Honor Blackman (born August 22, 1925) is a British actress.

Honor Blackman with Sean Connery in ‘Goldfinger’.

She is mostly remembered for the roles of Judo expert Dr Cathy Gale in The Avengers, and as Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.

Bond film supremo Albert R Broccoli was later to openly admit that she had been cast on the back of her success in The Avengers, despite the fact that the American audience had never even 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.”

Aged 36 when she filmed Goldfinger, Blackman 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 – as a coincidence, Joanna Lumley, who was to later to appear in the sequel to The Avengers, The New Avengers, appeared in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.)