Trivia
Theodore Bikel and Titos Vandis were both screen tested for the title role of the villain Goldfinger. Both their screen tests can be seen on the DVD Ultimate Edition.
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Sean Connery hurt his back during the fight sequence with Oddjob in Fort Knox. The incident delayed filming and some say that Connery used the injury to get a better deal out of the producers for the next 007 film.
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Aston Martin were initially reluctant to part with two of their cars for the production. The producers had to pay for the Aston Martin, but after the success of the film, both at the box office and for the company, they never had to spend money on a car again.
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First appearance of a laser beam in a movie. In the original script, the scene had a spinning buzzsaw (as in the novel) until it was decided that such an image had become commonplace and unoriginal.
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Goldfinger wears yellow or a golden item of clothing in virtually every scene. In the one that he appears not to - in which he wears a US Army Colonel's uniform - he carries a golden revolver.
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Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli wanted to cast Gert Fröbe after seeing him in a German thriller, It Happened in Broad Daylight. In that film, Frobe played a psychopathic serial killer.
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The Ford Motor Company happily supplied a Lincoln Continental for the car compactor scene in exchange for featuring their new model Ford Mustang in the Swiss mountain driving sequence. During the crushing of the Lincoln, the crew remained totally silent, in awe of what they were doing.
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The original choice for the spy car of the film was not the Aston Martin DB5 but an E-Type Jaguar, which cost half as much. The E-Type Jaguar was a car model actually driven by production designer Ken Adam. Jaguar declined and the producers went to Aston Martin's David Brown. He supplied them two production prototypes of the newly released Aston Martin DB5. One was used for straight driving and the other was for adding various gadgets and features by Ken Adam. A Jaguar-based spy car is seen in Die Another Day.
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Cec Linder was the only actor from the cast who was actually in Florida for the Miami sequences. Sean Connery was in the midst of shooting of Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie and was unable to be on the Goldfinger set at the time.
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The vault door used in the Fort Knox scene is now located in Bank Of The West in Los Altos, California.
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The movie was the fastest grossing picture in film history when it was released and even entered the Guiness Book of World Records to mark this.
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The budget (an estimated US$3,000,000) was more than the budgets for the first two Bond films combined (estimated US$1,100,000 for Dr. No and US$2,000,000 for From Russia with Love).
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First opening credits sequence to show the actor playing James Bond. This is by utilizing footage from the first two James Bond films Dr. No and From Russia with Love. This technique would be repeated in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The first time an image of the actor playing James Bond would be part of the actual title sequence itself (i.e. not by way of footage edited into it) would not occur until The Spy Who Loved Me.
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Goldfinger was adapted as a comic strip and published in the English "Daily Express" newspaper from 3 October 1960 to 1 April 1961. It was written by Henry Gammidge and illustrated by John McLusky. It has had world-wide syndication and was reprinted in 2004. The villains Goldfinger and Oddjob also feature in a story in Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentleman comic book.
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This is the only Sean Connery-era Bond film without the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld or explicit reference to his organization SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). However, Golfinger appears to be wearing a gold SPECTRE ring during the card game in Miami beach. Additionally, in retroactive continuity, Goldfinger is linked to SPECTRE in the video-game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent.
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Author Ian Fleming partially based the title character of his original 1959 novel 'Goldfinger' on the controversial Modernist architect Erno Goldfinger. When he learned that Fleming was naming the villain of his new James Bond novel 'Goldfinger,' the architect threatened to file a lawsuit against Fleming's publisher in an effort to stop the book's publication. Fleming's publisher then contacted the author to inquire whether Fleming might consider renaming the character, and the novel. Fleming replied that he'd be delighted to alter the name...if he could change the name of the character--and the novel--to "Goldprick." Fleming's publisher quietly settled the architect's lawsuit out of court.
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The Masterton surname of Tilly Masterton and Jill Masterton in the Ian Fleming novel was changed to Masterson for the film. Ian Fleming is said to have based the Masterton name on Sir John Masterman, a leading Oxford University academic and former Mi5 agent.
