Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman has had the most extraordinary career, from Jason and The Argonauts through The Avengers and Bond where she played the best ever of the bevy of Bond girls, a wide range of theatre including musicals and enough TV where she proved her worth as a comic actor with great timing. But on stage she gave us the background, the hardship of her youth, her launch into theatre, her marriages, her adoption of two children and the sad death of her brother. This she did with extraordinary skill, the story shifting from wry observations, witty put-downs to genuinely moving moments that had one close to tears – but then with a twinkle of those very sexy eyes she would haul us back, reeling us in with yet another tale. Her two songs, ‘Send in The Clowns’ which she sang in A Little Night Music, and a Dietrich classic from her one-woman Marlene show were equally tantalizing, the voice frail but with assured musicality and expert timing. From her first appearance in blue velvet to the last draped in white fur, she held the audience with her charm, her talent and her untampered-with elegance and beauty.

Komedia, 11 May 2013

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