Lois Maxwell, who died on 29 September, 2007, aged 80, was the Canadian-born actress most famous for her role as Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films.

She played the lovelorn secretary in the first 14 films, appearing alongside Sean Connery, George Lazenby and Roger Moore and is regarded by most Bond aficionados as the quintessential Moneypenny.

Only Desmond ‘Q’ Llewelyn appeared in more Bond films and her flirtatious but never-fulfilled relationship with the suave spy became one of the recurring features of the Bond series.

She was also a Golden Globe winner, picking up the ‘Most Promising Newcomer’ award for That Hagen Girl in 1947.

She was born Lois Hooker in Kitchener, Ontario, on 14 February, 1927. Her father was a schoolteacher and her mother a nurse.

Her acting career began somewhat inadvertently – in 1942 she ran away from home to join the Royal Canadian Army and, though initially enlisted as a soldier, she quickly put her dancing training to use in the Entertainment Corps.

The Corps, which included the famous comic duo Wayne and Shuster, travelled round Europe during the war, but upon arriving in London it was discovered that Lois had lied about her age to join the army. Facing a court marshal and deportation, she hastily enrolled at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.

There she became friends with fellow student Roger Moore and also had a couple of minor roles in British films.

At the age of 20 she moved to Hollywood and appeared alongside Ronald Reagan and Shirley Temple in the comedy That Hagen Girl. However, despite her Golden Globe and photo shoots alongside the likes of Marilyn Monroe, she was only able to get minor roles.

In the early 50s she moved to Rome, continuing to act and also having a brief career as a racing driver, and then returned to England. In truth, though Bond would make her famous, Ms Maxwell was never a star, a fact which may in part be down to lack of support from her studios.

She first played Miss Moneypenny in 1962’s Dr No. It’s estimated that she appeared on screen for a sum of less than an hour in the 23 years she played M’s secretary, but Bond’s flirtations with Moneypenny came to typify the humour of the series. It was one of the running jokes of the movies that Moneypenny would be one of the few Bond girls never to get her man.

Her role was put under threat on a number of occasions, first in 1971 when she demanded a pay-rise from her meagre £200 wage, and again in 1973 when she angered Sean Connery by appearing in the James Bond spoof, Operation Kid Brother (which starred numerous Bond regulars and Sean’s younger brother, Neil).

But she survived until 1985 when, at the age of 59, she made her last Moneypenny appearance in A View to a Kill. Moore was set to retire and it was felt that a younger Bond (Timothy Dalton) deserved a younger Moneypenny (Caroline Bliss).

As well as the Bond films, Ms Maxwell appeared with Roger Moore in The Saint and The Persuaders, and also voiced Atlanta in Gerry Anderson’s Stingray.

She later wrote a newspaper column in Toronto before retiring to England and then Western Australia. She married Peter Marriott in 1957 and he died from a heart attack in 1973. They had one son and one daughter.

Roger Moore said Ms Maxwell was a "very fine actress with a great sense of humour" and said her role as Miss Moneypenny was "absolutely perfect casting".