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Each bond villain brings his or her own special brand of evil to the spy franchise, but these 12 baddies deserve a special place in hell — in a good way!
Is it possible for a stone-cold killer to be lovable? Such is the legacy of the most infamous henchman in the entire Bond franchise. Auric Goldfinger’s chauffeur, golf caddy and murderous enforcer gets his muted charm and imposing demeanor courtesy of Harold, a Japanese-American weight lifter who won silver for the United States in the 1948 Olympics. Standing 5’10” and weighing 230 lbs., he came to define the archetypal Bond henchman — and not just because of his size. It was because Oddjob didn’t talk (he grunted, “Ah!”), whacked people in a wacky manner (with his much parodied steel- rimmed bowler hat), and died a spectacular death (being electrocuted). As for the curious smile on his face, it can only be assumed it comes from having painted Jill Masterson’s nude body gold.
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Christopher Walken as Max Zorin: A View to a Kill, 1985
Dozens of actors were considered to play sinister Silicon Valley tycoon Zorin, but the part went to Christopher. The beloved actor brought his iconic oddity to this villain — humor, ambition, ruthlessness, insanity. While most Bond fans don’t love Kill, it ain’t because of Christopher, especially when he cackles before falling off the Golden Gate Bridge to his doom.
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Robert Shaw as Red Grant: From Russia With Love, 1963
What’s a homicidal, paranoiac convicted murderer to do after escaping from Dartmoor prison in England? Why, become a SPECTRE assassin, of course. While not one of the flashier Bond adversaries, this brute makes the list because of the understated performance delivered by Robert. Hired and run by Rosa Klebb, Grant must first act as Bond’s protector so the spy can unwittingly deliver a Russian decoder to SPECTRE. The two match wits when they meet on the Orient Express, and their subsequent fight to the death in Bond’s cabin is a cinematic touchstone. Choreography, cinematography and editing DNA from that close-quarters fight can be found in the Bourne franchise.
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Richard Kiel as Jaws: The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977; Moonraker, 1979
Dilettante Bond fans who gripe that the Roger Moore–era films began to parody themselves often point to this 7’2″, steeltoothed henchman buffoon as Exhibit A. Real Bond fans, however, know that Richard’s Jaws is a big reason The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker are impossible to turn off when they come on TV at 10 o’clock at night. Born in Detroit in 1939, Richard was acting, writing and producing his way through show business before being hired to kill 007. Originally set to be offed in The Spy Who Loved Me, he proved so popular with test audiences that he was spared. Virtually impossible to kill — he survived a fall from a plane, a Peter Pan over a waterfall, ejection from a moving train and a plummet from space — Jaws only had one line despite all this screen time. It was a champagne toast to his girlfriend, Dolly: “Well, here’s to us.” Right back at you, big guy
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Joseph Wiseman as Dr. No: Dr. No, 1962
Setting the tone for all future Bond villains, the titular antagonist of the fist film was highly intelligent, had a penchant for cockamamie murder plots — three blind mice assassins, deadly tarantulas — and enjoyed a spot of civilized conversation with 007 before deciding to just kill him. And while Dr. Julius No was the first villain to die in the film franchise, Canadian-born Joseph was one of the last surviving bad guys of the Sean Connery-era films. He died (of natural causes) in 2009 in New York City.
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Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre: Casino Royale, 2006
What made Le Chiffre such a compelling Bond villain? For starters, he cried blood and dominated at the card table and yet was insecure about having to use an inhaler. He also relished doing his own wet work. Le Chiffre torturing a naked Bond in a chair with a length of knotted rope established a high water mark for brutal realism in the spy franchise. The oft-humiliated character was played to perfection by Danish actor Mads, who auditioned for the part while Daniel Craig looked on, dressed in a tuxedo.
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Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb: From Russia With Love, 1963
If ever there were a poster girl for lesbian Soviet counterintelligence officers who carry brass knuckles and will kick someone to death with a poison-tipped shoe blade without compunction, Rosa Klebb is it. Although the hammer and sickle adorn her uniform, her true master is SPECTRE. Klebb, No. 3 in the organization, is tasked with a seemingly impossible mission: dupe sexy Russian cipher clerk Tatiana Romanova into helping Bond steel a decoder, then send an assassin to kill Bond and retrieve it. Needless to say, Bond gets the better of the assassin (see No. 9 on this list), and in the finale, Tatiana shoots Klebb before she can puncture Bond’s shin with her nifty blade.
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Geoffrey Holder as Baron Samedi: Live and Let Die, 1973
Of all the henchmen who’ve attempted to kill 007, Baron Samedi is the spookiest: He’s a bona fide voodoo spirit. When drug kingpin Kananga hands over the enchanting tarot reader Solitaire to Samedi for sacrifice, Bond — played for the first time by Roger Moore — finds himself battling supernatural forces instead of plain old evil geniuses. And although the top-hat-clad, face-painted Samedi appears to die twice in the film, he reemerges in the end — much as his demonic character endures to this day.
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Gert Fröbe as Auric Goldfinger: Goldfinger, 1964
Man has climbed Mount Everest and gone to the bottom of the ocean. He’s fired rockets at the moon, split the atom, achieved miracles in every field of human endeavor … except crime!” As impressive as that motivational speech is to criminal wannabes everywhere, it’s interesting to note that German actor Gert didn’t speak any English — so his voice was actually dubbed by another actor. Often named by Bond aficionados as the quintessential villain in the best Bond film, the man with the Midas touch was also known for his two besties, Oddjob and Pussy Galore.
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Michael Lonsdale as Hugo Drax: Moonraker, 1979
Like most megalomaniac industrialists, Drax had a dream: to engineer a new master race in the heavens who would descend to Earth and repopulate the planet. (The master-race thread comes from Ian Fleming’s Moonraker novel, which was written in 1955, when neofascism was emerging in England.) French-English stage actor Michael perfectly captured the nouveau-aristo criminal’s sadistic selfawareness. And although the Roger Moore–era Bond films are known for their campy humor, Drax is responsible for one of the most haunting scenes in the entire 007 franchise, when he dispatches his Dobermans to viciously run down and devour his beautiful assistant.
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Donald Pleasence as Ernst Stavro Blofeld: You Only Live Twice, 1967
Any devious crackpot could hatch plots to steal nuclear weapons or hijack an orbiting spacecraft, but only a true evil genius could actually pull off those wildly audacious stunts. No Bond supervillain is more iconic than the bald, cat-stroking Blofeld, who’s known for his sadistic killing methods. (Why merely shoot a foe when you can watch him get eaten alive by piranhas?) Blofeld’s raison d’être is never explored in the films, but Ian Fleming offers a backstory in the book Thunderball: Born in Poland on May 28, 1908 (the author’s birthday), he sold secrets to Nazi Germany during WWII and hid out in South America before launching the terrorist organization SPECTRE. Of the four actors who’ve played Bond’s arch nemesis, Donald, in You Only Live Twice, best embodied Blofeld’s twisted mastermind.