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The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include 007 Against Goldfinger (Brazil & Portugal); Mission Goldfinger (Italy); 007 Versus Goldfinger (China) and Agent 007 Against Goldfinger (Spain)
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Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli were so determined to get Honor Blackman for the part of Pussy Galore that they had the actress's ability to perform judo written into the script.
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In the Ian Fleming novel, Pussy Galore is a lesbian, which is why she gives Bond the cold shoulder to start with. Her team are known as the Cement Mixers. Ian Fleming based the character of Pussy Galore on neighbor, friend and lover Blanche Blackwell. The "Pussy" name itself was derived from agent Pussy Deakin aka Livia Stela. The Pussy name is also said to have been named after Fleming's pet octopus. The octopus also inspired the title of the James Bond short story and then film Octopussy. Octopussy was also the name of a coracle given to Ian Fleming by Blanche Blackwell as a present for staying at Goldeneye.
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Honor Blackman is the oldest ever Bond Girl, being 37 years of age at the time of filming.
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Vehicles featured included:
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- the most famous of all the James Bond cars, the silver birch Aston Martin DB5 which would return for Thunderball
- Tilly Masterson's white 1964 Ford Mustang convertible, the first appearance of this make in a movie
- a yellow and black 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III Sedance de Ville, Goldfinger's 12 cylinder made-of-gold car weighing 7000 lb
- a white Hiller UH-12E4 helicopter
- black Mercedes-Benz 180, 190 and 220 models which pursue 007
- a Ford Country Squire station wagon; Ford military pickup (After leaving the 'canyon' it becomes a Dodge WC-51, but reverts to a pickup as it drives up to the gate)
- a US Army Dodge WC-54 ambulance
- a Lockheed JetStar C-140 plane piloted by Pussy Galore & Sydney
- a Lockheed US VC-140B plane seen at the end of the movie
- Pussy Galore's Flying Circus being made up of all Piper PA-28 Cherokee planes
- a blue 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible sedan and a 1964 Ford Falcon Ranchero delivery vehicle, both used by Oddjob
- Another Lincoln Continental and a white 1964 Ford Thunderbird ridden by Felix Leiter and his CIA partner Johnny in Kentucky.
- (Note: When Bond refers to the Rolls-Royce as a 'Phantom Three-Thirty-Seven' he was probably referring to it by its type and year, a Phantom 3, '37 (1937). There is no Phantom '337' model, so this type/year reference can be safely assumed, and hence is not a goof.)
During the opening titles sequence, all excerpts are scenes from this movie except some footage from the From Russia with Love helicopter chase sequence and the Crab Key explosion from Dr. No. All these scenes in the opening titles are projected onto the gilded body of Margaret Nolan who played Dink in the main film. Here, she appears longer than Shirley Eaton appears in the main film, and wears a blue bikini (also featured on the soundtrack cover) which Eaton does not wear in her scenes.
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Sean Connery's first day of filming was 19 March 1964 at Stage D, Pinewood Studios for shooting of the South American El Scorpio Nightclub opening sequence.
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The character of Syliva Trench was originally intended to return in this movie after appearing in Dr. No and From Russia with Love. However, this was scrapped when Guy Hamilton became director.
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According to the film's CD Soundtrack sleeve notes, the movie's soundtrack album was a No. #1 hit in the USA charting on 12 December 1964 and staying at No. #1 for three weeks. The title song "Goldfinger" single sung by Shirley Bassey charted in the UK on 15 October 1964 and went to the No. #21 rank. The single entered the charts in the USA on 30 January 1965 and peaked at the No. #8 position.
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Nadja Regin (Bonita the nightclub dancer) previously appeared in From Russia with Love as Kerim Bey's girl.
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Gert Fröbe spoke very little English, so Michael Collins dubbed his voice. Director Guy Hamilton instructed Fröbe to speak his lines (in German) quickly which would assist the looping. Reportedly though, Fröbe was speaking English in a few scenes which reduces the awareness of the dubbing. In the film's trailer, Fröbe's own heavily accented voice is heard when Goldfinger tells James, "Choose your next witticism carefully, Mr. Bond, it may be your last". Fröbe dubbed his own voice in the German dubbed version of the film, too.
