London, Apr 7 (IANS): British actress Honor Blackman, who became the oldest 'Bond girl' when she starred across Sean Connery in "Goldfinger", has died of old-age complications at the age of 94, reports said on Monday

Her family said she died peacefully of natural causes at home in Lewes, East Sussex, the BBC reported.

Blackman's martial arts training helped her win the role of lesbian pilot Pussy Galore, an associate of gold-obsessed Bond villain Goldfinger before becoming a Bond ally, in the third James Bond film (1964).

"I was already a James Bond fan but I asked to read (the novel) Goldfinger before taking the part," she once admitted.

"By the time I had read it, I was convinced it was absolutely me."

At 39, she was five years older than Connery but sparkled in the role.

Blackman, who had been a dispatch rider during the Second World War, however, came to public notice as the feisty, black-clad female agent in 1960s TV show "The Avengers".