Jill Masterton is a character in Ian Fleming’s James Bond novel Goldfinger. For the film adaptation both she and her sister Tilly had their surname changed to Masterson. Jill Masterson is played by Shirley Eaton who is best known for appearing in the film and numerous advertisements covered head to toe in gold paint. (However, the gold-painted girl in the opening credits of the film is actually Margaret Nolan, who plays Dink, Bond’s Miami masseuse.)

Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson in ‘Goldfinger’.

Biography: Jill Masterton is employed by Auric Goldfinger to help him win at cards and to be “seen” with him. She can see Goldfinger’s opponent’s cards through her high-powered binoculars. She communicates via radio with Goldfinger (who receives the messages through a false hearing aid), telling him what cards his opponent has, and what is going on in the game.

She is an intelligent and very beautiful woman who Bond thinks is too nice to be involved with Goldfinger. She enjoys humiliating Goldfinger. She then gets into bed with Bond. They spend an afternoon together and expect to enjoy the anticipated sleepless night until Bond goes to the refrigerator for another bottle of champagne. Bond is then knocked out cold by Goldfinger’s henchman, Oddjob, and awakens later to find Jill lying chest-down on his bed, painted entirely in gold—Goldfinger’s apparent revenge for her betrayal.

The bizarre nature of her death is explained as “skin suffocation,” a condition experienced by some cabaret dancers. The risk of actually dying from such a condition has been questioned. An episode of the Discovery Channel’s MythBusters examined this possibility.

In the novel, Jill plays a slightly larger part. After Goldfinger’s humiliation, Jill and Bond make love as they take an overnight train up the coast. Bond does not learn of her death until he meets Tilly Masterton, Jill’s sister, in Switzerland. The film’s version of events allows Goldfinger to exact revenge more promptly and dramatically, and Bond gets to discover the striking image of a woman covered in paint.

See also:

• Bond girls