Pussy Galore is a fictional pilot who appeared in EON Productions’ 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger, portrayed by the late British actress Honor Blackman. The character is a cinematic adaptation of the literary character, who first appeared in Ian Fleming’s 1958 novel, Goldfinger. Pussy Galore subsequently appeared in the video games GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (2004) and 007 Legends (2012) with Blackman’s likeness and was voiced by Jeannie Elias and Natasha Little, respectively.
Background
Pussy Galore is the personal pilot of gold smuggler Auric Goldfinger and the leader of a female aviator team called the Pussy Galore’s Flying Circus, who is in the employ of the billionaire. However, Pussy and the other members of this faction are involved in Goldfinger’s “Operation Grand Slam” to infiltrate Fort Knox, being in charge of dispensing the Delta 9 nerve gas across the bank area to kill 60,000 people. So, Goldfinger and his task force (led by Oddjob and Kisch) smuggle an atomic bomb (created by Mr. Ling) into the vault. Such an action would make the gold radioactive and useless for 58 years, and the value of Goldfinger’s gold would increase many times, thus making Goldfinger the wealthiest man in the world.
Goldfinger (film)
Pussy Galore first appears as the pilot aboard Goldfinger’s private jet, where James Bond, unconscious after being shot by Kisch with a tranquilizer gun, wakes up to see Pussy standing over him. After introducing herself, the woman informs him that he is not dead and was merely shot with a tranquilizer gun. She threatens to use it again, suggesting that he instead relax, have a cocktail, and enjoy the flight. When the plane lands, Pussy escorts Bond to Goldfinger’s stud farm in Kentucky, where they see the Flying Circus pilots. Galore assures them that they will get their assignments tomorrow night. She then dismisses them for the day before transporting Bond to Goldfinger’s ranch and locking him into a cell. Pussy catches the spy and pulls his legs out from under him, putting him back in his cell. However, Bond Americano escapes and overhears Goldfinger discussing Operation Grand slam with a group of American gangsters, learning of the plot.
Later on, as Goldfinger is having some mint juleps with Pussy, he notices two men with binoculars spying on the farm. He realizes they must be friends of Bond’s and decides to invite the British for a drink so that everything will appear friendly, as if Bond were out of danger. So he tells Pussy to bring 007 out of his cell and entertain him. After a brief drink, Pussy takes Bond into a barn to keep up the pretense. Bond, however, tries to seduce her into foiling Goldfinger’s plan, and Pussy uses judo to trip him. The two engage in entertaining judo back and forth, and eventually, Bond gets the upper hand and the two kiss. Pussy so turns against Goldfinger and has the Flying Circus replace the nerve gas with a harmless one while alerting the U.S. government about Goldfinger’s plan, arranging for soldiers at Fort Knox to fake being gassed so that Goldfinger can be baited and captured.
After Bond and his American allies have managed to deactivate the bomb and therefore thwart Goldfinger’s plans, Pussy is forced to serve as a pilot of a plane that 007 boarding to meet with the President at the White House and that Goldfinger has taken over to kill him personally. Fortunately, Bond manages to kill Goldfinger by sending him through the window after the cabin is depressurized before escaping with Pussy using a parachute. While Galore tries to wave to the helicopter looking for them, Bond dissuades her and sleeps with her.
It is unknown what happened to Pussy after this. She was possibly arrested for involvement in Goldfinger’s plot, although it is not confirmed.
Personality
A bold, bossy, relatively intelligent, self-assured, and inflexible woman, Pussy Galore supported Goldfinger in his aims without question and planned to take advantage of their wealth to move to an island in the Bahamas and live a primitive life once Operation Grand Slam was over. She thus appeared selfish and had little regard for all the lives threatened by her employer’s plan and did not hesitate to contribute to it. Pussy also did her best to resist their attempts at seduction but eventually betrayed Goldfinger after being seduced by Bond.
Behind the scenes
Producer Albert R. Broccoli said Honor Blackman was cast opposite Sean Connery in the Goldfinger based on her success in the British television series The Avengers. However, Broccoli knew that most American audiences would not have seen the program. The script was rewritten to show Blackman’s judo abilities. The character’s name follows in the tradition of other Bond girls’ names that are double entendres. Concerned about censors, the producers thought about changing the character’s name to “Kitty Galore,” but they and director Guy Hamilton decided, “if you were a ten-year-old boy and knew what the name meant, you weren’t a ten-year-old boy, you were a dirty little bitch. The American censor was concerned, but we got around that by inviting him and his wife out to dinner and told him we were big supporters of the Republican Party.” During the promotion, Blackman took delight in embarrassing interviewers by repeatedly mentioning the character’s name. Whilst the American censors did not interfere with the name in the film, they refused to allow the name “Pussy Galore” to appear on promotional materials, and for the U.S. market, she was subsequently called “Miss Galore” or “Goldfinger’s personal pilot.”
