Joanna Pettet, the actress best known for playing Bond girl Mata Bond in 1967’s Casino Royale and for starring in cult horror films like The Evil and Welcome to Arrow Beach, has passed away at the age of 83.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pettet died Tuesday at Temecula Valley Hospital in California. Her friend and former manager, Pam DuBois, confirmed the news. Tragically, her passing came exactly 31 years after the death of her son, Damien Cord, who died of a heroin overdose in 1995 at the age of 26.
Although Pettet first gained attention on Broadway before breaking into Hollywood, she built a career that stretched across film and television throughout the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s. One of her most recognizable roles came in the Bond spoof Casino Royale, where she played Mata Bond, the daughter of David Niven’s version of James Bond and the legendary spy Mata Hari. While the film is the oddball out in Bond history, it has become a cult favorite over the decades thanks to its enormous cast and surreal comedy.
She also starred in Sidney Lumet’s acclaimed drama The Group, Peter Yates’ crime film Robbery, Blue opposite Terence Stamp, and Anatole Litvak’s The Night of the Generals. Genre fans may remember Pettet most fondly from her horror work. She appeared in Laurence Harvey’s Welcome to Arrow Beach in 1974 before starring in Gus Trikonis’ supernatural thriller The Evil (1978), a memorable haunted house film. She also appeared in the 1982 thriller Double Exposure, which has also become something of a cult favorite in recent years.
On television, Pettet racked up dozens of credits, including Dr. Kildare, Night Gallery, The Fall Guy, Knight Rider, and a recurring role as detective Janet Baines on Knots Landing.
Beyond her acting career, Pettet was connected to one of Hollywood’s most infamous tragedies. On August 8, 1969, she spent part of the day visiting actress Sharon Tate at her home, leaving only hours before Tate and four others were murdered by followers of Charles Manson. That unsettling coincidence has been examined in multiple books about the murders, including Tom O’Neill’s Chaos, and was dramatized in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, where Pettet was played by Rumer Willis during the film’s recreation of Tate’s final day.
Pettet stepped away from acting after her appearance in the 1990 television film Terror in Paradise, but her work continues to live on through everything from classic television and cult horror favorites to one of the most unusual entries in James Bond history. We send out our heartfelt condolences to Pettet’s family, friends, and fans.
What are your favorite Joanna Pettet performances? Let us know in the comments.
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