passed away in 2007.