That’s a good innings for anyone.
That Doctor Who was in any way part of a CV that goes back to the days just after the end of World War II is perhaps both surprising and inevitable all at the same time. Appearing as Professor Lasky in the most nondescript segment of Colin Baker’s ‘Trial’ season, Terror of the Vervoids she provided a glimpse of glamour that was sorely missing in Doctor Who back to when Mary Tamm was the companion.
Of course she’ll be most widely remembered for ‘Goldfinger’ an in iconic role opposite Sean Connery, but the Tour Honchos will default to her pivotal role in ‘The Avengers’ playing Mrs. Cathy Gale opposite Patrick Macnee.
When original series star Ian Hendry left after the first series, and a fair bit of casting around with other ‘companions,’ Blackman was eventually alighted upon, and history was made for the duration of the second series and the whole of the third. The revelatory piece of casting was made by (almost entirely) just giving her Hendry’s lines and letting her play it with her own style and toughness.
Eventually the scripts would become more tailored for her performance but the template was set. From there Diana Rigg (from The Crimson Horror) would go on to make her considerable mark and an indelible classic was placed into the THT Brain Trust.
