Honoring Honor


Heard they did some Oscar preening the other night, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about movie iconography that’s actually interesting. It’s hard to get much more iconic than Honor Blackman, whose place in cinematic history transcends the phony glamour of the Academy Awards. I knew I had to do this small homage as soon as I read the opening paragraph of her IMDB entry, which immediately captures the difference between a Hollywood Star and a cultural touchstone. The rest of the brief bio explains the timeless allure:

Comparing this sultry-eyed blonde to Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich may seem a bit overzealous, but Honor Blackman's stylish allure over the years cannot be denied.

One of four children, Blackman was born in London's East End to a statistician father employed with the civil service and a homemaker mother. She received diction lessons as a teenager and later attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She temporarily followed in her father's footsteps with a job in the civil service, and then was, of all things, a dispatch rider during World War II. This is where she developed some of her trademark athleticism.

TV series work then also came her way, notably with the highly popular The Avengers (1961), costarring Patrick Macnee as John Steed. As the leather-clad "Mrs. Cathy Gale", Blackman showcased her incredible beauty, self-confidence, and athletic derring-do. Her admirable qualities made her not only a catch for the men, but also an inspirational figure for the 1960s feminist movement. Blackman left the show at its peak, however, and was replaced by the equally assertive and popular Diana Rigg as "Mrs. Emma Peel".

Not out of work long, Blackman took on the role of Greek goddess "Hera" in popular movie adventure Jason and the Argonauts (1963) (1963) with marvelous Ray Harryhausen and melodrama Life at the Top (1965) (1965) with Laurence Harvey. She then filmed the most popular role of her career: "Pussy Galore". In the classic James Bond movie Goldfinger (1964), Blackman went toe to toe with Sean Connery's womanizing "007" and created major sparks on screen, managing to outclass the (wink-wink) double meaning of her character's name.>>



For many of her fans, her story sort of ends there, adrift forever in that life raft with Sean Connery in the greatest of all Bond movies — best title song, best Bond Car (Aston Martin DB4), and best Bond Girl. The first Bond Girl was Ursula Andress, memorable for her smoking hot Botticelli Venus entrance, but it was really Blackman who forever altered the stereotype by being an archetype Of looks, sass, class, and kickass action.

She didn’t go on to make a lot of movies, yet she has always been a presence in one of the most successful series of blockbuster box office hits about one character ever made.

And whatever ‘It’ was that made her so magnetic on screen has not vanished either. We’ll close with two 21st Century video clips of the Honor Blackman who is still alive and bewitching in her, um, nineties now.



And another charming glimpse here...





Long Live La Galore!

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