Before Black Widow: RIP Honor Blackman
British actress Honor Blackman has died at 94. While news service The Guardian has done a fine job outlining the range of her work, Blackman first came to prominence on the 1960s spy-fi series The Avengers as Cathy Gale—the “judo-practicing, catsuit-wearing anthropologist” who worked alongside Patrick Macnee’s John Steed in the second and third seasons of the show.
Following Blackman’s exit to co-star with Sean Connery in Goldfinger, the series got a major upgrade—including better production values, and it was exported to the U.S. for a larger audience. Consequently, so many have fond memories of her successor, Emma Peele (played by Diana Rigg).
These days, we might take kick-ass female action heroes for granted—from Katniss and Xena to Buffy and Sarah Connor. But it was Cathy Gale who paved the way for black-leather-wearing, martial-arts fighting women everywhere.
Find out more about the Cathy Gale era of The Avengers at the fan site The Avengers Forever. Watch the video below for an assortment of fight scenes from the The Avengers, including Gale as well as fellow Avengers members Steed, Peele, and Tara King:
