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Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020) was an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers[1] (1962–1964), Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964), Julia Daggett in Shalako (1968), and Hera in Jason and the Argonauts (1963). She is also known for her role as Laura West in the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand (1990–1996).

Honor Blackman
Blackman in 1971 on the set of Something Big
Born	(1925-08-22)22 August 1925 Plaistow, Essex, England
Died	5 April 2020(2020-04-05) (aged 94) Lewes, East Sussex, England
Occupation	Actress singer
Years active	1947–2015
Spouse(s)	Bill Sankey ​ ​ (m. 1948; div. 1956)​ Maurice Kaufmann ​ ​ (m. 1961; div. 1975)​
Children	2

Early life

Honor Blackman was born on 22 August 1925 in Plaistow, the daughter of Edith Eliza (Stokes) and Frederick Blackman,[2] a civil service statistician.[3][4] 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 began her 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. Following graduation, she was an understudy in the West End play The Guinea Pig.[6] In 1947 she appeared in the Patrick Hastings play The Blind Goddess at the Apollo Theatre.[7]

Career

Films

Blackman's film debut was a nonspeaking part in Fame Is the Spur (1947).[8] Her other films include Quartet (1948),[9] based on short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, starring Dirk Bogarde; Diamond City (1949), So Long at the Fair (1950),[9] in which she again appeared with Dirk Bogarde; Green Grow the Rushes (1951),[9] alongside Roger Livesey and Richard Burton; A Night to Remember (1958),[9] an account of the Titanic disaster; the comedy The Square Peg (1958);[9] Life at the Top (1965) with Laurence Harvey;[9] The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970),[9] and the Western films Shalako (1968) with Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot,[9] and Something Big (1971) with Dean Martin.[9]

She played Hera in Jason and the Argonauts (1963),[9] which featured stop-motion animation by Ray Harryhausen. She had roles in the films Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)[9] and Jack Brown and the Curse of the Crown (also 2001).[9]

James Bond

During the 1960s, Blackman practised judo at the Budokwai dojo. This helped her prepare for her roles as Cathy Gale in The Avengers and Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964).[10]

Albert R. Broccoli said Blackman was cast opposite Sean Connery in the Bond film on the basis of her success in the British television 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."[11]

Theatre

In 1968, Blackman appeared opposite John Neville and Hylda Baker in the musical play Mr & Mrs, based on the plays of Noël Coward.[12] In the late 1970s, she toured Australia and New Zealand with Michael Craig and Colleen Clifford in the comedy play Move Over, Mrs Markham. In February 1979, she starred in Stephen Barry's production of Tom Stoppard's Night and Day at the Perth Playhouse, coinciding with Stoppard's presence as a participant in the Festival of Perth.[13]

In 1981, she appeared in a 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.[14]

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. From April to September 2007, Blackman took over the role of Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End.[15]

Television

Blackman started acting on television in the recurring role of Nicole, secretary/assistant to Dan Dailey's character of Tim Collier in the television series The Four Just Men (1959).[16] In an episode of The Saint titled "The Arrow of God" (1962), Blackman played an adulterous personal secretary named Pauline Stone, who became one of several suspects in the murder of a despised gossip columnist.[17]

In The Avengers from 1962 to 1964, she played Dr Cathy Gale, a self-assured, quick-witted anthropologist who was skilled in judo and had a passion for leather clothes. Gale was unlike any female character seen before on British TV. Blackman left the series after its third season to co-star in the James Bond film Goldfinger.

In an episode of The Avengers, "Too Many Christmas Trees" (1965), John Steed received a Christmas card from Cathy Gale. 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.[18]

In December 1969 and February 1993, Blackman was taken by surprise as the subject of This Is Your Life.^{[citation needed]} In 1972, Blackman (as a special guest star) and Richard Basehart played a married pair of Shakespearean actors who commit murder in the American crime mystery series Columbo (episode "Dagger of the Mind"). In 1983, she appeared in a film production of Agatha Christie's novel, The Secret Adversary, in the role of Rita Vandemeyer,[19] and as Juno/Empress Eugénie in the BBC television production of Orpheus in the Underworld.[20]

In 1986, she had a role in "Terror of the Vervoids", a segment of the Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Time Lord.[21] 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[22] and in By Any Means.[23]

Blackman also appeared in a number of episodes of Never the Twain with Donald Sinden and Windsor Davies as veterinarian Veronica Barton.[24]

Singing career

Blackman's recording with The Avengers co-star Patrick Macnee of "Kinky Boots" (1964), referring to the boots she wore in the show, failed to chart upon its original release, but became a surprise hit in 1990. The song peaked at number five after being played incessantly by BBC Radio 1 breakfast-show presenter Simon Mayo. After her appearance in Goldfinger, Blackman recorded a full album of songs titled Everything I've Got.[25]

In 1968, Blackman released a 45 rpm record of "Before Today"/"I'll Always Be Loving You" (CBS 3896), which were featured in the musical play Mr & Mrs.[26] In 1983 she sang as Juno in a special TV production of Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.[27]

On 6 July 2009, Blackman released a new single, "The Star Who Fell from Grace", composed by Jeff Chegwin and Adrian Munsey.[28] She also compered the James Bond Prom, part of the "Welsh Proms" concert series in 2009.[29]

Other roles

Blackman appeared in the Doctor Who audio drama The Children of Seth, as Anahita, released in December 2011.[30]

Personal life

Blackman was married to Bill Sankey from 1948 to 1956.[31] After their divorce, she married British actor Maurice Kaufmann (1961–75). They appeared together in the slasher film Fright (1971) and some stage productions. They adopted two children, Lottie (1967) and Barnaby (1968).[31]

