Pussy Galore

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Pussy Galore
James Bond character
Pussy Galore by Honor Blackman.jpg
Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore
First appearance Goldfinger (1959 novel)
Last appearance Trigger Mortis (2015 novel)
Created by Ian Fleming
Portrayed by Honor Blackman
In-universe information
Affiliation Auric Goldfinger (film)
The Cement Mixers (novel)
Classification Bond girl / Henchwoman

Pussy Galore is a fictional character in the 1959 Ian Fleming James Bond novel Goldfinger and the 1964 film of the same name. In the film, she is played by Honor Blackman. The character returns in the 2015 Bond continuation novel Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz, set in the 1950s, two weeks after the events of Goldfinger.

Contents

Blanche Blackwell, a Jamaican of Anglo-Jewish descent, is thought to have been the love of Fleming's later life and his model for Pussy Galore. [1]

Appearances

Fleming novel

In Fleming's 1959 novel Goldfinger, Pussy Galore is the only woman in the United States known to be running an organized crime gang. Initially trapeze artists, her group of performing catwomen, "Pussy Galore and her Abrocats", is unsuccessful, so the women train as cat burglars, instead.

Her group evolves into an all-lesbian organization, based in Harlem, known as the Cement Mixers. In the novel, she has black hair, pale skin, and (according to Bond) the only violet eyes that Bond has ever seen. She is in her 30s, and her voice is low and attractive. Born into poverty in the rural Southern United States, she fell into juvenile delinquency. Attempting to go straight, she joined the circus and became an acrobat. Pussy tells Bond that she became a lesbian after she was sexually abused by her uncle at the age of 12.

Auric Goldfinger enlists the help of Pussy and her Cement Mixers to carry out "Operation Grand Slam", a scheme to kill all the soldiers guarding Fort Knox by poisoning their water supply with a water-borne nerve agent (GB, also called sarin), and then to use a nuclear weapon he had purchased from a quartermaster storekeeper at an Allied military base in Germany for a million dollars to blow open the United States Bullion Depository and contaminate the one billion dollars of gold stored there with the nuclear bomb to make it radioactive, which will vastly increase the value of his gold holdings. [2] Goldfinger chooses the Cement Mixers because he needs a group of women to impersonate the nurses in the fake emergency medical teams he plans to send into the poison-stricken Fort Knox.

After Bond and Felix Leiter foil "Grand Slam", Galore runs into Bond while impersonating a stewardess on Goldfinger's hijacked escape flight to the Soviet Union (which carries his remaining fortune in gold). Bond, having previously been drugged by a fake vaccination, has been kidnapped and transported onto the plane to join Goldfinger, who is determined to kill him at last.

However, Bond punctures one of the airplane's windows with a knife (causing Goldfinger's henchman Oddjob to be blown out and plunge to his death), then tackles Goldfinger, and in the ensuing struggle, kills him. Bond then forces the crew of the airplane to reverse course. When the gold-heavy craft runs out of fuel, and the crew must ditch it in the ocean, Bond and Pussy are the only ones who manage to escape into a life raft. The end of the novel hints that Pussy is sent to prison, as she says to Bond, "Will you write to me in Sing Sing?"

Her original Amazonian catwomen appear as characters in the film, but as small-aircraft aerobatic pilots rather than trapeze artists.

Authorized sequel by Anthony Horowitz

The character returned in Trigger Mortis a 2013 novel by Anthony Horowitz, authorized by the Fleming estate. The story takes place in the 1950s, two weeks after the events of Goldfinger. It contains previously unreleased material by Fleming. [3] [4] [5]

Film

In the film, Galore is first seen when Bond wakes up in Goldfinger's private jet, having been knocked out with a tranquiliser gun by a Goldfinger henchman. He is lying on a couch when he regains consciousness, and since the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is her stunning blonde-framed visage leaning over him, the dialogue runs as follows:

James Bond:Who are you?
Pussy Galore:My name is Pussy Galore.
James Bond:I must be dreaming. [6]

She is the leader of Pussy Galore's Flying Circus, a group of women aviators connected with Goldfinger's "Operation Grand Slam" (played in certain scenes by stuntmen in blonde wigs). In a later scene, Pussy uses judo to attack Bond after she catches him eavesdropping on Goldfinger's plan, and turns him over to Goldfinger.

