Write What You Know: Ian Fleming based Bond and Goldfinger's golf game on the June 1957 Bowmaker Pro-Am golf tournament at the Berkshire Golf Club he played in with Peter Thomson.
Write Who You Know: Fleming based Pussy Galore on Blanche Blackwell, his neighbour and lover in Jamaica.
Accidentally-Correct Writing: The crew was allowed to shoot aerial takes in the Fort Knox area, but the actual gold depository is closed for visitors, so the art crew had to make up something for the set. The comptroller of the Depository would later send a complimentary letter saying it was imaginative.
Acting for Two: Nikki van der Zyl voices Jill Masterson and Bonita.
Awesome, Dear Boy: Around the time when The Living Daylights came out, a TV special was produced reminiscing about all things Bond over the years. Several past Bond Girls were interviewed, and most of them seemed to have a problem with the term "Bond Girl," for various reasons. Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore), on the other hand, said that not only did she feel that Bond Girl was the correct term, but that she was proud to call herself one. This is notable in that Blackman was older than the other actresses who were interviewed for the special, for a great many of them their Bond film was their debut and brought something of a One-Hit Wonder curse to their careers, preventing them from getting bigger roles.
Banned in China: The film was initially banned in Israel, due to Gert Fröbe having been a member of the Nazi party. However, it was then revealed that he used his connections to save several would-be Holocaust victims, and everything was cleared upnote It probably also helped that, while he had joined the Nazi party in 1929, he left the party in 1937, and only joined the German military in 1944 after he was drafted.
California Doubling: Sean Connery never set foot in the USA once during the entire production. It was mostly filmed in England. The South American heroin plant in The Teaser was a disused gasworks in London; Miami Beach was recreated in Pinewood; and Kentucky was actually Kent, though Miami also doubled for the city when Leiter pursues Oddjob. The movies would not film in the United States until Diamonds Are Forever.
Cec Linder (Felix Leiter) was originally cast as Mr. Simmons (Goldfinger's opponent at the card game), while Austin Wills (who ended up playing Mr. Simmons) was cast as Felix Leiter.
Margaret Nolan originally auditioned for Tilly Masterson. She got both the smaller role of Dink and the golden girl in the title sequence and the poster.
Albert R. Broccoli named this as one of his favourite entries in the series.
John Barry described his work on the film as a favourite of his, saying it was "the first time I had complete control, writing the score and the song".
The Danza: Martin Benson as Martin Solo, one of the gangsters in Goldfinger's rumpus room.
Deleted Role: Harry Saltzman's wife had a cameo as an employee of the Swiss gas station that was cut.
A scene where Felix would be explaining to the townspeople the plan of faking their deaths to trick Goldfinger was cut, as it made Felix seem 'too heroic' compared to Bond (ironically, it was Felix and his fellow CIA agents who would save both Fort Knox and Bond himself); it also would have spoiled the surprise related to Pussy switching out the gas canisters. The scene was once leaked online, but quickly removed by EON, and has never been officially released.
For many years in the pre-home video era many viewers of the film on American television never saw the pre-credits sequence because it was almost always cut in order to sell more commercials. For many who never got to see the film in a theater, the scene remained "missing" until Goldfinger was released on home video formats beginning in 1982.
Distanced from Current Events: Being a former Nazi (and one of the good ones, as several Holocaust survivors could attest to), Gert Fröbe objected to Goldfinger using nerve gas to dispose of witnesses, as it reminded him too much of those he couldn't save.
Dyeing for Your Art: Sean Connery had to learn to play golf in order to keep up with Gert Fröbe, who was already an avid player. Connery ended up falling in love with the game and it became his most well-known hobby.
During the infamous laser scene, the special effects team (positioned beneath the table, using a blowtorch to really cut through the metal table) went well beyond the point they said they'd stop at. Sean Connery's visible distress is genuine, and he complained when shooting was over.
During the final confrontation, when Oddjob accidentally electrocutes himself, his actor Harold Sakata was actually being severely burned by the special effect spark projectors. As a result, Oddjob's gasp of pain and Bond's shocked expression (as Connery was legitimately concerned for the wellbeing of his coworker) are completely genuine.
Fake Brit: Auric Goldfinger is a British character played by a German actor. Lampshaded: "He's British, but he doesn't sound like it," even though an English actor overdubbed Gert Fröbe.
