A Cult actress in her own right due to her appearances as Cathy Gale in TV series The Avengers and as Pussy Galore - the most memorable female character name of the Bond franchise - in Goldfinger, Blackman came either too early (The Glass Cage) or too late (To the Devil a Daughter) to make a proper impact as Hammer Glamour.

Born in London, she started work as a despatch rider for the Home Office during WWII, before embarking on a rich and varied movie career. After getting her first break in a West End Play, The Guinea Pig, she remained a fixture on the British stage. (A full list of her stage appearances can be found here.)

She was married twice - first time to actor Maurice "Fanatic" Kauffman - and also has two children.

Blackman’s other notable and genre contributions include one of the Titanic’s passengers in A Night To Remember (1958), Goddess Hera in Harryhausen vehicle Jason and the Argonauts (1963), a Western, Shalako (1968), alongside her Goldfinger co-star Sean Connery, one of the female characters in classic ghost story remake The Cats and the Canary (1979) and a small part as police Captain Shea in Mummy fiasco Talos the Mummy (1998). She also prominently displayed some of her bits and pieces (37C-23-35 in her hey day in case you’re interested) in Kampf um Rom I/Battle for Rome I (1968), The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970), Something Big (1971) and Age of Innocence (1977). She also had an uncredited cameo in The Three Musketeers (1973) and in the 1990s had a regular part in UK TV series The Upper Hand.

She still regularly shows up in episodes for English TV and - despite being close to 80 (no source seems to be 100% certain about her year of birth) - is as dashing looking as ever. In September 2004 she guest starred in long running UK soap Coronation Street. Her character Rula Romanoff was an old friend of Wetherfield newsagent Rita O'Sullivan and tried introducing her and Norris Cole into a.... swingers club! Only Blackman could pull that kind of stunt off!