As each year comes and goes we have to watch as at least a few if not several of those that have entertained us in the past pass on, and more often than not those that are remembered for classics that have long since come and gone are the ones that are lost. Honor Blackman might not be a name that a lot of people in today’s era remember, unless of course those that are old enough to recall The Avengers, the TV show not the comic book team, and Honor’s role as a Bond girl at one point. Among the many actresses in Hollywood she is most definitely one that had a storied career and was one of the more opinionated individuals of the bunch. In a big way Honor was the type of woman that wasn’t afraid to say what she had to say since there was, in her estimation, no point in holding back. Her career spanned for almost six decades, during which one can easily think that she saw a lot of changes come to the business and was no doubt right there to witness many of them. Throughout her long life Honor went from being widely famous to being a well-respected but lesser-known name since that’s the nature of show business, one moment a person is up at the top of the peak and the next they’ve been supplanted with a long list of actors waiting for their own turn at greatness.
Those actors that come and go however without making any definable mark during their career are still to be respected, but those such as Honor are usually better being named for the legends they are since they did more than just make a mark, they helped to guide Hollywood along a winding and twisting track until it’s come to where it’s at now. Steve Palace of The Vintage News has more on this topic. It’s hard to know just what Honor would think of the business now since a great many things have changed in the past sixty years, innovation and original ideas being a couple of them, but it does sound fair to say that she would be judicial in her opinion no matter what. There are plenty of people willing to say that the movies and TV shows during her time were a great deal better since they told stories that hadn’t yet been repeated over and over again, but in truth innovation has always been under attack from the stale and unimaginative attempts of those that want to work with a formula that’s had success in the past but is far from perfect.
To her own credit Honor never wanted to be seen as ‘just a Bond girl‘ or the hot but brainless bimbo that some women were classified as in the movies. She was an intelligent woman without any doubts and she made her way in Hollywood by showing that she wasn’t just a pretty face and a nice body. There are many that might have tried to classify her as little more than someone that wanted to be seen as smart but didn’t have the talent, but she was very adept at proving such words wrong as she did her part to make certain that she was seen as the strong, intellectual woman that she wanted to be, and had no qualms about making sure that people knew it. Actresses such as Honor don’t come around all the time, and despite the fact that everyone’s name is bound to fade and even be forgotten after a while, it’s important to hold them up and keep them as close to mind as possible at times if only to remember what they did for show business and how much they’ve contributed throughout their long careers. We could easily go down a list of Honor’s accomplishments before her passing but that would take an enormous amount of time since this woman had a long and very impressive career. One thing that is important to note however is that despite all she’s done and all she’s accomplished, she remained fairly humble during her time as an actress as well.
Honor actually turned down a CBE, a British award that many have gratefully accepted over the years when it’s been bestowed upon them, because she felt it wouldn’t be right with her being a Republican. Anything else a person might want to say about this lady is always up for debate, but in a big way she wasn’t a hypocrite since she stuck to her guns and was forthright in the way she lived. It might take a couple of hours or it might take days to know just who she was and what she was all about, but one thing is clear when it comes to Honor Blackman is that she was a woman that knew what she wanted out of the business. Rest in peace ma’am.
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