Honor Blackman (born in London, England on 12 December 1927, although many sources have listed her date of birth as 22 August 1926) is a British actress. She is mostly remembered for the roles of Judo expert "Cathy Gale" in The Avengers, and as Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.
Aged 36 when she filmed Goldfinger, Blackman (as of 2005) remains the second oldest actress to play a Bond girl (the oldest being Maud Adams in Octopussy). She is one of two Bond girls who was older than the actor playing Bond, the other being Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Rigg had earlier replaced Blackman on The Avengers, playing the role of Emma Peel).
Blackman trained as an actress at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London after persuading her father that an appropriate birthday gift would be acting lessons. She married twice: Bill Sankey (1946 - 1956) and the British actor Maurice Kaufmann (1963 - 1975), (with whom she appeared in the film Fright (1971); they adopted two children (Barnaby and Lottie) but divorced in 1975).
Following her early career as a glamorous leading lady, she returned to television in the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand during the 1990s. In 1985 she had a role in the Doctor Who serial The Trial of a Time Lord.
A song she recorded with Patrick Macnee in the 1960s, "Kinky Boots", was a surprise hit in 1990 after it was played incessantly by Radio 1 breakfast show presenter Simon Mayo. After her appearance in Goldfinger, Blackman recorded a full album of songs entitled Everything I've Got.
She declined a CBE honour in 2002. She has been a prominent supporter of the Liberal Democrats.
In September 2004, she briefly joined the Coronation Street cast.
Something Big (1971)
