Ernst Stavro Blofeld
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| Ernst Stavro Blofeld #1 |
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| Character from the James Bond franchise | |
 Ernst Stavro Blofeld, as portrayed by Donald Pleasence in You Only Live Twice (1967). |
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| Affiliation | SPECTRE (Self-employed) |
| Portrayed by | Anthony Dawson (uncredited) Eric Pohlmann (voice, uncredited) Donald Pleasence Telly Savalas Charles Gray John Hollis (uncredited) Robert Rietty (voice, uncredited) Max von Sydow |
Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character and a supervillain from the James Bond series of novels and films, who was created by Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory. An evil genius, he is the archenemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond and head of the global criminal organization SPECTRE with aspirations of world domination. As head of the organization, Blofeld is commonly referred to as Number 1, an official numerical position given to members of SPECTRE.
Blofeld appears or is heard in three novels: Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and You Only Live Twice; and six official James Bond films: From Russia with Love (1963), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and his final appearance is the pre-title teaser of For Your Eyes Only (1981). He also appears in Never Say Never Again, the 1983 remake of Thunderball.
He was played on screen by Donald Pleasence, Telly Savalas, Charles Gray and Max von Sydow, among others. It was initially a convention of the films not to show Blofeld's face, only a closeup of him stroking his white Persian cat.
Many of Blofeld's characteristics have become clichés of supervillains in popular fiction, representing the stock character of the evil genius. In many versions, even the stroking of his white cat has been retained as a parodic allusion to Blofeld's character.
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Character
Fleming details Blofeld's background in the novel Thunderball, though none of his past is ever revealed in the Bond films. According to the novel,[nb 1] Blofeld was born on May 28, 1908,[nb 2] to a Polish father and a Greek mother in Gdingen, Germany (now Gdynia, Poland). After World War I, he became a Polish national. Blofeld attended the University of Warsaw where he studied economics and political history, and then the Warsaw University of Technology to study engineering and radionics. He then took a communication position at the Polish Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, and used his position for buying and selling stocks at the Warsaw Stock Exchange.[1]
Foreseeing World War II, Blofeld made copies of top-secret wires and sold them to Nazi Germany. Before the German invasion of Poland in 1939, he destroyed all records of his existence, then moved to Turkey, where he worked for the Turkish radio and set up an intelligence organization. During the war, he sold information to both sides. After the defeat of Erwin Rommel, he decided to back the Allied war effort. Ironically, he was awarded numerous medals by the Allied powers after the war's end. Blofeld then temporarily moved to South America before founding SPECTRE.
In the John Gardner novel For Special Services, Blofeld is depicted as having had a daughter, Nena, with a French mistress.
Blofeld was probably named after Tom Blofeld (father of Henry), who attended Eton College with Fleming.[2] He and Fleming belonged to the same London club and, when seeking a name for his villain, Fleming flicked alphabetically through the membership lists, lighting upon the name Blofeld as being suitably villainous.
Novels
Blofeld makes three appearances in the Ian Fleming novels. He first appears in a minor role as the leader of SPECTRE in the 1961 novel Thunderball. The plot that he formulates is carried out by his henchman Emilio Largo. Blofeld is described physically as a massive man, once a bodybuilder but having gone to fat. He has violet-scented breath from chewing flavored cashews.
Blofeld is absent from the next book, The Spy Who Loved Me, though its events take place while Bond is battling SPECTRE in North America. In On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963) Bond learns that Blofeld – having radically altered his appearance; physically thin, with silver hair – is in hiding in Switzerland under the guise of Comte de Bleuville, and defeats his plans to destroy Britain's agricultural economy. In the final sequence of the novel, Blofeld gets revenge by murdering Bond's new wife, Tracy.
In You Only Live Twice published in 1964, Blofeld returns and is found by Bond to be in hiding in Japan under the alias Dr. Guntram Shatterhand, with his altered appearance consisting; a bushy black moustache, a nose repair, and a gold-capped tooth. Bond strangles him to death at the end of the novel, making it the villain's last appearance. In both On Her Majesty's Secret Service and You Only Live Twice, he is aided in his schemes by Irma Bunt, who is clearly his lover in the latter and posing as Shatterhand's wife. Bond incapacitates her in their Japanese castle base before it blows up, killing Bunt.
Films
In the film series Blofeld first appears in From Russia with Love, then in Thunderball. In these first two appearances, he is a perceived, but physically unseen character, with only his lower body visible as he strokes his trademark white cat.
In the third, fourth, and fifth appearances - You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Diamonds are Forever - he is the primary antagonist, meeting Bond face-to-face.
In the sixth and final appearance - in the pre-credit sequence of For Your Eyes Only - he is an anonymous, bald villain trying to kill Bond once again. By this stage he is in a wheelchair; the reason for this is never clearly revealed but it may be supposed to have been the result of the injuries he suffered when Bond crashed his mini-sub into the oil rig in Diamonds Are Forever.
Blofeld remains unnamed and unlisted in this film’s end credits. The only clues to his identity are the trademark white cat[3] and the fact that the scene begins with Bond paying his respects to his late wife Tracy, who died at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The scene at Tracy's grave was often considered by the producers as a means of providing an "immediate continuity link" in the event of a new actor taking the part of Bond.[4] The anonymity of the villain was due to the legal dispute between Kevin McClory and EON Productions over the Thunderball copyrights.[citation needed]
Blofeld is presumably killed in the beginning sequence of For Your Eyes Only when, after trapping Bond in a remote-controlled helicopter and about to make it crash, Bond takes control of the copter and subsequently drops Blofeld (in his wheelchair) down a chimney stack resulting in a loud crash.
