Tania Mallet, born on 19 May 1941 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, is an English model and actress who is best known for her appearance as Tilly Masterson in the James Bond film Goldfinger. Mallet attended the Lucy Clayton's School Of Modelling, and started working as a model at just 16 years old in 1957, becoming one of the most recognisable and famous models of the late 1950s and early 1960s. According to Mallet, she got the part of Tilly Masterson when someone sent a photo of her in a bikini to Bond producer Cubby Broccoli. The character was killed off during the film when Oddjob hurled his steel rimmed hat at her. Mallet grabbed Broccoli's attention before Goldfinger: she was tested for the lead Bond girl role, Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love. Even though her mother is Russian, Mallet did not get the Russian role supposedly because of her provincial British accent. This is ironic however considering that the Italian actress Daniela Bianchi, who eventually played Tatiana, had her voice redubbed anyway. Despite the film's phenomenal success, Goldfinger would be Mallet's only major big screen appearance. [More at Wikipedia]

May 19th, 1941 in Blackpool  /  Died:   Mar 30th, 2019