In Memoriam of model and actress Margaret Nolan (1943-2020)

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2020-10-12

FSWL feels like the rest of the James Bond world and mourns the loss of Margaret Nolan who passed away on October 5, 2020 at the age of 76. Nolan played Dink in 1964's Goldfinger directed by Guy Hamilton, the third Bond film considered by many to be the best in the 58-year-old film series. Margaret can also be seen on posters for the film body painted in gold.

In May 2014, Nolan was one of three guests of honour (Ken Adam and Norman Wanstall were the other two) that we invited to a 50th anniversary celebration of Goldfinger in Oslo, which yours truly organised together with Morten Steingrimsen. Our thoughts now go to her sons, Oscar and Luke.

Margaret Nolan in Oslo for Goldfinger event in May 2014. Photo by Anders Frejdh. © From Sweden with Love.

About her work on Goldfinger, Margaret said:

"I quite unexpectedly shot into the limelight with my very first film role in Goldfinger when I was only 20 years old. Eon [Productions] had wanted me to be the body for the iconic titles sequence and I agreed if they gave me a part in the film. An offer of a two year contract to publicise the film followed but I turned this down on the grounds that I would find it difficult to 'live down' such publicity as I wanted to be taken seriously as an actress.

As it transpired, I couldn't 'live it down' anyway, and to this day get regular fan-mail from Bond fans!"

About Margaret Nolan:

Margaret Nolan was born ten minutes after her paternal twin sister, Geraldine, at home in Hampstead, London in 1943. Margaret's father was a clerk in the Army and her mother took her and their brother to the country in Waterford, Ireland, to where she grew up until the war was over. They returned to Hampstead in 1946 where she lived until her death.

Maggie (as she is called by friends) was training to be a schoolteacher when she met her first husband, Tom Kempinski, who was an actor with the National Theatre at the time. He convinced her that she could be an actress. She loved dancing and the theatre. Both parents were musical. Geraldine and she were encouraged to entertain at family gatherings Together they produced a play for their school friends when they were 10 years old.

As many had done before her, she started by getting work as a model and it wasn't long before her picture was shown to the producer of The Saint (1963) starring Roger Moore who offered her the role of "Daisy" in the first series. This was the first of many different parts and for several years she worked for BBC in numerous soaps, plays, series and comedy shows. She was a regular in five series with Spike Milligan.

It was Oscar Lewenstien who, after seeing her at The Ambiance Theatre, gave her the first West End play, The Giveaway, by Anne Jellicoe and directed by Richard Eyre in 1969. She appeared in several Brian Rix farces on stage and TV. One of these was 'She's Done it Again' in which she played the juvenile lead for 9 months at The Garrick Theatre in the West End. At the same time, she was working with Roland Reese and Patrick Dromgoole at The Ambiance Theatre in Queensway doing some of the most innovative fringe theatre and a season of American political drama. Her husband was working with Peter Brook in Paris during the 'uprising' of 1968. In fact, they were both appearing in 'cutting edge' theatre at this culturally rich period.

Television drama was pretty hot at the time and she was also involved in The Wednesday Play, Armchair Theatre and 30 Minute Theatre. The latter went out live as did some of the series she appeared in! Leading parts followed in Fox (1980) with Peter Vaughn, Black and Blue (1973) with Anthony Hopkins and Charlie Was a Rich Man (1981) for Granada TV. She retired soon after this.

Trivia

Margaret had many portraits taken during her acting career and she found herself wondering what to do with them all. She began cutting and pasting those she had several copies of into photomontages to more accurately reflect an image of the 60's and 70's than the originals in their context.

For more information about Margaret Nolan's career and projects, visit her official website.

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In Memoriam of model and actress Margaret Nolan (1943-2020)

About her work on Goldfinger, Margaret said:

About Margaret Nolan:

Trivia

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