'Goldfinger' Bond Girl Tania Mallet Dead at 77

Tania Mallet -- one of the original Bond girls and Helen Mirren's cousin -- has died.

Mallet's death was confirmed by the official 007 Twitter account Sunday, which broke the news by writing ... "We are very sorry to hear that Tania Mallet who played Tilly Masterson in GOLDFINGER has passed away. Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time."

No other details were released about the circumstances surrounding her death.

Tania's main claim to fame was starring alongside Sean Connery as Tilly Masterson -- one of the early Bond girls who didn't make it come the end credits.

Funny enough ... Tania actually auditioned for the role of another Bond girl in the 007 movie right before "Goldfinger" -- "From Russia with Love" -- but she didn't make the cut until 1964.

Her role in "Goldfinger" ended up being one of Tania's only acting credits in her career -- she went on to act in an episode of the '70s show "The New Avengers," but that's it. She did, however, have a prolific modeling career that got started in the '50s at age 16.