Every James Bond Girl Ranked From Worst To Best

In terms of the sacrificial lamb Bond Girls, Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton), Goldfinger's assistant who helps him cheat at cards, is the best of all time for two main reasons.

Firstly, her death scene - she is found on the bed covered in gold paint - is absolutely iconic but secondly, and more importantly, her demise represents a real psychological blow for Bond. He evidently feels a lot of guilt about what happened and receives a sharp dressing-down from M (Bernard Lee) oversleeping with Jill and getting her killed in the process.

This is a very effective moment of failure for Bond and a refreshing break from him being the unstoppable spy he normally is. While alive, Jill is just fine. She's not developed or anything, but she's not annoying either and is rather endearing.

Considering how forgettable this type of character normally is, Jill Masterson was a real breath of fresh air.

Fun fact: an urban legend circulated afterwards that Shirley died for real. Ironically, she's actually the only main cast member in Goldfinger who's still alive.