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The recreation of the Fort Knox repository at Pinewood Studios was incredibly accurate considering no one involved in the film had been allowed inside the real location for security reasons. The set looked so real that a 24-hour guard was placed on the Fort Knox set at Pinewood Studios so that pilferers would not steal the gold bar props. A letter to the production from the Fort Knox Controller congratulated Ken Adam and his team on the recreation. Auric Goldfinger's 3D Model Map used for his Operation Grandslam is now housed as a permanent exhibition at the real Fort Knox.
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Albert R. Broccoli once named this film along with The Spy Who Loved Me and From Russia with Love as his three favorite James Bond movies, according to an interview with the Hollywood Reporter's Robert Osborne.
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The sign on Ft. Knox bears the name "Gen. Russhon". Charles Russhon was the technical advisor for the film.
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Pussy Galore introduces herself to Bond, who replies "I must be dreaming." The original script had Bond replying "I know you are, but what's your name?" This was deemed too suggestive.
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The villain's first name, Auric, is related to the Latin word for gold, 'aurum') and the periodic table code AU for the same. The license plate on Goldfinger's 12 cylinder 1937 Rolls Royce Phantom III Sedance de Ville reads AU 1 for the same reason
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Honor Blackman quit her role as Cathy Gale on The Avengers to appear in Goldfinger. A 1965 episode of The Avengers made sly reference to this by having John Steed receive a Christmas card from Cathy Gale - sent from Fort Knox.
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Despite her impressive film debut as Tilly, this was model Tania Mallet's only major film appearance. She had previously tested for the Tatiana Romanova part in From Russia with Love.
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After their golf match, 007 follows Goldfinger to the airport. The map on the scanner clearly shows Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England.
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As with many car shots in movies, the sun visors have been removed from Bond's Aston Martin, but the mounting holes were not covered and they are visible on the car in shots above the windscreen.
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Goldfinger was intended to be lighter in tone and less political than the first two Bond films. It was released in the UK and USA the same year.
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As with the first two James Bond movies, creator and author Ian Fleming visited the set during April 1964. He visited D Stage at Pinewood Studios where they were filming the UK set of the Fontainebleu Hotel pool scene. Sadly, he died a little less than a month before the film's release on 12th August 1964.
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Worried Studio Executives from United Artists considered changing the name of Pussy Galore to Kitty Galore. The name Pussy Galore was not included on any trading cards during the film's original release as they were aimed at youth. However, later released cards such as those as part of the "007 Spy Files" in 2002 do specify the name Pussy Galore.
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Terence Young, the director of the first two James Bond movies, worked on the film during the very early stages of pre-production, including early drafts of the screenplay. However, an agreement could not be reached regarding the terms of his contract, and he left the production.
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Equipment and gadgetry was developed for the Aston Martin car which was not used in the finished movie. This included: Front and back over-riders for jamming other vehicles; a weapon's tray under the driver's seat; a headlights chamber containing triple-spiked nail clusters for firing at enemies, a radio telephone inside the driver's door paneling, and a thermos with a built-in hand grenade.
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This won the first Academy Award for a James Bond movie. It was for Best Sound Effects and it was won by Norman Wanstall. Thunderball won a Special Visual Effects Oscar the following year and producer Albert R. Broccoli was awarded the Irving Thalberg Award in 1982. Appropriately, the gilded Oscar statuette and the gilded girl in the film have such an uncanny resemblance making Goldfinger fittingly the first Bond movie to receive an Oscar.
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Toy car manufacturer Corgi manufactured a special miniature Aston Martin DB 5 car for Prince Charles who was aged 15-16 at the time. Corgi then produced Aston Martin James Bond toy cars for decades after the release of the movie Goldfinger. A 30th Anniversary Edition Goldfinger Aston Martin DB 5 toy car was released in 1994 by Corgi.
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The exchange between Bond and his caddy about Goldfinger's golf ball ("If that's his original ball, I'm Arnold Palmer.") had the caddy standing on the ball in the novel. This is switched so Bond hid the ball for the film as Harry Saltzman thought it would give Bond a more cheeky image.
