Bond girl Honor Blackman takes to the stage again
26-May-2006 • Actor News
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Honor Blackman is one of those people who you cannot help but feel inspired by. At the grand old age of 79, she still looks absolutely wonderful, is as full of life as ever and positively glowing with health.
A woman of some intellect, she's as sharp as a knife and regularly puts me to shame with her in-depth knowledge of, well, everything from American politics to Elizabethan history.
But she also delights in the ridiculous, regularly breaking into peals of laughter, and is kind, chatty and convivial; the kind of person you could imagine it would be enormous fun to share a couple of glasses of wine with. She must certainly have some extraordinary tales to tell - particularly about the early roles of her career.
She first shot to fame, of course, playing Cathy Gayle in the iconic 60s TV series, The Avengers, and then, hot on its heels, came the role of Pussy Galore in Goldfinger opposite Sean Connery.
Looking back on The Avengers, which established her as a leading pinup, she says she loved every moment.
"It was very hard work but huge fun," she recalls. "And then to step sideways into the role of Pussy Galore - it's a time I look back on very fondly."
So out of all the James Bonds, who is her favourite 007? "Oh, it would have to be Sean Connery," she says. "I shall always think Sean the best."
She admits, however, to feeling that the more recent James Bond films have lost some of that tongue-in-cheek charm.
"The first ones were always going to be better because they had all the best storylines," she says.
Born in Plaistow in the East End of London, her father offered her a choice on her 15th birthday - a bicycle or elocution lessons.
"I would have much preferred the bicycle," smiles Honor who has lived in London all her life.
"But in those days you needed to speak well to have a chance of getting a job. My father was very passionate about speaking properly."
In the end her efforts paid off and later on it would help to secure her a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Over the years, of course, she has gone on to have a long and varied career.
Most recently she has received great acclaim for her one-woman stage shows.
First there was The Life and Times of Yvette Guilbert, which toured Britain, culminating in a season at the Edinburgh Festival, and then came the equally lauded Dishonourable Ladies.
To look at her, it's difficult to believe that she's a grandmother, but she says there is no magic ingredient to staying in shape - she simply eats sensibly and tries to keep relatively fit.
"Firstly, I don't think I do look good," she says. "But if I do, it's probably because I eat very sensibly - and that doesn't mean not having treacle pudding - just having a balanced diet.
"I've also been doing Pilates for the last 25 years and that makes me feel fantastic - I'd be miserable if I had to go without it.
"It's the perfect sort of exercise for someone of my age because you don't have to jump around.
"I don't want to be working all the time these days. There was a time when I had to work to feed my children, but I'm at a stage in my life now where, A, I don't want to work all the time and, B, I don't need to - and that's fine by me."
Honor plays Mrs Higgins in the forthcoming production of My Fair Lady, the musical adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's 1912 play Pygmalion, that was a success on Broadway from 1956 to 1962.
The plot of Pygmalion and My Fair Lady centres around an educated man, Henry Higgins, who takes an unrefined cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, and tries to teach her to speak with the accent of an aristocrat, in order to win a bet that he can fool people into thinking that she really is one.
The girl ends up teaching him more than a thing or two about real life when she attracts the attentions of a high society suitor, although there are numerous embarrassing incidents along the way to brighten the narrative.
Honor plays Henry's mother to whose home the young Eliza retreats when Henry becomes overbearing.
The musical includes some of the best known songs and lyrics ever, including The Rain in Spain, With a Little Bit of Luck and I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face.
* Honor Blackman appears in My Fair Lady, at New Victoria Theatre, The Ambassadors, Victoria Way, Woking from Tuesday, May 30. Performances 7.30pm, Thurs/Sat matinees at 2.30pm. Tickets from £15 to £39.50. Ends June 10. Box office 01483 545 900. Visit www.theambassadors.com/woking.
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