HONOR BLACKMAN, THE star best known for her roles in James Bond film Goldfinger, has died at the age of 94, her family said today. 

The actress was 38 when she found international fame in the role of Pussy Galore in 1964, starring opposite Sean Connery as the spy with a licence to kill.

It was the third instalment in the storied spy franchise, and received critical acclaim and box office success.

“It’s with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Honor Blackman aged 94,” her family said in a statement.

“She died peacefully of natural causes at home in Lewes, Sussex, surrounded by her family.

“As well as being a much adored mother and grandmother, Honor was an actor of hugely prolific creative talent.”

Blackman with Sean Connery in Goldfinger. PA PA

Her family added she possessed “an extraordinary combination of beauty, brains and physical prowess, along with her unique voice and a dedicated work ethic”.

Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in a statement on Twitter: “Today we mark the passing of a film icon, Honor Blackman who shall forever be remembered as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger.

“She was an extraordinary talent and a beloved member of the Bond family. Our thoughts are with her family at this time.”

Blackman was also well known for playing Cathy Gale in the 1960s spy series The Avengers.

She also played the vengeful goddess Hera in Jason And The Argonauts and Laura West on the TV series The Upper Hand, which ran from 1990 to 1996, with Blackman playing a glamorous grandmother with a taste for toyboys.

Honor Blackman holding up a loud hailer in support of Tom Houston, Liberal candidate for the Cities of London and Westminster in the 1966 general election. PA PA

More recently she played Penny Husbands-Bosworth in the big-screen adaptation of Bridget Jones’s Diary and looked back over her life and career in her touring show Honor Blackman As Herself, which saw her in conversation with her colleague and friend Richard Digby Day.

In 2004 she played Rula Romanoff in Coronation Street, playing a flirty pensioner who caught the eye of Norris Cole, and appeared in an episode of Casualty in 2013.

Her family said Blackman was “an avid reader of news and politics”, adding that she “particularly loved all forms of insightful unbiased reporting and intellectually enlightened broadcasting”.

With reporting from AFP