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The song "Goldfinger", rewritten as "Gold Label", was featured in a long-running series of cigarette commercials.
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The aircraft (which has a profile similar to a Boeing 747) that transports Goldfinger and his car out of England is actually an Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair. This was a heavily modified Douglas DC-4. The 747 didn't make its first flight until 1969 but the Carvair entered service in 1962 (two years before Goldfinger). The flight number for the flight in the movie was British United Air Ferry Flight VS 400 to Geneva, Switzerland.
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Tilly Masterson's Ford Mustang was supposedly the first appearance by a Mustang in a major motion picture. The Mustang was introduced in April of 1964 and Goldfinger was released in December. Ford supplied many cars to the film including the CIA agents' Thunderbird, all of Goldfinger's goons cars, and the Lincoln Continental that is crushed.
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The producers wanted Orson Welles to play Auric Goldfinger, but Welles was too expensive. Then Gert Fröbe began arguing over his salary (he wanted 10% from the movie's earnings), prompting the producers to wonder whether Welles would have been cheaper after all.
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The first Bond film to be shown on U.S. commercial TV, on Sunday, 17 September 1972, earning the highest Nielsen ratings for a single movie on TV up to that time. 49% of the nation's viewers tuned in that night, and ABC-TV, which showed the film, would retain the exclusive commercial U.S. TV rights to the Bond series for the next 28 years.
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The golf scenes in the film were shot at the Stoke Poges Golf Club in England, not far from Pinewood Studios. There is now a James Bond themed bar at the golf course. The interest in golf developed by Sean Connery is said to have spawned during this filming.
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Milton Reid lobbied unsuccessfully for the role of Oddjob. He would later be successful in gaining the part of the henchman Sandor in The Spy Who Loved Me, a character based on the hood Slugsy from the novel. His part was similar to that of Oddjob in that they both are stocky and rarely talk. Reid also played a guard in Dr. No, but was uncredited.
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Jack Lord was approached to return as CIA agent Felix Leiter, but he declined. He had played him in Dr. No. The role was recast, beginning a succession of different actors in the role (only David Hedison and Jeffrey Wright would play the role more than once). In Goldfinger, Austin Willis was originally cast as Felix Leiter and Cec Linder as Simmons. However, they were asked to swap parts shortly before production.
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Due to the popularity and success of this movie and its spy car the Aston Martin DB5, the vehicle gained the nickname, "The Most Famous Car in the World". Sales of the Aston Martin DB5 increased by fifty per cent after the release of the movie. The Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me featured the Lotus Esprit and sales would also increase for that car after the movie premiered.
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In the original James Bond novel "Goldfinger", the car driven by Bond is not an Aston Martin DB5 but an earlier model, an Aston Martin DB3. There were significantly fewer gadgets and features in this make. All James Bond had were reinforced bumper guards and a secret compartment for a Colt 45 pistol.
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The title song is the first of three title songs sung by Shirley Bassey for Bond movies, the others being title songs for Diamonds Are Forever and Moonraker. The "Goldfinger" song was the first James Bond title song to crack the Billboard Top 10, peaking at #8 in February 1965.
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The role of Oddjob was the first screen role for Japanese-American weightlifter and professional wrestler Harold Sakata. It was such a success that it started a second career in films, television and commercials. For some of these appearances, he would be billed as "Harold 'Oddjob' Sakata". He also later appeared in Danger Grows Wild which was based on an Ian Fleming story and directed by Bond director Terence Young.
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The part of Jill Masterson was initially offered to Shirley Anne Field, who turned it down.
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In the original end title credits, which featured the famous "James Bond will return in..." teaser, the next film advertised was On Her Majesty's Secret Service. However, when the producers began pre-production, they were unable to secure the Swiss locations needed for the film and decided to make Thunderball instead. The end title teaser was later changed to advertise "Thunderball".
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In order to simulate the sound of crumpling metal in the car compactor, sound effects editor Norman Wanstall used the sound of crumpling beer cans.
