The One Thing That Terrifies Honor Blackman

HONOR BLACKMAN is blonde, pretty, and loaded with whatever it is that gives a woman plenty of "oomph."  She is plenty tough, too.   Oh, yes, indeed!
    I went straight to have a chat with her and straight off I wondered if all that judo stuff she's supposed to do on television was for real.
    "Try me," she invited coolly.  So I did.  So now I'm nursing my bruises.
    All I did was crook a friendly arm around her pretty neck.  And before I could say "AVENGERS" she had me in the sort of wrist lock that would make a Saturday afternoon grunt-and-groan merchant gasp his last.
    "That's just to show you it isn't all play acting," she told me sweetly.  "We have to be genuine in whatever we do."
    I decided to settle for a cup of tea and a quiet talk.
    Dressed to kill (literally) in her black leather fighting suit and high-heeled boots, Honor was rehearsing for another "Avenger" series due to start on September 28.

YELLOW BELT

    "Actually, this judo business is a little embarrassing," she confided.  "Too many people want to try me out!  I'm terrified one day I shall come unstuck.
    "After all, I'm only a yellow belt - one of the lowest grades.   It only needs a black belt to give me a going-over and I'd never work again!
    "I collect plenty of bruises from the studio falls - though fortunately where they will never show!"
    Why take risks even in the studios?
    "You've got to have realism," Honor explained.   "Televiewers are so perceptive, they instantly spot mistakes and write in to complain."
    Honor is certainly the gal for action.  In this new series, she'll be in thrills a-plenty.  Among other things in store for her she will be tied to a railway line while an express train thunders nearer - and nearer.  Shades of Pearl White!

WEARS A WIG

    The only fake thing about Honor on the screen is her hair.  It's a wig!
    "And that's purely to save time," Honor told me.   "When we're shooting I have one hour off a day - and I use that to eat.   There isn't time to start having hair styles.  So they plonk a beautiful wig atop my curls and I'm ready for anything."
    When the series finishes in March, she plans to leave the "Avengers" team for good.
    "I don't worry about being type cast, but the thing is not to stay so long you forget what you can do."
    Honor has been married for 18 months and spends all the time she can with her husband.

back to 1963