The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
James Bond actress and stage star Honor Blackman, aged 94
James Bond star Honor Blackman has died aged 94.
The actress found international stardom as Pussy Galore, alongside Sean Connery, in 1964 film Goldfinger.
A statement said: “It’s with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Honor Blackman aged 94.
“She died peacefully of natural causes at home in Lewes, Sussex, surrounded by her family.”
“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.”
Blackman was an English rose starlet who transformed virtually overnight into the judo-kicking Cathy Gale in the 1960s TV hit The Avengers – and later became Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.
Blackman, whose working life began as a motorcycle dispatch rider for the Home Office during the Second World War, became one of the most popular and loved actresses on stage and screen.
She was playing demanding roles in the West End into her 80s.
Blackman was born in Plaistow in the east end of London on August 22 1926.
Her father, a strict disciplinarian, taught her how to box, a skill which came in useful when she knocked out two boys who were bullying her brother Ken. She was also a judo brown belt.
She left home aged 17 when her father hit her for using make-up. She hit him back.
Blackman began acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the 1940s. At the age of 20, she married businessman Bill Sankey, whom she later described as being like her father.
Two years later she had an abortion, which was illegal at the time and nearly killed her.
After that she was offered a part in a film to be shot in Spain, and the marriage broke down and ended in divorce.
At 37, she married her second husband, actor Maurice Kaufman, with whom she adopted a boy and a girl, Barnaby and Lottie. The couple later divorced.
In 2015, after a successful career as an actress and writer, Blackman hit out at the media “obsession” with the age of Bond Girls, and took exception to the term, asserting they were “women and actresses”.