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Honor Blackman

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Honor Blackman
Blackman in Jason and the Argonauts, 1963
Born (1925-08-22) 22 August 1925 (age 99)
Plaistow, West Ham, Essex, England, UK
OccupationActress
Years active1947–present
Spouse(s)
Bill Sankey
​
(m. 1946⁠–⁠1954)​
(divorced)
​
​
(m. 1961⁠–⁠1975)​
(divorced) (2 children)

Honor Blackman (born 22 August 1925)[1][2][3] is an English actress, widely known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers (1962–64), Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964), and Shalako (1968). She is also noted for her role as the goddess Hera in Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

Life and career

Early life

Blackman was born in Plaistow, Essex. Her father Frederick[4] was a statistician. She attended North Ealing Primary School and Ealing County Grammar School for Girls.[5] For her 15th birthday, her parents gave her acting lessons and she started training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1940. While attending the Guildhall School, Blackman worked as a clerical assistant for the Home Office.

Films

Blackman's film debut was a nonspeaking part in Fame Is the Spur (1947). Other films include Quartet (1948), based on short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, So Long at the Fair (1950), in which she appeared with Dirk Bogarde, A Night to Remember (1958), an account of the RMS Titanic; the comedy The Square Peg (1958); Life at the Top (1965) with Laurence Harvey, The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970), and the Western films Shalako (1968) with Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot and Something Big (1971) with Dean Martin.

Blackman played Hera in Jason and the Argonauts (1963), which is well known for the stop-motion animation and effects of Ray Harryhausen. She had roles in the films Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) and Jack Brown and the Curse of the Crown (also 2001).

James Bond

Albert R. Broccoli said that Blackman was cast opposite Sean Connery in the James Bond films based on her success in the British TV series, The Avengers. He knew that most American audiences would not have seen the programme. Broccoli said, "The Brits would love her because they knew her as Mrs. Gale, the Yanks would like her because she was so good, it was a perfect combination".[6]

During the 1960s, Blackman practised judo at the famous Budokwai dojo. This helped her prepare for her roles as Cathy Gale in The Avengers and Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.[7] At 37, she was the oldest actress to play a Bond girl.[8]

Theatre

In 1981, Blackman appeared in the London revival of The Sound of Music opposite Petula Clark. The production opened to rave reviews and the largest advance sale in British theatre history to that time. She spent most of 1987 at the Fortune Theatre starring as the Mother Superior in the West End production of Nunsense.

Blackman returned to the theatre in 2005, touring through 2006 with a production of My Fair Lady, in which she played Mrs. Higgins. She developed a one-woman show, Word of Honor, which premiered in October 2006. In April 2007, Blackman took over the role of Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End. She left the show at the end of September 2007.

Television

Blackman started acting in a TV production in a recurring role as Nichole, secretary/assistant to Dan Dailey's character of Tim Collier in the 1959 series The Four Just Men.

In a 1965 episode of The Avengers, titled "Too Many Christmas Trees", John Steed received Christmas cards, one of which was from Cathy. "A card from Mrs Gale!", Steed exclaims in delight. Reading the envelope, he says in a puzzled voice, "Whatever can she be doing at Fort Knox...?". It was an inside joke, as Blackman was filming Goldfinger at the time.[citation needed]

Blackman co-starred with Richard Basehart as a married pair of Shakespearean actors who commit a homicide in the Columbo episode "Dagger of the Mind," appearing with Peter Falk. In December 1969 and in February 1993, Blackman was taken by surprise as the subject of This Is Your Life.

In 1986, she had a role in "Terror of the Vervoids", a segment of the Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Time Lord. From 1990 to 1996, she appeared as Laura West on The Upper Hand.

In 2003, Blackman took a guest role on Midsomer Murders, as ex-racing driver Isobel Hewitt in the episode "A Talent for Life". In September 2004, she briefly joined the Coronation Street cast in a storyline about wife swapping. In 2007, she participated in the BBC TV project, The Verdict. She was one of 12 well-known figures who made up a jury to hear a fictional rape case. The series was designed to explore the jury system. She was sworn in as a juror as "Honor Kaufmann".

