HONOR BLACKMAN, JAMES BOND'S PUSSY GALORE, DIES AT 94

Honor Blackman, the husky-voiced British actress best known for playing "Pussy Galore" opposite Sean Connery in Goldfinger (1964), has died at her home in Lewes, Sussex, aged 94. Her family said her death was unrelated to coronavirus.

Blackman had an 8-decade long career which began on the West End, before she moved into films, including a brief stint in Hollywood starring opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Taylor in Conspirator (1949). One of her many roles during the 1950s was in one of the first (and best) films on the Titanic disaster A Night to Remember (1958). During the 1960s she starred on television in The Avengers, before her star-making turn in Goldfinger (1964).




In A Night to Remember (1958)


With Sean Connery in Goldfinger (1964)


Cast of The Cat and the Canary (1978): Olivia Hussey, Edward Fox, Wendy Hiller, Daniel Massey, Carol Lynley, Beatrix Lehmann, Michael Callan, Honor Blackman

"I never considered myself a sex symbol," she said in a 2015 interview. "I hate watching myself. I've only seen Goldfinger twice, once at the premiere and once at the 50th anniversary. I've turned down parts in the past because they required a sexy woman and I didn't think that was me. I've always wanted to play the secretary."

The resurgence of her popularity at age 40 after Goldfinger should have led to better roles, but it did not. She mostly made routine melodramas and adventure stories. However she did earn great reviews on the stage, in such productions as "Mr and Mrs", "The Sound of Music", "Move Over Mrs Markham" and "Nunsense".

Blackman was married twice, both ending in divorce: to Bill Sankey from 1948-1956 and to British actor Maurice Kaufmann. The Kaufmanns adopted two children, Lottie and Barnaby, in the late 1960s. After their divorce, she did not remarry and preferred to remain single. She had a summer house in Maine, Iowa, but spent the majority of her time in Lewes, Sussex.

She is survived by her two children, and four grandchildren.


In 2015