Tania Mallet

{{Infobox person

| image = TaniaMallet1964.jpg

| caption = Mallet in 1964 on set of Goldfinger

| name = Tania Mallet

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1941|5|19|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Blackpool, Lancashire, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|3|30|1941|5|19|df=yes}}

| death_place =

| occupation = Actress, model

| yearsactive = 1961–1976

| spouse = {{marriage|Simon Radcliffe
|1976|2016|end=d}}

| relatives = Helen Mirren (cousin)

}}

Tania Mallet (19 May 1941 – 30 March 2019)England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007 was an English actress and model, best known for playing Tilly Masterson in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964).

Early life and ancestry

Mallet was born on 19 May 1941 in Blackpool, the daughter of Russian noblewoman and former chorus girl Olga Petrovna Mironoff (1920-1983) and English millionaire car salesman Henry Mallet (1909-1983).{{cite web | url=https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=en&pz=timothy+michael&nz=dowling&p=tania&n=mallet | title=Family tree of Tania Mallet }}{{cite web | url=https://www.mallettfamilyhistory.org/tng/getperson.php?personID=I3879&tree=M05 | title=Olga MIRONOFF b. Est 1909: Mallett Family History }} Her maternal grandfather, Pyotr Vasilievich Mironov (1884-1957), was a member of an exiled Russian aristocracy and a colonel in the Russian Imperial Army, and owned a large family estate near Gagarin, Smolensk Oblast (former Gzhatsk in the Russian Empire); he was serving as a diplomat in London, in the service of Nicholas II of Russia, as the Russian Revolution was unfolding and decided to stay in the UK.{{cite news|last=Pendreigh|first=Brian|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/17553521.obituary-tania-mallet-actress-and-model-who-was-a-bond-girl-in-goldfinger/|title=Obituary: Tania Mallet, actress and model who was a Bond girl in Goldfinger|work=The Herald|location=Glasgow|date=5 April 2019|access-date=7 May 2019}}https://dzen.ru/a/X70SWAtK-AFJwEpF His mother was Countess Lydia Andreevna Kamenskaya (1848-1928), also a Russian aristocrat and a descendant of Count Mikhail Fedotovich Kamensky, a prominent Russian general in the Napoleonic Wars.{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/10/02/061002fa_fact1 |title=Command Performance: The reign of Helen Mirren |last=Lahr |first=John |date=2 October 2006 |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=24 October 2010}}{{cite news | url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/la-canada-valley-sun/news/tn-vsl-xpm-2006-09-28-lap-queen0921-story.html | title=Behind the Scene:God Save The Queen | date=28 September 2006 | work=The Los Angeles Times | access-date=12 February 2020 | first=Susan E. | last=James}} Tania Mallett signed her name with the double "-tt" when giving autographs and her modelling card as a Lucie Clayton model in 1968 was as "Tania Mallett". Her half-brothers Paul and Peter both spell their names as 'Mallett'. She was a cousin of actress Helen Mirren; her mother, Olga Petrovna Mironova (later Mironoff) (1920-1983), and Mirren's father, Vasily Petrovich Mironov (later Mironoff) (1913-1980) were siblings.{{sfn|Mirren|2007|pp=48, 256}} Mallet was educated in both England and France. Her parents divorced and her mother later married conman George Dawson, who served three years in prison for committing fraud.

Career

File:ETH-BIB Goldfinger 1964 – Com C13-035-006.jpg in Goldfinger (1964)]]

Mallet worked as a model before becoming an actress, appearing four times on the cover of the British edition of Vogue between 1961 and 1964.{{cite web | url=https://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/tania-mallet-remembered | title=A Life in Vogue: Remembering Sixties Cover Girl Tania Mallet | date=3 April 2019 }} She also played a model{{cite news | url=https://houseofmirelle.uk/2020/01/31/fashion-history-girls-girls-girls-shows-life-as-a-model-in-the-early-1960s/ | title=Fashion History: Girls Girls Girls Shows Life as a Model in the Early 1960s | newspaper=The House of Mirelle | date=31 January 2020 }} in Michael Winner's short film Girls Girls Girls, released in 1961.{{cite news|last=Pulver|first=Andrew|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/01/tania-mallet-dies-tilly-masterson-goldfinger-james-bond|title=Tania Mallet, Tilly Masterson in James Bond film Goldfinger, dies aged 77|work=The Guardian|date=1 April 2019|access-date=1 April 2019}}

Mallet reportedly auditioned for the part of Tatiana Romanova in From Russia with Love (1963); although half-Russian, she was unsuccessful due to her English accent.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-47772012|title=Goldfinger actress dies aged 77|work=BBC News|date=1 April 2019|access-date=1 April 2019}} According to Mallet, she was given the part of "Bond girl" Tilly Masterson

in Goldfinger (1964) when someone sent a photo of her wearing a bikini to producer Albert Broccoli.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

Despite the film's commercial and critical success, Goldfinger was Mallet's only major film role. Cast as the revenge-seeking sister of the murdered Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton), her own character was killed by the steel-rimmed hat of Goldfinger's henchman Oddjob. Her only other acting role was in 1976, an uncredited appearance as Sara in the New Avengers episode "The Midas Touch".{{cite news|last=Manby|first=Christine|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tania-mallet-bond-girl-james-bond-goldfinger-model-hollywood-a8894951.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tania-mallet-bond-girl-james-bond-goldfinger-model-hollywood-a8894951.html |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Tania Mallet: The Blackpool Bond girl who shunned Hollywood|work=The Independent|date=6 May 2019|access-date=7 May 2019}}

Mallet cited two reasons for returning to modelling and turning down all further film offers. She did not like the restrictions imposed on her personal freedom when she was under contract during the filming of Goldfinger, including being unable to travel abroad or ride horses. She also said the money was "dreadful". She was initially offered £50 a week and managed to increase her fee to £150 a week after tough negotiations, but was still dismayed as she had been earning this kind of money daily as a model.

Personal life

Mallet married Simon Radcliffe in 1976, and became stepmother to his children. They remained married until his death in 2016.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/04/03/tania-mallet-model-actress-best-known-tilly-masterson-goldfinger/|title=Tania Mallet, model and actress best known as Tilly Masterson in 'Goldfinger' – obituary|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=3 April 2019|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}} It was Mallet's second marriage.

Mallet's cousin Helen Mirren described Mallet in her autobiography as "impossibly beautiful and kind" and "a loyal and generous person" who used her earnings from modelling to pay for her brother's education and financially support her mother.{{cite book|last=Mirren|first=Helen|title=In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures|location=New York|publisher=Atria Books|year=2007}}{{rp|49}}

Death

Mallet died on 30 March 2019, aged 77.{{Cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2019/03/tania-mallet-dead-model-james-bond-goldfinger-actress-obituary-1202585981/|title=Tania Mallet Dies: Model And 'Goldfinger' Actress Was 77|work=Deadline Hollywood|date=31 March 2019|access-date=1 April 2019|author=Ramos, Dino-Ray}}{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/007/status/1112469415650648066|title=We are very sorry to hear that Tania Mallet who played Tilly Masterson in GOLDFINGER has passed away. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time.pic.twitter.com/gMkqqheGJ7|first=James|last=Bond|date=31 March 2019}}

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable"
Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable"\|Notes
1964	Goldfinger	Tilly Masterson
1976	The New Avengers	Sara	Episode: "The Midas Touch"

class="wikitable sortable"

Year

! Title

! Role

! class="unsortable"|Notes

1964

Goldfinger

Tilly Masterson

1976

The New Avengers

Sara

Episode: "The Midas Touch"