However, Bond corners Galore in a barn and forcibly holds her down and kisses her. She initially tries to fight him off, but as he overpowers her, she eventually succumbs.

She then secretly turns against Goldfinger; she alerts the Central Intelligence Agency to her employer's scheme, and they help her replace the deadly nerve gas that Goldfinger is planning to have her aviators spray over Fort Knox with a different, harmless substance.

Having foiled Goldfinger's plan, Bond boards the President's private plane to travel to the White House. Goldfinger, now a fugitive, forces Galore to participate in hijacking the plane to force the pilot to fly him to Cuba. However, Bond defeats Goldfinger by shooting out the plane's window and causing him to be sucked out of the plane at high altitude and to plunge to his death. Bond then saves Galore from the crashing plane: they both bail out and land safely in an unidentified tropical region, and are presumed to have sex under their parachute.

Reception

Pussy ranked second in a poll of favourite Bond girls by Entertainment Weekly in 2007, beaten only by Ursula Andress' character Honey Ryder. [7] Yahoo! Movies had her name included in the 2012 list of the best Bond girl names, calling it "The most famous Bond Girl name, and also the rudest — U.S. censors almost cut it from Goldfinger."

Elisabeth Ladenson wrote that she is one of "two memorable lesbians" from Fleming's Bond novels (the other being Rosa Klebb). [8]

The 1997 parody film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery features a character named Alotta Fagina, an in an apparent reference to Galore and other Bond girls with salacious names. [9]

The Rolex GMT-Master reference 6542 is nicknamed "Pussy Galore", as the movie character wears this particular watch. [10]

Related Research Articles

<i>James Bond</i> Media franchise about a British spy

The James Bond series focuses on the titular character, a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelisations: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd, and Anthony Horowitz. The latest novel is With a Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz, published in May 2022. Additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny.

<i>Dr. No</i> (novel) 1958 novel by Ian Fleming

Dr. No is the sixth novel by the English author Ian Fleming to feature his British Secret Service agent James Bond. Fleming wrote the novel in early 1957 at his Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. It was first published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 31 March 1958. The novel centres on Bond's investigation into the disappearance in Jamaica of two fellow MI6 operatives. He establishes that they had been investigating Doctor No, a Chinese operator of a guano mine on the fictional Caribbean island of Crab Key. Bond travels to the island and meets Honeychile Rider and later Doctor No.

<i>Goldfinger</i> (novel) Novel by Ian Fleming

Goldfinger is the seventh novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. Written in January and February 1958, it was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 23 March 1959. The story centres on the investigation by the British Secret Service operative James Bond into the gold-smuggling activities of Auric Goldfinger, who is also suspected by MI6 of being connected to SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence organisation. As well as establishing the background to the smuggling operation, Bond uncovers a much larger plot: Goldfinger plans to steal the gold reserves of the United States from Fort Knox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bond girl</span> Female love interest and/or sidekick of James Bond

A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest, female companion or (occasionally) an adversary of James Bond in a novel, film, or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or sexual puns, such as Plenty O'Toole, Holly Goodhead, or Xenia Onatopp. The female leads in the films, such as Ursula Andress, Honor Blackman, or Eva Green, can also be referred to as "Bond girls". The term Bond girl may also be considered as an anachronism, with some female cast members in the films preferring the designation Bond woman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oddjob</span> Fictional character from the James Bond film series

Oddjob is a fictional character in the espionage novels and films featuring James Bond. He is a henchman to the villain Auric Goldfinger in the 1959 James Bond novel Goldfinger and its 1964 film adaptation, making a cameo appearance in the mid-credits scene of Inspector Gadget (1999). In the film adaptation of Goldfinger, he was played by the Japanese-American actor and professional wrestler Harold Sakata. Oddjob, who also appears in the James Bond animated series and in several video games, is one of the most popular characters in the Bond series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honor Blackman</span> British actress (1925–2020)

Honor Blackman was an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers (1962–1964), Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964), Julia Daggett in Shalako (1968), and Hera in Jason and the Argonauts (1963). She is also known for her role as Laura West in the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand (1990–1996).

