So, yes, many of us are obsessed with Bond Girls, but which actress has appeared more often in the series? If your answer is Lois Maxwell, you’re right, as she portrayed Miss Moneypenny in exactly 14 episodes, not counting a couple of parodies (like Operation Kid Brother or Bons baisers de Hong Kong). Ms. Maxwell passed away last Saturday at the age of 80, and I was a bit sadden to note that her contribution to the Bond mythos is more often than not overlooked by the more glamorous and sexy Bond girl roles.

Born on February 14, 1927, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, Lois Maxwell had already close to 30 movie credits in her curriculum before participating in Dr. No in 1962. She had made her film debut in 1946 in the classic British fantasy A Matter of Life and Death. Two years later, she had been part of Corridor of Mirrors, actually Christopher Lee’s own first steps on film. She mainly worked in Europe after a slow start in Hollywood, sometimes on television series, and had known Roger Moore since the early forties. There was a stop in Italy, co-starring with Sophia Loren in the musical Aida in 1953, among others. She had time to take part in a Stanly Kubrick movie, Lolita, in 1962 before beginning the 007 adventure that would change her life and would see her as the character until 1985, for A View to a Kill.

Sometimes in the seventies and coming back to live in Canada, Lois used to write for the Toronto Sun, using the pseudonym Miss Moneypenny, of all thing, discussing her life experiences and other current topics. She passed on following complications from a combination of lung and vascular disease.

The character of Moneypenny was often used to humanize Bond a bit and show humor with their mutual double-entendres. She usually appeared once or maybe twice in any given movie, but these appearances were enjoyed by the fans, secured in observing a little continuity between films. My favorite Maxwell/Moneypenny moments comes at the end of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service when, during Bond’s ill-fated wedding to Tracy Di Vicenzo, the two silently salute each other in a most poignant way.

“Oh, James…”