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The idea of the Aston Martin's revolving number plates came from director Guy Hamilton who had just been frustrated at receiving a parking ticket. The various revolving license plate numbers for James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 were 4711-EA-62 (France), LU 6789 (Switzerland) and BMT 216A (UK).
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Sean Connery never traveled to the United States to film this movie. Every scene in which he appears to be in the USA was filmed in Pinewood Studios outside London. This explains why Bond flips a light switch down to discover the golden corpse of Jill, as English light switches are generally turned on by flicking them down instead of up.
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Steven Spielberg cites this as his personal favorite of all the Bond movies and even owns an Aston Martin DB5 due to the impact Goldfinger had on him. The Aston Martin DB5 that was seen in Catch Me If You Can was a personal prop loaned to the production by Spielberg himself. The car is the same make and model. A clip of the movie is seen in Catch Me If You Can in the scene in the cinema where we see Leonardo DiCaprio watching this movie.
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Gert Fröbe once said of his role as Goldfinger: "I am a big man, and I have a laugh to match my size. The ridiculous thing is that since I played Goldfinger in the James Bond film there are some people who still insist on seeing me as a cold, ruthless villain - a man without laughs."
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Shirley Eaton, gilded completely in gold, featured on the cover of Life Magazine on 6 November 1964. The headline read: "A Matter for James Bond - Shirley Eaton, Gilded Victim in Goldfinger, Funniest and Money-Makingest of the OO7 Movies".
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For the huge, Wagnerian orchestral opening to the title song, John Barry employed five trombones, four trumpets, four French horns and a tuba.
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For a long time, this film was tied with Dr. No as the shortest James Bond movie in the EON Productions official series, with a running time of 110 minutes. Quantum of Solace is now the shortest at 106 minutes.
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This was the second most popular Bond movie with paying audiences, racking up 130 million ticket sales. The next Bond film, Thunderball, surpassed it in popularity, with 140 million paid admissions. The success of Goldfinger and Thunderball, propelled Sean Connery to the top of Quigley Publications' annual Top Ten Money Making Stars poll in 1965, the only British male star to be #1.
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When Shirley Bassey recorded the theme song, she was singing as the opening credits were running on a screen in front of her, so that she could match the vocals. When she hit her final high note, the titles kept running, and she was forced to hold the note, until she almost passed out.
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The most famous of all James Bond cars which first appeared in this Bond film, the 1964 silver birch Aston Martin DB5, was never driven by Roger Moore's James Bond in a Bond movie. The DB5 was made famous by Sean Connery in this film and then in Thunderball with later models appearing in some subsequent Bond pictures. However, Moore, who played James Bond seven times, has only ever been seen on screen with this make once and that was in The Cannonball Run where he self-parodies his James Bond persona.
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Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include the silver birch Aston Martin DB5; Dom Perignon Champagne, particularly a Dom Perignon '53; Rolex Watches, James Bond wears a Rolex Submariner; Kentucky Fried Chicken; and Corgi Toys, the beginning of their relationship with the series.
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The film's World Premiere was held on Thursday 17th September 1964 at the Odeon Theatre, Leicester Square, London. Sean Connery could not attend due to filming commitments for The Hill. A specially designed "gold finger" piece of jewelery was designed by British Designer Dipples for Honor Blackman for the premiere and the star's promotional tour for the movie. Sean Connery drove an Aston Martin DB5 down the famous Parisian promenade of the Champs-Elysees for the French Premiere of the film. For the occasion, sixty women were gilded in gold like the Shirley Eaton character of the movie. One woman mobbed Connery and got into the car. After this incident, Connery stopped attending James Bond premieres until You Only Live Twice.
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Fourth James Bond movie made and third in the EON Productions official series. Also third James Bond movie for Sean Connery playing James Bond, Bernard Lee as M and Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny whilst it was the 2nd for Desmond Llewelyn as Q.
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At one point in the film, Bond states that "drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit [is] as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!". Shirley Bassey's title theme song was produced by The Beatles producer, George Martin. Additionally, Paul McCartney would later record the theme song for another Bond film, Live and Let Die.
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Sean Connery, who was married to actress Diane Cilento at the time, wore a flesh-colored bandage (clearly seen in some production stills) over his wedding ring while filming.