In 2013 she guest-starred in the BBC medical drama Casualty and in By Any Means.

Singing career

Blackman's recording with Patrick Macnee of "Kinky Boots" (1964), was a surprise hit. In 1990 it peaked at No.5 after being played incessantly by BBC Radio 1 breakfast show presenter Simon Mayo. After her appearance in Goldfinger, she recorded a full album of songs, entitled Everything I've Got.[9]

In 1983, Blackman sang as Juno in a special TV production of Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.

On 6 July 2009, Blackman released a new single, "The Star Who Fell from Grace", composed by Jeff Chegwin and Adrian Munsey.[10] In it she compered a James Bond prom as part of the "Welsh Proms" concert series.[11]

Other roles

Blackman appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama The Children of Seth, in which she plays the role of Anahita, released in December 2011.[12]

Personal life

Blackman married twice: Bill Sankey from 1948–56.[13]

After their divorce, she married British actor Maurice Kaufmann (1961–75). They appeared together in the slasher film Fright (1971). They adopted two children, Lottie (1967) and Barnaby (1968).[13]

Blackman has not remarried and has stated she prefers being single. She enjoys watching football.[13]

Politics

Honor Blackman is a member of the Liberal Democrats and previously the Liberal Party, campaigning for the party in the 1964 general election.[14] She is a signed supporter of Republic, The Campaign for an Elected Head of State, the UK campaign to replace the monarchy with a republic.[15] She declined a CBE honour in 2002.

She has publicly supported changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote for electing members of parliament to the House of Commons in the Alternative Vote referendum in 2011.[16]

In 2012 Blackman publicly criticised actor Sean Connery, her Bond co-star in the 1960s, for his status as a tax exile. She said,

"I disapprove of him strongly now. Because I don't think you should accept a title from a country and then pay absolutely no tax towards it. He wants it both ways. I don't think his principles are very high."[17]

Following the passing of Female Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in April 2013, when asked about her thoughts on Thatcher, Blackman responded with the following:[18]

"She’s not my idea of Heaven I have to say. Although she did some good things in her time, she was merciless about the unions. I'm not too happy about the Falklands either. We lost men, we took injuries and we blew up a ship. I suppose we need it for a base, but my common sense tells me that it does belong more to Argentina than it does to us. Lots of people may throw things at me for saying that about Thatcher, but hopefully not during the performance.


She was a powerful figure, but she did damn all for empowering women. She didn’t surround herself with any women whatsoever or encourage women to come into politics or do anything in particular. She could have been a quite wonderful role model."

Partial filmography

Discography

  • L P Everything I've Got (1964)

References

  1. ^ Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916–2005 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.
  2. ^ "BFI biodata". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  3. ^ Honor Kaufmann company-director-check.co.uk. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
  4. ^ Hubbard, Frances. "A question of honor". Courier Mail. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  5. ^ "'The Name is Bond' at Ealing Council online". Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  6. ^ Archived 2007-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Honor Blackman Judo Interview" on YouTube. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
  8. ^ "James Bond multimedia | Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore)". Jamesbondmm.co.uk. 12 December 1927. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  9. ^ "BBC report". BBC News. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  10. ^ "Honor Blackman: Words from the wise" at timesonline.co.uk[dead link‍]
  11. ^ "Golden girl – Honor Blackman profile at". Walesonline.co.uk. 4 July 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  12. ^ "Doctor Who: The Lost Stories – The Children of Seth". Big Finish Productions. July 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2013.
  13. ^ a b c Interview, Saga Magazine, October 2009
  14. ^ BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/background/pastelec/ge64.shtml. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  15. ^ "Our Supporters". Republic. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  16. ^ "Benjamin Zephaniah 'airbrushed from Yes to AV leaflets'". BBC News. 3 April 2011.
  17. ^ Farndale, Nigel (27 August 2012). "Why Honor Blackman still packs a punch". The Telegraph. London.
  18. ^ http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/features/10379911.Honor_Blackman_on_her_life_story__Sean_Connery_and_living_in_Bournemouth/
Preceded by Bond girl
1964 		Succeeded by

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