Woman Who Provided The Inspiration for Miss Moneypenny Dies Aged 88

London Times ^ | December 18th 2009

[Steelfish]

December 19, 2009 Woman Who Provided The Inspiration for Miss Moneypenny Dies Aged 88

Dame "Paddy" Ridsdale, left, with Lois Maxwell, who played Miss Moneypenny, M's secretary, in 14 James Bond films [Pics in URL]

The secret service secretary who inspired the character of Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond stories has died aged 88. Dame Victoire “Paddy” Ridsdale once described Ian Fleming as “definitely James Bond in his mind”. Dame Paddy was definitely Miss Moneypenny — or at least a part of her. Fleming and Dame Paddy, then plain Paddy Bennett, were colleagues in the wartime Naval Intelligence Department: he was assistant to the Chief of Naval Intelligence; she was a secretary, and a most formidable one, with at least some of the characteristics associated with Fleming’s second-most beloved creation.

Dame Paddy did nothing to dampen speculation that she had been a model for Moneypenny, although there are other contenders.

In the books, Miss Moneypenny, M’s secretary, smoulders with unrequited love for 007. In Thunderball, we learn that she “often dreamed hopelessly about Bond”. Dame Paddy was a friend but denied harbouring amorous feelings for Fleming. She insisted that she was “never taken in by his charm”. “He’d go off and do something brave and come back with silk stockings and lipsticks for me,” she told People magazine in 1998. “I always kept him at arm’s length.”

[Eddie01]

Pennyless no doubt. How sad.

God Bless her in heaven.

[Tallguy]

... another "Miss Moneypenny"...Rachel Buckley from "Keen Eddie"

[incredulous joe]

Nice eyes!

[Aria]

No, not pennyless - she was a well to do and active conservative who apparently was quite interesting and interested. Her husband worked for Margaret Thatcher.

[buccaneer81]

Bond ping.

[Irish Rose]

The head of Naval Intelligence, Admiral John Godfrey, who was the model for M, deliberately recruited attractive women in the peculiar belief that they were less likely to want to impress men, and therefore less likely to spill intelligence secrets.

Um ...

[Perdogg]

Thank You. In the novels Moneypenny was less prominent than she was in the movies. Loelia Posonby was the pool secretary of the 007 section. In the novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service Ponsonby marries a member of the Baltic exchange and is replaced by Mary Good night. However, the only novel, ironically, that prominently features Moneypenny is Thunderball

[buccaneer81]

and is replaced by Mary Good night.

And then the producers and writers thought it would be funny to use the Goodnight name for the dippy Britt Eckland character in TMWTGG.

[Terry Mross]

I want to know who “Pussy Galore” was modeled after.

[Perdogg]

Mary Goodnight, IMO, was supposed to bring Bond to the end. In OHMSS she was a brunette (brunettes in Bond novel were a sign of danger) and was brought in at the beginning of Operation Corona and in TMWTGG she was a blond (innocent angelic) working in Jamaica. The movie made her look like a fool angers me to no end. She even ‘wrote’ part of Bond obit in YOLT the famous line, “I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them”.

[buccaneer81]

(brunettes in Bond novel were a sign of danger)

The movies certainly didn't follow that rule...

[buccaneer81]

I want to know who “Pussy Galore” was modeled after.

Why, Paris Hilton of course ;-)

[buccaneer81]

The movie made her look like a fool angers me to no end.

Pretty much everybody in TMWTGG was made to look foolish.

[Perdogg]

right. For example, the following were blonds in the Novel/Short stories

Tiffany Case (who Bond almost marries)
Honeychile Rider
Domino Petuchi
Tracy Bond
Jill Masterson
Judy Havelock (FYEO)
Mary Goodnight (TMWTGG)

The following were Brunettes

Vesper Lynd
Simone Latrell (Solitaire)
Kissy Suzuki
Pussy Galore
Tilly Masterson

Redheads were sexually ambivalent
Gala Brand (Moonraker)
Tatiana Romanova
Viv Michaels (TSWLM)

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[fieldmarshaldj]

And they changed a lot of those for the movies, blondes becoming brunettes and vice-versa.

[wally_bert]

Sad but true observation. Even Sherrif J.W. Pepper (who I loved in LALD) couldn’t save it. The jump across the broken bridge was neat though.

[wally_bert]

[Eddie01]

Interesting. Thanks I didn’t know that.