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Shirley Eaton already had an association with the James Bond series before Goldfinger. She made three appearances in The Saint with future James Bond Roger Moore.
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Operation GRAND SLAM was the actual codename for the Soviet overflight mission by CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers during which his Lockheed U-2C spy plane, serial number 56-6693, Article 360, was shot down by an SA-2 "Guideline" surface-to-air missile on 1 May 1960.
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First film to feature a title song that plays over the opening credits. From Russia with Love had a title song, but it played over the closing credits.
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First film in which Bond (not a look-alike we are made to believe is Bond) appears in the pre-credits teaser.
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The main theme was selected by the American Film Institute number 53 on the list of the top 100 from movies of the past 100 years.
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(27 October 2010) The Aston Martin DB5 used in this movie (and Thunderball) was sold (fully "loaded") to American classic car collector, Harry Yeaggy, for a reported $4.6 million by London's RM Auctions. The car had only one previous private owner, an American radio station owner named Jerry Lee, who purchased the car directly from the Aston Martin factory for $12,000 in 1969. Lee had kept the car at his Pennsylvania home for over forty years.
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The Beatles and James Bond have long had a strange relationship. In Goldfinger, Sean Connery's Bond says that serving Dom Perignon above 38 degrees Fahrenheit would be "almost as bad as listening to the Beatles without ear muffs". Paul McCartney doesn't seem to have been overly offended by this remark, as his later band Wings contributed the theme tune to Live and Let Die. Barbara Bach, who starred in The Spy Who Loved Me ended up marrying Ringo Starr, the Beatles' drummer.
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The day that the movie's soundtrack album became a No. #1 hit in the USA (on 12 December 1964) was coincidentally Honor Blackman's 37th birthday.
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Originally, the end teaser "James Bond will return in..." announced that the next film would be On Her Majesty's Secret Service. However, there were preproduction issues for OHMSS so the producers decided to make Thunderball instead. However, by the time that decision was reached, Goldfinger was already in theaters. Eventually, the teaser was altered to advertise "Thunderball". But there are still some prints of the movie with the OHMSS tag. Occasionally, this tag will be seen on some TV prints and early VHS tapes. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" would not be made until after "Thunderball" and You Only Live Twice, after Sean Connery's first departure from the series.
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After attending Goldfinger's premiere in Rome, Federico Fellini was asked by a journalist what he thought of the film. His enthusiastic answer was "Questi sono i film che fanno andare avanti il cinema!" ("This is one of those films that make cinema move forward!")
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Slazenger, the manufacturer of Auric Goldfinger's golf balls, is a British sporting goods manufacturer. It is one of the world's oldest such companies.
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Honor Blackman authored a book entitled "Honor Blackman's Book of Self Defense", published in 1965.
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In the dinner scene, the butler serves Colonel Smithers a cigar from a 50-cigar "cabinet" box. Cigars packaged in cabinets are usually higher quality than those in the standard 24-cigar box, and are sometimes referred to as "cabinet selection" cigars.
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The butler cuts the tip of Colonel Smithers' cigar with a v-cutter, which creates an elegant v-shaped notch in the tip.
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In the dinner scene, Colonel Smithers removes his cigar's band before he lights it. Europeans prefer to smoke their cigars without the band, whereas Americans prefer to keep the band on.
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The Aston Martin crash shot required two takes. The first time, stunt driver George Leech drove too far through the simulated brick wall. This take can be seen in the theatrical trailer.
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The Aston Martin DB series cars are named, in part, with the initials of Aston Martin's former owner David Brown.
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The rifle that Tilly Masterson uses is a AR-7 (a .22 rifle) created for pilots as the action, barrel and magazine can all be stored in the stock so the stored the weapon does not take up much room. A modern version can still be bought (2013) as it will easily fit in a backpack for hikers and when stored is waterproof.
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As Goldfinger's car is being loaded into the airplane to Geneva, his license plate (Au1) is visible. Au is the elemental symbol for gold.
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Goldfinger's first name as well as the first name of his company (Auric) can mean either an ion of gold, or of relating to gold.
