007's 'Moneypenny' Passes On

By Stephen M. Silverman

11/20/1997 at 12:00 AM EST

Vera Atkins, 92, real-life World War II British spy who inspired the stalwart Miss Moneypenny in Ian Fleming's James Bond novels (in the movies, her character always pined for 007), died in London on Saturday. After the war she hunted down the German killers of some of her fellow British agents and brought them to trial.