Oddjob is the inspiration for countless hat-throwing scenes, among his Captain Ersatz inspirations are Random Task from Austin Powers and Vimes' butler, Wilkins in Discworld...
Pussy Galore, one of the most iconic Bond girls, particularly for setting the template of Punny Names in Bond girls.
Jill Masterson is most remembered dead and painted gold than alive.
I Am Not Spock: Happened to Harold Sakata, whose name later got credited with "Oddjob" (or sometimes "Odd Job") as a nickname.
All of Gert Fröbe's dialogue was dubbed by British actor Michael Collins, due to Fröbe's poor command of English. The looping was planned from the start, with Fröbe instructed to speak his lines quickly to make the process easier. Curiously, Fröbe's own voice can be heard in the movie's trailer, perhaps because the looped dialogue had not yet been recorded. Fröbe dubbed himself in the German version.
Curiously, it seems Sean Connery may have had to do the same thing for his character, particularly for his most iconic line "Do you expect me to talk?", as the way he said it in the trailer is completely different from the way he said it in the actual film.
Harold Sakata, who played Oddjob was more of an athlete (Olympic weightlifter and professional wrestler) than an actor, and did not master the cinematic art of pulling back one's blows. When he injures James' neck in one scene, Sean Connery was actually hurt, and his discomfort was real.
Stuntman Alf Joint was splashed with scalding hot water early in the movie, and was actually burned.
Harold Sakata was actually getting burned during Oddjob's electrocution, but decided to keep going until Guy Hamilton yelled "Cut". That's why Bond looked concerned rather than relieved that his enemy was dead.
In the title sequence, one of the clips is of Bond walking past a Royal Mail van in Q Branch, and reacting when the side of the van opens to reveal a technician doing something just slightly out of frame (reports from people who worked on the set say that it was a mounted machine gun). This moment was meant to appear at the very beginning of the Q Branch scene, but was snipped out in order to begin the scene with Bond observing the parking meter gas dispenser instead.
During Bond's final encounter with Goldfinger, a henchman can be clearly seen behind Goldfinger when he emerges from the cockpit, and after the plane is depressurised he can be seen lying on the floor, but his presence is never commented or focused on for the entire duration of the scene. A very small fight between him and Bond was cut from somewhere during this sequence, likely to make the Bond vs Goldfinger faceoff feel more personal.
Fake American: The Canadian Cec Linder takes over as Felix Leiter.
The Other Darrin: The start of a long chain of Other Darrins for Felix Leiter, as Cec Linder takes over the role from Jack Lord (who wanted too much money to return to the role).
The Red Stapler: Due to the popularity and success of this movie, the Aston Martin DB5 gained the nickname, "The Most Famous Car in the World". Sales of the Aston Martin DB5 increased by fifty percent after the release of the movie.
Science Marches On: Jill's death by "skin suffocation" was based on an erroneous belief of the time. Basically, she wouldn't have suffocated as long as she could still breathe from her mouth or nose, as obvious as that sounds. MythBusters also got in on the debunking. And even MythBusters didn't get it quite right the first time; they didn't confirm the myth, but Jamie seemed to have a bad reaction to it, so they considered it plausible. Only after doctors contacted them did they do it again (this time with Adam) and get it right.
Technology Marches On: Averted so far considering how the gadgets in this film have aged surprisingly well and still look believable and practical. For instance, the personal tracer looks about the right size that such a device might look if made today and its hiding place in the heel of Bond's shoe still looks neat, and the tracking receiver on the Aston Martin which on the one hand zig-zags it by looking old fashioned using back-projected maps, while at the same time anticipating GPS navigation systems. The aversion has reached its ultimate conclusion and started looping around with the personal tracer in Skyfall doing the same thing, looking very similar, but somehow being larger.
Throw It In!: The gag of the bomb’s timer stopping on 007 was thrown in very late in post-production. The shot is clearly a still frame, and they couldn’t do anything about Bond’s line referencing how it was originally going to get down to three seconds.
Word of Gay: Honor Blackman stated that she believed that Pussy only believed she was a lesbian because Goldfinger abused her pretty badly, and Bond's charm got her in touch with her actual heterosexuality.
Write What You Know: Writer Paul Dehn came up with the tuxedo under the wetsuit bit. He was inspired by something he'd heard about during his time with the Dutch Resistence.
, whose work Fleming despised. When Erno threatened to sue, Fleming suggested changing the name of the villain to Goldprick, instead.