20 Things You Didn’t Know About Goldfinger (1964)
15. “I Want Him Dead! He Killed My Sister!”
Half-British, half-Russian model, Tania Mallet, cousin of Dame Helen Mirren, had previously auditioned for the role of Tatiana Romanova in From Russia With Love, but lost out to Italian actress, Daniela Bianchi. Despite this, she was only cast as Jill Masterson’s vengeful sister, Tilly in Goldfinger after Cubby Broccoli saw a photograph of her in a bikini.
However, her experience on the film was not entirely happy.
She had incredible restrictions placed on her during filming, such as not being allowed to ride a horse or to travel abroad except for filming. She also found the pay, when compared to her modelling work, to be horrendous; she was originally offered £50 a week but, after a week of difficult negotiations, she managed to increase it to £150. Even so, she could have earned that sort of money in one day of modelling!
She retired from acting shortly afterwards, only returning for an uncredited role in an episode of The New Avengers (1976-1977) fittingly entitled “The Midas Touch”.