Tributes to actress with ‘beauty, brains... and physical prowess’
Death of James Bond star Honor Blackman at age of 94
SHE ROSE to fame as the ‘glamour-girl’ who packed a punch, declaring herself resistant to James Bond’s charms before judo-flipping him to the floor in a move which made cinematic history.
Now Honor Blackman, who has died at the age of 94, will be remembered for her “beauty, brains and physical prowess”.
The star, best known for her roles in Bond film Goldfinger and TV series The Avengers, was 38 when she found international fame in the role of Pussy Galore.
Starring opposite Sean Connery as the spy with a licence to kill, the moment she throws him to the ground is remembered as one of the most famous in the history of the franchise.
Her family, issuing a statement late yesterday, said she died peacefully of natural causes at home in Lewes, Sussex, surrounded by her family.
“She was much loved and will be greatly missed by her two adopted children Barnaby and Lottie, and her four grandchildren Daisy, Oscar, Olive and Toby,” they said.
“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.”
The English rose starlet’s working life had begun as a motorcycle dispatch rider for the Home Office during the Second World War, but she would go on to become one of the most popular and loved actresses on stage and screen.
Born in Plaistow in the East End of London on August 22 1926, her father, a strict disciplinarian, had taught Honor how to box, and she was also a judo brown belt.
She left home at the age of 17 when her father hit her for using make-up.
She is said to have hit him back.
She began acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
in the 1940s, with her first role at the Criterion Theatre being
as an understudy in The Guinea
Pig.
The actress achieved international stardom in 1964 as Pussy Galore.
Ms Blackman was also well known for playing judo-kicking Cathy Gale in the 1960s TV hit The
Avengers.
More recently she played Penny Husbands-Bosworth in a cameo-role of the big-screen adaptation of Bridget Jones’s Diary and looked back over her life and career in her touring show Honor
Blackman As Herself, which saw her in conversation with her colleague and friend Richard Digby Day.
She was playing demanding roles in the West End into her 80s and in later life, at the age of 90 in 2015, she hit out at the “ridiculous obsession” with the age of women appearing in Bond films.
She also called for an end to stars being referred to as Bond girls because they are “women and actresses”.
Her family have said the actress was “an avid reader of news and politics”, adding that she “particularly loved all forms of insightful unbiased reporting and intellectually enlightened broadcasting”.