Honor Blackman, the English beauty who achieved icon status as James Bond's Pussy Galore, died of natural causes April 5 at her home. She was 94.
Her family said in a statement:
“It’s with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Honor Blackman, aged 94. She died peacefully of natural causes at her home in Lewes, Sussex, surrounded by her family. She was much loved and will be greatly missed by her two children Barnaby and Lottie, and grandchildren Daisy, Oscar, Olive and Toby.
“As well as being a much-adored mother and grandmother, Honor was an actor of hugely prolific creative talent; with an extraordinary combination of beauty, brains and physical prowess, along with her unique voice and a dedicated work ethic, she achieved an unparalleled iconic status in the world of film and entertainment and with absolute commitment to her craft and total professionalism in all her endeavours she contributed to some of the great films and theatre productions of our times.”
Born on August 22, 1925, in Plaistow, Essex, England, her interest in acting arrived in the form of a 15th birthday gift of lessons. She made her West End debut in The Blind Goddess (1947), a year after understudying in The Guinea Pig.
The same year she began her stage career, she appeared in a nonspeaking film role in Fame Is the Spur (1947).
A smash as Cathy Gale on the TV series The Avengers (1962-1964), she acted in the Titanic drama A Night to Remember (1958), the comedy The Square Peg (1958) and the western Shalako (1968), to name a few, but made her first noteworthy big-screen impression as Hera in Jason and the Argonauts (1963), a classic action film graced with the animation effects of Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013).
She landed the role that would define her thanks in no small part to her success on The Avengers — Bond Girl Pussy Galore in 1964's Goldfinger, one of the most popular films of the entire franchise. It helped that Blackman — at 38, one of the oldest Bond babes — was proficient in judo, but her acting was what clinched the deal.
Anything but a one-trick pony, she had singing chops, too, releasing the duet "Kinky Boots" (with Patrick Macnee, 1922-2015) in 1964 — it went Top 10 in 1990.
Blackman became an institution over the years, appearing in many stage productions (and, in recent times, in her one-woman Word of Honor and Honor Blackman As Herself shows). She enjoyed a long run on TV with The Upper Hand (1990-1996), and made many memorable film appearances, not least of which in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001).
Married and divorced twice, she is survived by her children Lottie and Barnaby.
