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Cast and crew members came together to celebrate
Goldfinger at a recent BondStars event at Pinewood
Studios...
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Goldfinger Reunion Event
16th April 2008
On Sunday 13th April 2008, over 120 guests plus
over a dozen cast and crew members came together to celebrate
what is considered to be a Bond classic - Goldfinger. In previous
years Bondstars.com
has organised events at the studio with actors from the films
(an Afternoon With Richard Kiel; A Celebration of Bond and An
Evening with George Lazenby; Bond
Girls Are Forever, and Behind the Scenes
of Bond), but this year’s event was to pay tribute
to Goldfinger.
Cast and Crew with Bond authors Lee
Pfeiffer, Dave Worrall and the most famous car in the World! |
What started as a screening with a few special
guests turned eventually into an historic reunion the likes of
which will never be repeated! At 10:45 the doors were opened and
our attendees enjoyed refreshments and mingled with our special
guests - Norman Wanstall, Shirley Eaton, Tania Mallett, Margaret
Nolan, Caron Gardner, Guy Hamilton and Burt Kwouk. The Cinemastore
were also on hand to sell Bond goodies to eager Bond fans. A little
later more special guests arrived in the guise of production designers
Peter Murton, Sir Kenneth Adam with his Lady Adam, Peter Lamont,
lyricist Leslie Bricusse and his wife Yvonne Romain, and Martin
Benson.
Actor Burt Kwouk |
Editor Noman Wanstall and his Oscar
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On show was the one of a kind prototype Corgi
DB5 which was kindly loaned to us by Corgi UK. It's value was
said to be over £15,000!
Dave Worrall and our guests braved the weather to tour the studio
locations used in Goldfinger, including the ornamental gardens
for the location of the statue - which is the first victim of
Oddjob's deadly bowler hat - then on to the paddock tank where
the pre-title sequence was filmed, the covered way and the backlot
which is where the exterior of the Fort Knox set was built and
Goldfinger's Kentucky Ranch. The Aston Martin DB5 meanwhile awaited
the tour in the covered way - scene of the famous car chase.
Actress Honor Blackman presents Director Guy Hamilton
with Cinema Retro's award
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Director Guy Hamilton shows off his award
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After the tour and the April showers, the warmth
of Theatre 7 was very welcoming as our guests took their seats
for what would be a very memorable afternoon, starting with the
newly restored and remastered version of Goldfinger. However,
there was one more surprise - to introduce the film was Pussy
Galore herself, Honor Blackman, to a well deserved standing ovation.
Cinema Retro's Dave Worrall, Lee Pfeiffer with Actress Honor
Blackman and Director Guy Hamilton |
For a film over 40 years old the quality of
both sound and picture was simply stunning. We have to thank
our friends
at EON Productions and Park
Circus who kindly loaned us this new version of the film.
After a short break, the Q & A session took place with Golden
Girl Shirley Eaton and Tania Mallett reminiscing about their time
on the film where Shirley was again asked to explain the procedure
for covering her body in gold paint - a question she never tires
of answering with great enthusiasm.
Tania chatted about how she was offered the lead in From
Russia With Love, but declined as she 'was not an actress'
and said she'd prefer 'a smaller role to get started with'. Her
wish was granted on the next film!
Lyricist Leslie Bricusse & Yvonne
Romain |
Leslie Bricusse chatted about the famous title
song, and his other John Barry collaborations - even revealing
he had penned lyrics for a possible title song for On Her Majesty's
Secret Service. Put the words to that!
Next up were Burt Kwouk and Margaret Nolan. Margaret explained
how the producers wanted her to model for the opening titles,
but she said on the proviso they gave her a small part! Burt chatted
about the ever enduring success of Bond, before our guest of the
hour, director Guy Hamilton was welcomed to the stage.
Guy spoke about his four Bond films, and revealed he had been
asked to helm Dr No, but could not for family reasons. He also
spoke about how he is still not quite satisfied with the movie,
and feels he could improve on some scenes. Is that really possible?!
There was one more surprise too. Before leaving the stage, Guy
was presented with the Cinema Retro Outstanding Achievement award
by Honor Blackman.
Margaret Nolan, Honor Blackman, Guy Hamilton and Caron Gardner |
It was then back to the house for more refreshments
and autographs, with each attendee being presented with a souvenir
Corgi Aston Martin DB5 to take home.
Andy Boyle and Gareth Owen from Bondstars.com with the Goldfinger
girls
Shirley Eaton (Jill Masterson), Honor Blackman (Pussy
Galore), Tania Mallet (Tilly Masterson)
and Margaret Nolan
(Dink) |
At around 6.15pm, the ever enthusiastic visitors
made their way back to the Pine Room to collect their Corgi Aston
Martin DB5. An absolutely packed day and one of the
best ever BondStars events met with unanimous approval from everyone
in attendance with everyone asking "now what about later this year!"
Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore) and Director Guy Hamilton |
Many thanks to Gareth Owen, Andy Boyle and BondStars.
Report by Andrew Boyle & Gareth Owen.
All photographs are the property
Mark Mawston
and must not be reproduced without prior permission. Limited stocks
of the event programme can be purchased
here.
For further event coverage visit Cinema
Retro's website.