Biographic - Sunday October 15, 2006 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

The James Bond films have produced some of the most memorable villains in movie history... and provided great fodder for spoofs. The "Dr. Evil" character in the Austin Powers movies was based on the sinister Ernst Stavro Blofeld, head of Spectre. Blofeld appeared in threee bond movies and was played by three different actors- Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas and Charles Gray. The first Bond Villain to appear onscreen was the dastardly Le Chiffre, portrayed by veteral actor Peter Lorre in a 1954 TV production of "Casino Royale." The first movie in the series, 1962's "Dr. No" saw Bond battle a nefarious, claw-handed maniac bent on world domination. In "Goldfinger" released in 1964, the title role was played by German Gert Frobe. As he didn't speak english, his entire dialogue was dubbed by another actor. Wrestler Harold Sakata, a former olympic weightlifter played henchman Odd Job, who disposed of his victims by wielding his steel-rimmed bowler hat. During Roger Moore's tenure in the role of James Bono, the villains were even more exotic! Richard Kiel played Jaws, a giant steel-toothed killer, in two movies. The teeth were so painful that Kiel could only wear them for a few minutes at a time. Dancer Geoffrey Holder, his face half painted white played the macabre Baron Samedi in 1973's "Live And Let Die." Other notable Bond foes of that era included the diminutive Herve Vallechaize, star of tv's "Fantacy Island," as the pint-sized assassin Nick Nack, and music star Grace Jones as the deadly May Day. In Pierce Brosnan's more recent spell as Bond. His adversaries included Rick Yune as Zao, a killer with diamonds embedded in his mutilated face, and "full monty" star Robert Carlyle as Renard, a scar-faced psychopath, completely impervious to pain.

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