Tributes flow as 'ultimate Bond girl' dies aged 94

Actress Honor Blackman, best known for her role as iconic Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, has died at age 94.

The British star’s family said in a statement to the Guardian, “It’s with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Honor Blackman aged 94. She died peacefully of natural causes at her home in Lewes, Sussex, surrounded by her family.”

Honor shot to fame as crimefighter Cathy Gale in the hit spy show The Avengers, alongside Patrick Macnee as John Steed. She played the role from 1962 to 1964.

In 1964, aged 39, she left The Avengers to became one of the oldest ‘Bond girls’, playing Pussy Galore opposite Sean Connery in the third James Bond film, Goldfinger.

She later expressed regret at leaving the hit TV series for the 007 film saying, “I walked away at the wrong moment. They were just going from black and white to colour, they were starting to get real film money.”

“I never considered myself a sex symbol,” she told Saga in 2015.

“I hate watching myself. I’ve only seen Goldfinger twice: once at the premiere and once at the 50th anniversary. I’ve turned down parts in the past because they required a sexy woman and I didn’t think that was me. I always wanted to play the secretary. I know, it’s extraordinary, but it’s the truth.”

She appeared in a number of films including Jason and the Argonauts, Life at the Top, The Virgin and the Gypsy, Shalako and Something Big.

Honor also enjoyed a successful TV career with roles in Columbo, Minder, Midsomer Murders, Coronation Street, Casualty and Doctor Who. She had a leading role in the hit British sitcom The Upper Hand, which ran for six seasons from 1990 to 1996.

Her last acting role was in 2015, when she guest-starred in British TV show You, Me & Them, playing the mischievous mother of actor Anthony Head.

Honor married twice: to Bill Sankey from 1948 to 1956, and to British actor Maurice Kaufmann, with whom she adopted two children, from 1961 to 1975. She never remarried, saying she preferred to stay single.

“People can’t understand it,” she said. “Basically I’m a shy person and I like my own company. I couldn’t bear to be with someone now. I do exactly what I want to do, when I want to do it. I’ve always been like that … you’re only hindered by husbands!”

Director Edgar Wright was among those paying tribute to Honor, calling her the “ultimate Bond girl.”

Other tributes have rolled in from Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, as well as other celebrities.

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