Honor Blackman a life in pictures | Film Publish date: 2024-04-18
Honor Blackman – a life in pictures The actor who famously played Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, as well Cathy Gale in The Avengers, has died at the age of 94 . Here’s a look back at her career
Greg Whitmore
Main image: Honor Blackman in the 1964 film Goldfinger. Photograph: Everett/Rex/ShutterstockMon 6 Apr 2020 16.30 BST Last modified on Mon 6 Apr 2020 17.44 BST
Honor Blackman was born on 22 August 1925 in Plaistow, London. For her 15th birthday her parents gave her acting lessons. Here she is on the set of the 1964 film GoldfingerPhotograph: George Konig/Rex/Shutterstock
Share on Facebook Her first film role, Fame Is the Spur in 1947, was uncredited and nonspeaking, but she did make the cover of Picture Post, which ran a feature on the film-making twins Roy and John BoultingPhotograph: Bert Hardy/Getty Images
Share on Facebook Her first major role was alongside Dirk Bogarde in Quartet in 1948Photograph: Gainsborough Pictures/Allstar
Share on Facebook Twenty-three-year-old Blackman on her Norton Big 4 motorcycle in London’s Hyde Park, as part of the publicity for 1949’s A Boy, a Girl and a BikePhotograph: PA Archive
Share on Facebook In the 1949 film Conspirator alongside Elizabeth TaylorPhotograph: MGM/Allstar
Share on Facebook Blackman starred with Kenneth More in 1958’s A Night to Remember, based on the last night on the TitanicPhotograph: Everett/Rex Shutterstock
Share on Facebook Blackman on the Goldfinger film setPhotograph: Moviestore/Rex/Shutterstock
Share on Facebook Blackman’s career changed track when she was cast as Cathy Gale alongside Patrick Macnee as John Steed in the 1962 film The AvengersPhotograph: ABC/Allstar
Share on Facebook Blackman made use of her judo and martial arts skills on the show. Here she is being a total badass on set – she even published Honor Blackman’s Book of Self-Defence in 1965Photograph: Terry O'Neill/Rex Shutterstock
Share on Facebook A publicity shot for The AvengersPhotograph: Ronald Grant Archive
Share on Facebook In 1964, Macnee and Blackman recorded the song Kinky Boots at the behest of Ned Sherrin. It didn’t do well at the time, but it was rereleased in 1990 and got to No 5 on the chartsPhotograph: PA
Share on Facebook On the strength of her showing in The Avengers, Albert Broccoli cast Blackman as Pussy Galore in 1964’s GoldfingerPhotograph: United Artists/Allstar
Share on Facebook A publicity shot for GoldfingerPhotograph: Everett/Rex Shutterstock
Share on Facebook Sean Connery and Blackman in GoldfingerPhotograph: George Konig/Rex Shutterstock
Share on Facebook Keith Richards, Mick Jagger and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones with Blackman at a reception for the Supremes in London in 1965Photograph: Alamy
Share on Facebook Blackman was politically active from an early age. Here she is campaigning on behalf of Tom Houston, the Liberal Party candidate for the City of Westminster in 1966Photograph: David Newell Smith/the Observer
Share on Facebook Blackman co-starred with Sean Connery again in the 1968 western Shalako, along with Brigitte BardotPhotograph: StudioCanal/REX Shutterstock
Share on Facebook Blackman, Kaufmann and their children, Lotty and Barnaby, head for a holiday in Australia in 1971Photograph: PA Archive
Share on Facebook At a party in 1974 with her Avengers successor, Diana RiggPhotograph: Robert Taylor/Red Shutterstock
Share on Facebook Blackman starred with Nastassja Kinski and Christopher Lee in the 1976 horror film To the Devil a DaughterPhotograph: Ronald Grant Archive
Share on Facebook In 2000, Blackman received a special Bafta award along with Joanna Lumley, Rigg and Linda Thorson for their work on The AvengersPhotograph: Richard Young/Rex Shutterstock
Share on Facebook A 2001 portraitPhotograph: Sheila Rock/Rex Shutterstock
Share on Facebook Blackman as Rula Romanoff with Rita and Norris in Coronation Street in 2004. She has also appeared in the TV shows Casualty, Doctor Who and Midsomer MurdersPhotograph: ITV/Rex Shutterstock
Share on Facebook Blackman continued with political activism throughout the 2000s. Here she is with fashion designer Vivienne Westwood at a protest organised by Liberty against a controversial counter-terrorism bill outside the Houses of Parliament in 2008Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Share on Facebook Blackman picked up a gun again in 2012, playing Peggy in the film Cockneys vs ZombiesPhotograph: Tea Shop/Allstar
Share on Facebook Honor Blackman with victims of the Equitable Life pension scandal demonstrating outside parliament in London in 2014Photograph: Geoff Pugh/Rex Shutterstock
Share on Facebook Blackman in front of a photo of her as Pussy Galore by Terry O’Neill at the launch of his book Bond and Beyond in 2015Photograph: Guy Bell/REx Shutterstock
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