After her divorce from Kaufmann, she did not remarry and stated that she preferred being single. She enjoyed watching football.[31]

Blackman owned a summer house in Islesboro, Maine, United States.[32]

Blackman died at her home in Lewes, East Sussex, on 5 April 2020, aged 94, from natural causes.[33][34]

Politics

Blackman was a British Republican, a member of the Liberal Democrats and was previously a member of the Liberal Party, campaigning for the party during the 1964 general election.[35][36] She declined a CBE in 2002, as she felt that as a republican it would be hypocritical to accept the award.[36] She publicly supported changing the British electoral system from first-past-the-post to alternative vote for electing members to the House of Commons in the Alternative Vote referendum in 2011.[37]

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."[38]

Following the death of Margaret Thatcher in April 2013, when asked about her thoughts on Thatcher, Blackman responded:

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.[39]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1947	Fame Is the Spur	Emma	Uncredited[8]
1948	Daughter of Darkness	Julie Tallent
1948	Quartet	Paula
1949	A Boy, a Girl and a Bike	Susie Bates
1949	Conspirator	Joyce
1949	Diamond City	Mary Hart
1950	So Long at the Fair	Rhoda O'Donovan
1951	Green Grow the Rushes	Meg Cuffley
1952	Come Die My Love	Eva
1954	The Rainbow Jacket	Mrs. Tyler
1954	Diplomatic Passport	Marcelle
1955	The Delavine Affair	Maxine Banner
1955	The Glass Cage	Jenny Pelham
1956	Breakaway	Paula Grant / Paula Jackson
1957	You Pay Your Money	Susie Westlake
1957	Suspended Alibi	Lynn Pearson
1957	Danger List	Gillian Freeman
1957	Account Rendered	Sarah Hayward
1958	A Night to Remember	Mrs. Liz Lucas
1958	The Square Peg	Lesley Cartland
1961	A Matter of WHO	Sister Bryan
1962	Serena	Ann Rogers
1963	Jason and the Argonauts	Hera
1964	Goldfinger	Pussy Galore
1965	The Secret of My Success	Baroness Lily von Luckenberg
1965	Life at the Top	Norah Huxley
1966	Moment to Moment	Daphne Fields
1968	Shalako	Lady Julia Daggett
1968	A Twist of Sand	Julie Chambois
1968	The Last Roman	Amalaswintha
1969	Twinky	Mummy
1970	The Last Grenade	Katherine Whiteley
1970	The Virgin and the Gypsy	Mrs. Fawcett
1971	Fright	Helen
1971	Something Big	Mary Anna Morgan
1976	To the Devil a Daughter	Anna Fountain
1977	Age of Innocence	Mrs. Boswell
1978	The Cat and the Canary	Susan Sillsby
1998	Tale of the Mummy	Captain Shea
1999	To Walk with Lions	Joy Adamson
2001	Bridget Jones's Diary	Penny Husbands-Bosworth
2004	Jack Brown and the Curse of the Crown	Madeline Dubouir
2005	Colour Me Kubrick	Madam
2010	Reuniting the Rubins	Gran Rubin
2012	I, Anna	Joan
2012	Cockneys vs Zombies	Peggy

Television

• African Patrol (1958-1959, TV Series) as Pat Murray / Grace Bowler / Isobel Thorne
• The Saint (1962, TV Series) as Pauline Stone
• The Avengers (1962–1964, TV Series) as Cathy Gale
• Boney: Boney In Venom House (1972, TV Series) as Mary Answorth
• Columbo: Dagger of the Mind (1972, TV Series) as Lillian Stanhope
• Orpheus in the Underworld (BBC TV, 1983) as Juno / Empress Eugénie
• The First Olympics: Athens 1896 (1984, TV Mini-Series) as Ursula Schumann
• Minder on the Orient Express (1985, TV Series) as Helen Speeder
• Doctor Who (1986, Episode: "Terror of the Vervoids") as Professor Lasky
• The Upper Hand (1990–1996, TV Series) as Laura West
• Midsomer Murders (2003, TV Series) as Isobel Hewitt
• Summer Solstice (2005, TV Movie) as Countess Lucinda Reeves
• New Tricks (2005, TV Series) as Kitty Campbell
• Hotel Babylon (2009, TV Series) as Constance Evergreen
• Casualty (2013, TV Series) as Agatha Kirkpatrick
• By Any Means (2013, TV Series) as Celia Butler
• You, Me & Them (2015, TV Series) as Rose Walker
• Silent Witness as uncredited resident of old people's home (final appearance)

References

External links

• Honor Blackman at IMDb
• Honor Blackman discography at Discogs
• Honor Blackman profile, bris.ac.uk; accessed 22 August 2015.

На других языках

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[de] Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman (* 22. August 1925 in Plaistow, London;[1][2] † 5. April 2020 in Lewes, East Sussex[3]) war eine britische Schauspielerin. Bekanntheit erlangte sie mit der Rolle der Pussy Galore im James-Bond-Film Goldfinger und als Dr. Catherine Gale in der britischen Fernsehserie The Avengers (Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone).

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- [en] Honor Blackman

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[es] Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman (Londres, 22 de agosto de 1925-Lewes, 5 de abril de 2020)[1] fue una actriz británica,[2][3] especialmente conocida por sus papeles como Cathy Gale en Los vengadores (1962–64) y la chica Bond Pussy Galore en Goldfinger (1964) a sus 38 años, siendo una de las chicas Bond de más edad en aparecer en la saga. También fue famosa por su papel como la vengativa diosa Hera en la producción de 1963 Jasón y los argonautas.

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[ru] Блэкман, Онор

О́нор[5] Блэ́кман (англ. Honor Blackman; 22 августа 1925 — 5 апреля 2020) — британская актриса.

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