Honor Blackman
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured:  |
Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020) was an English actress, known for her sex symbol-ish parts in The Avengers (1962–1964), Goldfinger (1964) and Jason and the Argonauts (1963).
Radley Metzger cast her as Susan Sills ("the big game hunter, one of the world's most efficient killers") in The Cat and the Canary (1978).
She recorded the surprise hit "Kinky Boots" (1964) and the album Everything I've Got (1964) which featured an interpretation of Serge Gainsbourg's "La Javanaise".
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, was a surprise hit.
After her appearance in Goldfinger, she recorded a full album of songs titled Everything I've Got (1964) which featured an interpretation of Serge Gainsbourg's "La Javanaise".
In 1968, Blackman released a 45 of "Before Today"/"I'll Always Be Loving You" (CBS 3896), which were featured in the musical play Mr & Mrs. In 1983 she 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. She also compered the James Bond Prom, part of the "Welsh Proms" concert series in 2009.
Partial filmography
Blackman appeared in the following films:
- Fame Is the Spur (1947) – Emma (uncredited film debut)
- Quartet (1948) – Paula
- Daughter of Darkness (1948) – Julie Tallent
- Diamond City (1949) – Mary Hart
- A Boy, a Girl and a Bike (1949) – Susie Bates
- Conspirator (1949) – Joyce
- So Long at the Fair (1950) – Rhoda O'Donovan
- Green Grow the Rushes (1951) – Meg Cuffley
- Come Die My Love (1952) - Eva
- The Delavine Affair (1954) – Maxine Banner
- The Rainbow Jacket (1954) – Mrs. Tyler
- Diplomatic Passport (1954) – Marcelle
- Breakaway (1955) – Paula Grant/Paula Jackson
- The Glass Cage (1955) – Jenny Pelham
- Suspended Alibi (1957) – Lynn Pearson
- You Pay Your Money (1957) – Susie Westlake
- Account Rendered (1957) – Sarah Hayward
- African Patrol (TV, 1958-1959) – Pat Murray
- A Night to Remember (1958) – Liz Lucas
- Danger List (short, 1959) – Gillian Freeman
- The Square Peg (1959) – Leslie Cartland
- A Matter of WHO (1961) – Sister Bryan
- Serena (1962) – Ann Rogers
- The Saint (TV series) (1962) – Pauline Stone
- The Avengers (TV series, 1962–1964) – Cathy Gale
- Jason and the Argonauts (1963) – Hera
- Goldfinger (1964) – Pussy Galore
- The Secret of My Success (1965) – Baroness Lily von Luckenberg
- Moment to Moment (1965) – Daphne Field
- Life at the Top (1965) – Norah Huxley
- Shalako (1968) – Lady Julia Daggett
- A Twist of Sand (1968) – Julie Chambois
- Kampf um Rom I (1968) – Amalaswintha
- Kampf um Rom II (1969) – Amalaswintha
- Twinky, also known as Lola (1969) – Mummy
- The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970) – Mrs. Fawcett
- Fright (1971) – Helen
- Something Big (1971) – Mary Anna Morgan
- Boney: Boney In Venom House (TV, 1972) – Mary Answorth
- Columbo: Dagger of the Mind (TV, 1972) – Lillian Stanhope
- To the Devil a Daughter (1976) – Anna Fountain
- Ragtime Summer (1977) – Mrs. Boswell
- The Cat and the Canary (1978) – Susan Sillsby
- Orpheus in the Underworld (BBC TV, 1983) – Juno/Empress Eugénie
- The First Olympics: Athens 1896 (TV, 1984) – Ursula Schumann
- Minder on the Orient Express (TV, 1985) – Helen Speeder
- Doctor Who (1986) Terror of the Vervoids – Professor Lasky
- The Upper Hand (TV series, 1990–1996) – Laura West
- Tale of the Mummy (1998) – Captain Shea
- To Walk with Lions (1999) – Joy Adamson
- Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) – Penny Husbands-Bosworth
- New Tricks (2005) – Kitty Campbell
- Summer Solstice (2005) – Countess Lucinda Reeves
- Hotel Babylon (2009) – Constance Evergreen
- Reuniting the Rubins (2010) – Gran Rubin
- I, Anna (2012) – Joan
- Cockneys vs Zombies (2012) – Peggy
- Casualty (2013) – Agatha Kirkpatrick
- By Any Means (2013) – Celia Butler
- You, Me & Them (2015) – Rose Walker
