Honor Blackman stars as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger in 1964

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Back in 1964, Sean Connery returned for his third James Bond movie adapting Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger. The 39-year-old Honor Blackman was cast as the main Bond girl, who would serve as the villain’s personal pilot, Pussy Galore. The only problem was how would the 007 producers and director Guy Hamilton get around the censors, especially in the USA?

As usual, the Bond girl’s name was a double entendre, but they worried that Pussy Galore would prove too much.

The producers considered changing the character to Kitty Galore, however, they and Hamilton decided: “If you were a 10-year-old boy and knew what the name meant, you weren’t a ten-year-old boy, you were a dirty little b****. The American censor was concerned, but we got round that by inviting him and his wife out to dinner and [told him] we were big supporters of the Republican Party.”

During Goldfinger’s promotion, Blackman was delighted by how embarrassed journalists were to repeat the name Pussy Galore during interviews.

Although, despite the 007 film franchise’s win, the American censors refused to have it on any promotional materials.

Instead, outside of the actual film, the Bond girl was known as Miss Galore or Goldfinger’s personal pilot.

Additionally, her original entry and first time meeting Connery’s spy was cut and replaced in the script.

In Goldfinger, Bond wakes up on the villain’s private jet to see Blackman’s character in front of him. She introduces herself by saying, “My name is Pussy Galore”, to which Connery replies “I must be dreaming”.

However, in the original script 007 replied, “I know you are, but what’s your name?”, which was considered way too suggestive for the early 1960s. Interestingly, Fleming had based the character on his neighbour, friend and lover Blanche Blackwell.

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The name Pussy came from the agent Pussy Deakin aka Livia Stela, while it’s also believed to have been that of Fleming’s pet octopus. The latter supposedly also inspired the short story and later 1983 movie Octopussy.

This would additionally be the name of a coracle that was given to the author by Blackwell as a present for staying at his Goldeneye retreat in Jamaica, where he wrote the Bond novels. 

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