The Goldfinger Gallery

Following on from Dr. No and From Russia With Love, Goldfinger became James Bond’s third big screen adventure, pitting 007 (Sean Connery) against Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe), one of the world’s wealthiest men, who is planning Operation Grand Slam, a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve to increase the value of his own bullion. To celebrate the film’s sixtieth anniversary, enjoy this collection of behind-the-scenes images, documents, concept art and posters from the EON archive.

Seagull Surprise

Bond’s entry into Goldfinger sees him infiltrate a Latin American drug warehouse, emerging from the water with a seagull on his head (the waterfront was constructed on the water tank at Pinewood studios). In Ian Fleming’s novel, the mission was presented as a flashback beginning with Bond walking into a club. Original screenwriter Paul Dehn extended the sequence to show 007 coming out of the sea, scaling a wall and planting explosives. 

We Have Some Notes

Dated 3 February 1963, just five weeks before filming began, Richard Maibaum’s script notes reveal a script conference with the writer, Cubby Broccoli and Sean Connery, held in Los Angeles where the actor was shooting Hitchcock’s Marnie. The transcript reveals not only the highly collaborative nature of the process but also Connery’s intuitive grasp of tone, sharing concerns the current draft is too joke heavy and light.

Painted Lady

Bond wakes up from being knocked unconscious by Oddjob (Harold Sakata) and discovers Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton), Goldfinger’s personal assistant, painted head to toe in gold, killed by skin asphyxiation.

After the make-up dept experimented with different paints to see what would work under the hot lights, the scene was shot on April 20. The gold was applied with a paintbrush by make-up artist Paul Rabiger and it took around 90 minutes to apply. There was no paint on Eaton’s front, allowing her skin to breathe.

“I did feel hot and uncomfortable,” remembered Shirley Eaton, “but (director) Guy Hamilton was very considerate of me. He got it done very quickly and the two shots were done in one morning.”

The scene became one of the iconic images in the series and was homaged in Quantum Of Solace when agent Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton) was killed in a similar fashion but with crude oil.

Bond To A Tee

Bond and Goldfinger battle it out in the most under-handed golf game ever filmed. The stakes between Bond and Goldfinger start small – “Shall we make it a shilling a hole?” suggests Bond – but soon escalates when 007 drops a bar of lost gold onto the green.

The Stoke Poges golf course was only a ten-minute drive from Pinewood Studios but the shoot was plagued by five days of bad weather. A different kind of duel took place as Connery and Fröbe engaged in a mock swordfight with golf clubs as the cast and crew waited for the conditions to improve. The scene played squarely to Connery’s passion for the game.

“The great joke about him was his absolute obsession with golf,” recalled Honor Blackman, who played Pussy Galore. “He was mad about it. A real addict. The rest of us had to steer him away from the subject or he’d go on for hours, giving us a ball-by-ball replay.”

The scene also provided an opportunity to show the threat posed by Goldfinger’s manservant Oddjob (Harold Sakata), firstly by crushing a golf ball in one hand and then by decapitating a statue by flinging his bowler hat. The moment was created by a series of shots captured at both Stoke Poges and in the gardens at Pinewood, stitched seamlessly together by editor Peter Hunt.

Taking The High Road

Following the golf duel, Bond tracks Goldfinger to Switzerland using a homing device hidden in the bullion dealer’s Rolls-Royce Phantom III. Guy Hamilton scouted for locations in a single weekend, looking for a winding road where Bond tails Goldfinger. The location at the Furka pass allowed Hamilton to create three separate planes of action with Bond being targeted by Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet) while he is looking at Goldfinger. The Switzerland shoot was delayed not only by inclement weather but also by the clutch on the Aston Martin burning out, resulting in some hasty repairs.

The Tables Are Turned

The torture of Bond by Goldfinger, with 007 strapped to a laser table, was the first scene shot with Connery and Fröbe. The initial idea was to utilise a real laser but the pencil thin line disappeared under the powerful studio lights. While the laser’s beam was added in later optically, an acetylene torch actually cut through gold sheets (actually cut made with brass) mounted on an electrically operated unit underneath the table.

Positively Shocking Pages

The climax of Goldfinger takes place in Fort Knox as Bond thwarts Goldfinger’s Operation Grand Slam. Production designer Ken Adam meticulously recreated the exterior of Fort Knox in Black Park, an outside space adjacent to the back lot, while a more fanciful interior was created in the studio. 

The scene involved intricate fight choreography between 007 and henchman Oddjob. The script had Bond attack Bond with a forklift truck loaded with gold bars but Hamilton wanted something more. The final death scene sees Bond throw Oddjob’s steel rimmed hat that gets stuck between the bars in a grille, then electrocuting the henchman with a live wire as he goes to retrieve his bowler.

“Harold grabbed the hat and all the bang bangs were set off,” recalled Hamilton. “The bang bangs were very well done and very spectacular and I was intrigued. And the only timing I remember was that when the effects started to die, I will say ‘Harold’, and then he could fall down dead. The effects were rather fun and were going on so I didn’t say ‘Harold’ for quite a time. Eventually as they started to die down, I said, ‘Harold’, and then he – doink! – did a very spectacular fall.” 

Works Of Art

Goldfinger had its royal premiere in London at the Odeon Leicester Square on September 17 1964 (Honor Blackman called it “the most glamorous night of my life”). Released later in the US on Christmas Day, the film opened in 64 cinemas where it recouped its $3 million budget in just two weeks. The film went onto gross almost $125 million worldwide, breaking box office records globally.

Key to the film’s success was its poster campaign. The UK posters saw designer Robert Brownjohn riff on his title sequences, using Margaret Nolan rather than Shirley Eaton as the ‘golden girl’. The French poster design focused on the battles between Bond and Oddjob, while the Japanese poster puts 007 front and centre surrounded by key scenes from the film.