Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman Biography

Honor Blackman was an English actress best known for her portrayal of Cathy Gale in the British television series The Avengers and as the Bond girl Pussy Galore in the James Bond film Goldfinger.

She was born on August 22, 1925, in Plaistow, East London, England, to a middle-class family. She attended North Ealing Primary School and Ealing County Grammar School for Girls, where she was a member of the school choir and participated in school plays.

For her 15th birthday, Honor Blackman’s parents presented her with acting lessons, which led to her training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1940. While attending the Guildhall School, she worked as a clerical assistant for the Home Office.

Following graduation, Blackman was an understudy in the West End play The Guinea Pig. She later appeared in the 1947 The Blind Goddess at The Apollo Theatre, which marked the beginning of her successful acting career.

That same year, Honor Blackman made her film debut in the nonspeaking role of a nurse in the film Fame Is the Spur. She went on to appear in numerous other films, including Quartet, Diamond City, So Long at the Fair, Green Grow the Rushes, A Night to Remember, The Square Peg, Life at the Top, The Virgin and the Gypsy, and the Western films Shalako and Something Big.

She also played Hera n the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts, but her most famous movie role was as Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, with some of her scenes going down in cinematic history. Many more films followed, most notably in the 2001 Bridget Jones’ Diary. Her last role was in the 2012 film Cockneys vs Zombies.

Honor Blackman was also a skilled television actress, and her biggest role was in The Avengers from 1962 to 1964, where she played the character of Dr. Cathy Gale alongside Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee. She was a confident, quick-witted anthropologist, judo expert and had an obvious taste for leather clothes, which made her unlike any female character seen before on British TV. Ironically, it was her role in The Avengers that led her to the role of Pussy Galore in the Goldfinger cast.

Apart from her acting career, Blackman was a talented singer, and she recorded several singles and an album titled Everything I’ve Got. She was also a judo enthusiast, which helped her prepare for her roles in The Avengers and Goldfinger. Blackman was awarded a CBE in 2002, but she declined as she felt that as a republican it would be hypocritical to accept the award.

Honor Blackman was married twice, first to Bill Sankey from 1948 to 1956, and then to British actor Maurice Kaufmann from 1961 to 1975. The couple appeared together in the film Fright and also did some stage productions together. They adopted two children, Lottie and Barnaby. Blackman died at her home in East Sussex, on April 5, 2020, from natural causes, aged 94.