Joanna Pettet, the actress who rose to prominence in director Sidney Lumet’s 1966 film “The Group” and played Mata Bond in the 1967 James Bond parody “Casino Royale,” died on July 7, 2026, at Temecula Valley Hospital in California at age 83. Close friend and former manager Pam DuBois announced her passing and noted a heartbreaking detail: Pettet died on the 31st anniversary of her son’s death.
No cause of death was disclosed. Pettet built a lengthy career across Broadway, film, and television before retiring from acting in the early 1990s.
A Poignant and Bittersweet Farewell
DuBois shared the news on Facebook alongside an image of Pettet at a graveside. Pettet’s only child, Damien Zachary Cord, died on July 7, 1995, of a heroin overdose when he was 26 years old. In her post, DuBois wrote that Damien “took his mother to heaven” on the anniversary of his own passing and that “there she will stay with him forever.” Following this devastating loss, Pettet stepped back further from Hollywood in later years.
Pettet was married to actor Alex Cord from 1968 to 1989, and Damien bore Cord’s surname. Cord died Aug. 9, 2021.
From Broadway to Bond Girl
Originally named Joanna Jane Salmon, she was born in London on Nov. 16, 1942. At 16, she relocated to New York to train at the Neighborhood Playhouse and Lincoln Center. She made her Broadway debut in the 1961 comedy “Take Her, She’s Mine,” which was directed by George Abbott and starred Art Carney and Elizabeth Ashley. Two more Broadway credits followed: “The Chinese Prime Minister” in 1964 and playwright Jean Kerr’s “Poor Richard” that same year, the latter featuring Alan Bates and Gene Hackman.
Pettet and Bates became romantically involved after appearing together in “Poor Richard.” The pair reunited romantically in 2002, nearly four decades after their initial relationship. Following Bates’s death from pancreatic cancer in 2003, Pettet inherited £95,000 from his estate.
Her stage work led to film opportunities. In Lumet’s 1966 screen version of novelist Mary McCarthy’s bestseller “The Group,” Pettet played Kay, one of a group of Vassar College graduates dealing with life after graduation. The cast also featured Candice Bergen, along with Jessica Walter, Joan Hackett, Shirley Knight, Elizabeth Hartman, Kathleen Widdoes, and Mary-Robin Redd.
Her most internationally recognized role came the following year in “Casino Royale,” in which she played the fictional love child of James Bond and spy Mata Hari. That star-studded cast featured Peter Sellers, David Niven, Woody Allen, and William Holden. Also in 1967, Pettet appeared in director Anatole Litvak’s war drama “The Night of the Generals.”
A Prolific Career on the Small Screen
Though her film work brought recognition, Pettet found steadier employment on television. During the 1960s and 1970s, she guest-starred on numerous popular series, including “Route 66,” “The Doctors,” “The Fugitive,” “Dr. Kildare,” “Mannix,” “Banacek,” “Medical Center,” “Police Story,” “Police Woman,” and four episodes of Rod Serling’s anthology “Night Gallery” from 1970 to 1972. In the 1980s, her credits included “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Love Boat,” “Fantasy Island,” “Knight Rider,” and a recurring role on “Knots Landing.”
Pettet’s final screen credit was the 1990 thriller “Terror in Paradise,” produced by low-budget horror filmmaker Roger Corman.
A Brush With Hollywood’s Darkest Chapter
Pettet’s life intersected with one of Hollywood’s most notorious tragedies. On Aug. 8, 1969, she had lunch at the home of actress Sharon Tate — making her one of the last people to see Tate alive — just hours before members of the Charles Manson family murdered Tate and four others that night. Director Quentin Tarantino included this lunch scene in his 2019 film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” with actress Rumer Willis portraying Pettet.
