Farewell, Miss Moneypenny

As reported by cbc.ca:

"Canadian actress Lois Maxwell, who played the definitive Miss Moneypenny in 14 James Bond films, has died. She was 80.

Maxwell died in hospital in Fremantle, Australia on Saturday....

Maxwell was born Lois Hooker in Kitchener, Ont., in 1927.

She started her acting career on radio, but left home at 15 to join the army. She travelled throughout Europe in the Second World War, performing music and dance numbers in the Army Entertainment Corps....

Only a year later, she was hailed as best newcomer at the Golden Globe Awards, for her part in That Hagen Girl, which also starred Temple and Ronald Reagan.

Shortly afterward, she appeared in a photo layout in Life Magazine with another up-and-coming actress — Marilyn Monroe....

Shortly after the birth of her second child, Maxwell was asked to take the role of M's secretary in Dr. No, the first of the Bond movies to star Sean Connery.

Her character Miss Moneypenny's flirtatious interactions with Agent 007 were popular with moviegoers and she outlasted another Bond, Roger Moore.

"She was always fun and she was wonderful to be with," said Moore in an interview with BBC. "She was absolutely perfect casting." Moore had known Maxwell since they were drama students together in London....

She starred in 14 movies as Moneypenny, including The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only and A View to a Kill....

In the 1980s, she became a regular columnist for the Toronto Sun newspaper, sharing stories about her experiences on the movie set, her co-stars, her life in Italy and her present life. Her last movie, made in 2001, was a thriller, The Fourth Angel. She retired to the U.K., but moved to Western Australia to be close to her son's family."