I was aged two when Honor Blackman appeared as ‘Pussy Galore’ in ‘Goldfinger’, the third James Bond film in the record breaking series, so would have missed the furore caused by her name, look, and athletic prowess at the time. Upon catching up on the entire ‘Bond’s’ later, that one certainly remained in the mind long after the film had finished. Talk about making an impression.
She was born in August 1925 in Plaistow East London to Edith and Fred, the third of their four children. When aged 15, Fred offered her a choice between a bicycle or elocution lessons, fearing that her East End accent might hold her back down the line, as he feared it had done to him in his civil service career. She said later she would have preferred the bicycle at the time, but as we know now she obviously chose the lessons and a good career move it was to.
A bright child she attended Ealing Grammar for Girls and then began studying acting part time at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1940. Her first acting lessons also being presents from her parents.
She worked in a clerical department of the Home Office during the Second World War whilst finishing her studies.
Perhaps a little bored with paperwork, she answered a call for volunteers to become dispatch riders. She was a natural, and soon became known as ‘Ton Up Tessie’ ending up in Grimsby, working at the naval base ferrying around top-secret documents.
Upon graduation from The Guildhall at the end of the War, she finally began her West End theatre career. An understudy at first, she soon began to pick up small parts from the age of 22. Appearances in countless UK films began, such as ‘So Long at the Fair’ with Dirk Bogarde and later in the 1950s, the farce ‘The Square Peg’ which was set in World War Two, when she appeared as the love interest of Norman Wisdom.
‘I signed up for a two-year contract with J. Arthur Rank studios. Although the films weren’t always great, I was constantly in front of the camera and this was a very good training ground.’
Her profile climbed massively in 1962 when she appeared as Dr. Cathy Gale alongside Patrick Macnee as John Steed in the second series of the hit TV show ‘The Avengers.’
Her prowess at judo – Blackman was sent to practise the martial art at a local Budokwai – and her distinctive leather clothes, are still fondly recalled, as she became a household name as a result. The show was so popular, there was even a spin off pop single later. ‘Kinky Boots’ was released in February 1964 with Honor and Macnee ‘voicing’ the lyrics to a tune commissioned by satirist Ned Sherrin for his TV show ‘That Was the Week That Was’. Though not a hit originally, it resurfaced as a top ten record in 1990, after becoming a favourite of Radio 1 breakfast show host Simon Mayo.
Honor popped up as goddess ‘Hera’ in the stop/motion animation film ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ in 1963 and then came probably her most famous role, namely the aforementioned Pussy Galore in ‘Goldfinger’ alongside Sean Connery as Bond, James Bond…
‘I must be dreaming…’
At 38, she was among the older actresses to play a Bond girl, Indeed she was 5 years older than Connery. Producer Albert R. Broccoli selected her for the role knowing how popular she was in The Avengers and he just knew American audiences would fall for her too. And he was right…
‘I rather grandly couldn’t think of anyone else who could play that role at the time. I was pretty hot property then and could do judo. Tossing Sean Connery about in the barn in the famous fight scene was easy-peasy. It seemed a logical sidestep and a very nice one at that.’
Next up a role in ‘Life at the Top’ a 1965 sequel to the popular ‘Room at the Top’ starring with Laurence Harvey, and then she appeared in a Western called ‘Shalako’ opposite her old mate Connery and Brigitte Bardot in 1968.
She then returned to the stage and toured the world doing so. Productions included ‘The Sound of Music’ ‘My Fair Lady’ and ‘Cabaret’ and she was a familiar face on TV in roles in ‘Doctor Who’ ‘The Upper Hand’ ‘Midsomer Murders’ ‘Coronation Street’ ‘Never the Twain’ and ‘Casualty’
Later film roles included ‘Bridget Jones’s Diary’ in 2001 and her last film ‘Cockneys versus Zombies’ in 2012, which neatly took her back to the East End roots.
She was married twice. First to Bill Sankey and then to actor Maurice Kaufman with whom she adopted two children, Lottie and Barnaby.
She turned down a CBE in 2002 saying that as a republican it wouldn’t be right to accept it.
Honor Blackman died aged 94 this year at her home in East Sussex.
I’ll leave the last word to Ms Blackman herself.
‘Most of the Bond girls have been bimbos. I have never been a bimbo.’
Who are we to argue?
The Mumper of SE5
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