Biography
Though forever connected to the James Bond franchise with her appearance in "Goldfinger" (1964), Tania Mallet preferred modeling to acting, and enjoyed a lengthy career in that field before her death in 2019. Born Tatiana Mallet on May 19, 1941 in the English seaside town of Blackpool, she was the daughter of car salesman Henry Mallet and Olga Mironoff, a former chorus girl from Russia whose younger brother, Vasily, was the father of actress Dame Helen Mirren. Mallet enrolled in the Lucie Clayton Charm Academy at the age of 16, which led to work as a model for print and her first screen appearance in "Girls, Girls, Girls!" (1961), a documentary about the modeling world from director Michael Winner. On a whim, she decided to audition for the role of Soviet agent Tatiana Romanova in the second James Bond feature, "From Russia With Love" (1963). Despite her half-Russian heritage, Mallet did not win the part, but producer Cubby Broccoli suggested her for a small but significant role in the next Bond film, "Goldfinger." Mallet played Tilly Masterson, sister of Jill Masterson, who suffocated after being painted in gold by the film's megalomaniacal villain, Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe). Tilly attempted to kill Goldfinger to avenge her sister's death, but was dispatched by his henchman, Oddjob (Harold Sakata) and his razor-brimmed hat. "Goldfinger" would be Mallet's first and only screen acting experience; she disliked the studio's restriction on her travel and personal activities, and the low rate of weekly pay made it difficult for her to support her mother and two brothers, which she had been able to do as a model. She abandoned acting, save for a single appearance in a 1976 episode of "The New Avengers" (ITV, 1976-77), and after marrying management consultant Simon Radcliffe, returned to a successful career in modeling. Mallet maintained a casual connection to the Bond franchise in the years that followed, including appearances at conventions, but found greater pleasure as a dog breeder and mother to Radcliffe's two children, including future publicist Louise Radcliffe. Three years after her husband's death in 2016, Mallet died of undisclosed causes at the age of 77 on March 30, 1941.