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A few scenes in the final cut of the film feature Gert Fröbe's real voice and not Michael Collins' dubbing. The line, "Except crime!" at Auric Stud is one example, but more obvious is the dialogue spoken just after Bond escapes from his cell. Goldfinger's line, "The underworld will rock with applause for centuries" is Fröbe's original voice, as is the line, "It can be, I think the expression is, blown!"
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Cameo
Bob Simmons:
The series regular stuntman is the actor appearing as James Bond in the opening gun barrel sequence. The same footage was used in Dr. No and From Russia with Love.
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Alf Joint:
The stuntman played Capungo, the henchman in the opening sequence due to the original actor not being able to do the role at the last minute. This was because he was a cat-burglar and had just been arrested. Joint was burnt on the leg by a smoldering coil whilst filming this pre-credits sequence.
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Garry Marshall:
the successful future producer/director as one of the American gangsters gathered to hear about "Project Grand Slam."
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Michael G. Wilson:
The future Bond producer as a Korean Soldier at Fort Knox. This is the first of Wilson's now-famous cameos in the series which occur as regular appearances in every film starting from The Spy Who Loved Me.
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Spoilers
Gert Fröbe had serious reservations about Goldfinger using nerve gas to get rid of his witnesses. Frobe felt that with him being a German, this scene would have Nazi concentration camp implications. Indeed, the film was banned in Israel for many years after Gert Fröbe revealed he had been a member of the Nazi Party. The ban was lifted after a Jewish family came forward to praise Fröbe for protecting them from persecution during World War II.
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Author Ian Fleming borrowed the notion of someone being suffocated by being covered in gold paint from the horror film Bedlam. Shirley Eaton underwent two hours of make-up application which involved being gild painted to become a gold painted corpse. A doctor was on set at all times in fear of possible skin suffocation, and her stomach left bare for the same reason. Her shots lasted less than five minutes in the finished film and the filming of them was shot quickly, wrapped in a morning's work. Then she was scrubbed down by the wardrobe mistress and the make-up girl, and sweated off the remaining gold in a number of Turkish baths. After the film was released, rumors circulated that she had actually died on set, owing to the misconception that the gold paint caused asphyxiation.
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Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) dies of "skin suffocation" by being coated in gold, a complication that, despite popular belief, has no basis in fact. The belief depends on the incorrect supposition that respiration occurs, at least in part, through the skin, a fallacy that has been discredited in scientific circles since the Renaissance. Despite periodic debunking in the popular media (especially noteworthy is a 1978 column of the syndicated newspaper feature, "The Straight Dope", and a 2003 episode of the Discovery Channel series, MythBusters), a widespread belief in the myth of "skin suffocation" still exists. The myth was further bolstered by rumors that Shirley Eaton had actually died on set from asphyxiation due to the gold paint. However, due to the fact that the skin is the main surface for temperature exchange, one can die from heat accumulation if it is locked tightly for too long.
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Bond tells Goldfinger that given the tremendous weight of all the gold of Fort Knox, removing it before the US military finds out what happened and stops him would be impossible. Goldfinger then tells him his actual plan is to detonate a radioactive device, multiplying the value of his own gold. In the original novel, Goldfinger's scheme WAS simply to steal the gold.
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Harold Sakata (Oddjob) severely burned his hand while reaching for his hat when filming his death scene, but he was determined to do it right, he held on until Guy Hamilton yelled: "Cut!"
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During the Fort Knox fight, the clock on the bomb was originally intended to stop at the time 003, but then the producers decided to stop it at Bond's ID number, 007.
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The battle aboard Goldfinger's jet was originally a longer sequence where Bond fought both Goldfinger and one of his henchmen. The henchman can be glimpsed when Goldfinger steps into the cabin and his body can be seen tumbling around inside the airplane after the window is shot.
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In the novel, Tilly Masterton is captured alive in Switzerland, becomes enamoured of Pussy Galore, and is killed by Odd Job in the battle of Fort Knox. Odd Job survives that confrontation only to be sucked out the plane's window in their next conflict. Bond then kills Goldfinger by strangling him.
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