<i>GoldenEye: Rogue Agent</i> 2004 video game

GoldenEye: Rogue Agent is a first-person shooter video game in the James Bond franchise, developed by EA Los Angeles and published by Electronic Arts. The player takes the role of an ex-MI6 agent, who is recruited by Auric Goldfinger to assassinate his rival Dr. No. Several other characters from the Bond franchise make appearances throughout the game, including Pussy Galore, Oddjob, Xenia Onatopp and Francisco Scaramanga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auric Goldfinger</span> Fictional James Bond villain

Auric Goldfinger is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Ian Fleming's 1959 seventh James Bond novel, Goldfinger, and the 1964 film it inspired. His first name, Auric, is an adjective meaning "of gold". Fleming chose the name to commemorate the architect Ernő Goldfinger, who had built his home in Hampstead next door to Fleming's; he disliked Goldfinger's style of architecture and destruction of Victorian terraces and decided to name a memorable villain after him. According to a 1965 Forbes article and The New York Times, the Goldfinger persona was based on gold-mining magnate Charles W. Engelhard, Jr.

Ian Fleming Publications is the production company formerly known as both Glidrose Productions Limited and Glidrose Publications Limited, named after its founders John Gliddon and Norman Rose. In 1952, author Ian Fleming bought it after completing his first James Bond novel, Casino Royale; he assigned most of his rights in Casino Royale, and the works which followed it to Glidrose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosa Klebb</span> Fictional Character and James Bond villain

Colonel Rosa Klebb is a fictional character, the main antagonist in the James Bond 1957 novel and 1963 film From Russia with Love, in which she is played by Lotte Lenya. She was a Soviet counter-intelligence operative until being discharged and joining SPECTRE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honey Ryder</span> Female character in the James Bond novel and film Dr. No

Honeychile Rider is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Dr. No. In the 1962 Bond film of the same name, her name was shortened and spelled Honey Ryder. In the film, she is played by Swiss actress Ursula Andress, with her lines dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl due to Andress' heavy accent.

<i>Goldfinger</i> (film) 1964 spy film by Guy Hamilton

Goldfinger is a 1964 spy film and the third instalment in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman, Gert Fröbe and Shirley Eaton. Goldfinger was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. The film was the first of four Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton.

<i>Goldfinger</i> (soundtrack) 1964 soundtrack album by John Barry

Goldfinger is the soundtrack of the 1964 film of the same name, the third film in the James Bond film series, directed by Guy Hamilton. The album was composed by John Barry and distributed by EMI. Two versions were released initially, one in the United States and the United Kingdom, which varied in terms of length and which tracks were within the soundtrack. In 2003, Capitol-EMI records released a remastered version that contained all the tracks within the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camille Montes</span> Fictional character in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Bond (literary character)</span> Fictional spy

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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to James Bond:

<i>Trigger Mortis</i> Book by Anthony Horowitz

Trigger Mortis is a 2015 James Bond novel written by Anthony Horowitz, and commissioned by the estate of Bond's creator Ian Fleming, which was published on 8 September 2015.

References

  1. Thomson, Ian (6 June 2008). "Devil May Care, by Sebastian Faulks, writing as Ian Fleming; For Your Eyes Only, by Ben Macintyre". The Independent . Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  2. Goldfinger , chapters 17 & 18
  3. "James Bond: Pussy Galore returns in new novel". BBC News. BBC. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  4. Flood, Alison (28 May 2015). "New James Bond novel Trigger Mortis resurrects Pussy Galore". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  5. Furness, Hannah (28 May 2015). "Pussy Galore returns for new James Bond novel Trigger Mortis". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  6. Sandiford, Theda (24 October 2012). "Pussy Galore - The Complete History of Bond Girls". complex.com .
  7. "Countdown! The 10 best Bond girls | James Bond | Movie Commentary | DVD". Entertainment Weekly . New York City: Meredith Corporation. 20 September 2010. Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  8. Ladenson, Elisabeth (2001). "Lovely Lesbians; or, Pussy Galore". GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 7 (3): 417–423. doi:10.1215/10642684-7-3-417. ISSN   1527-9375. S2CID   144609937.
  9. Lindner 2009, p. 76.
  10. "GMT Master History". GMT Master History. Retrieved 29 March 2012.

Bibliography