As a villain, Blofeld’s appearance and personality change according to the personifying actor:
He has a full head of black hair in From Russia With Love and Thunderball; a facial dueling scar in You Only Live Twice; no scar or earlobes in On Her Majesty's Secret Service; and silver-grey hair in Diamonds Are Forever. This metamorphosing is per Fleming’s literary portrayal of a chameleonic master criminal striving to go unnoticed with a massive employ of plastic surgery (which is often used in Diamonds Are Forever, albeit to create Blofeld doubles rather than change the original). He often wears a jacket without lapel, based loosely either on the Nehru jacket or on the Mao suit, a feature which is used in spoofs like the Austin Powers series, though in his early two appearances on film he wore a black business suit.
Czech actor Jan Werich was originally cast by producer Harry Saltzman to play Blofeld in You Only Live Twice. Upon arriving at the Pinewood set, both producer Albert R. Broccoli and director Lewis Gilbert felt that he was a bad choice, resembling a "poor, benevolent Santa Claus". Nonetheless, in an attempt to make the casting work, Gilbert continued filming. After five days, both Gilbert and Broccoli determined that Werich wasn't menacing enough, and recast Donald Pleasence in the role — the official excuse being that Werich was ill.[5]
| Year | Film series | Actor/Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1963 | From Russia with Love | Anthony Dawson, person, Eric Pohlmann, voice; both uncredited as only hands and back of head are seen; the end credits list a question mark for the actor’s name. |
| 1965 | Thunderball | Anthony Dawson, person, Eric Pohlmann, voice (though other sources claim that it is Joseph Wiseman aka Doctor No [6]); both uncredited as only hands are shown; end credits do not list Blofeld. |
| 1967 | You Only Live Twice | Donald Pleasence |
| 1969 | On Her Majesty’s Secret Service | Telly Savalas |
| 1971 | Diamonds Are Forever | Charles Gray |
| 1981 | For Your Eyes Only | John Hollis, person, Robert Rietty, voice (Rietty previously dubbed John Strangways' voice in Dr. No and Emilio Largo's voice in Thunderball); both uncredited; Blofeld’s face is not seen close up. |
| 1983 | Never Say Never Again (non-EON) |
Max von Sydow |
Henchmen
From Russia With Love
- Rosa Klebb
- Morzeny
- Donald Red Grant
- Kronsteen
Thunderball
- SPECTRE Agent # 11
- SPECTRE Agent # 9
- Emilio Largo
- Fiona Volpe
- Count Lippe
- Angelo Palazzi
You Only Live Twice
- Hans
- Mr. Osato
- Helga Brandt
- SPECTRE Agent # 3
- SPECTRE Agent # 4
- Dikko Henderson's Assassin
- Car Driver
- SPECTRE Astronaut
- Mr. Fong
- Helicopter Squad
- Tiger Tanaka's Ninja School Assassin
- Bedroom Assassin
- Innumerable Asian footsoldiers in pastel coloured jumpsuits and matching hard hats.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
- Irma Bunt
- Grunther
- Gebrüder Gumbold
- Braun
- Felsen
- Josef
- Slovak
- Eckford
- Chrono
- Sonny
- Herb
- Tony
- Jacky
Diamonds Are Forever
- Mr. Wint
- Mr. Kidd
- Bert Saxby
- Professor-Dr. Metz
- Japanese Contact
- Egyptian Contact
- Marie
- Dr. Tynan
- Joe
- Mrs. Whistler
- Tiffany Case
- Peter Franks
- Morton Slumber
- Shady Tree
- Klaus Hergersheimer
- Ivanhorff
- Rodney
- Bambi
- Thumper
- Maxie
- Private army in blue jumpsuits and orange hardhats serving on Oil Rig off the coast of Baja California
Other appearances
Blofeld appears in the 2004 game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, this time with the likeness of Donald Pleasence.
Cultural impact
- Pleasence's incarnation as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice served as inspiration for Dr. Evil, the chief villain of the Austin Powers films, portrayed by Mike Myers, complete with facial scar, gray collarless suit and white cat.
- Waldorf released a desktop synthesizer named Blofeld, after Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Waldorf has also released a software synthesizer named Largo, perhaps after Blofeld's henchman Emilio Largo.
- The Inspector Gadget cartoon series features a character named Dr. Claw who was a parody of Blofeld, including signature shots of just the chair, and arms, similar to shots of Blofeld. Like Blofeld, who was head of SPECTRE, Claw was the head of a large criminal organization, called MAD and had a cat.
- In the Evil Genius computer game, the character of Maximillian is based on Blofeld.
- In the TimeSplitters: Future Perfect and TimeSplitters 2 computer games, the character of Khallos is based on Blofeld. Khallos in Future Perfect also appears with a robotic white pet cat named Strudel.
- Additional puns on Blofeld can be found in:
- Police Squad! episode "Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood)".
- The Teen Titans episode "Episode 257-494 aka Don't Touch That Dial".
- In the video game Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 4, Uzi Bazooka is shown on the video left in the office sitting in a big chair, head out of view, stroking The Cheat.
- Dr. Robotnik from the Sonic The Hedgehog SatAm series owned a robotic chicken insted of a white cat.
- In the Dragon Ball cartoon series, the Red Ribbon Army and his commander are loosely based in Blofeld and SPECTRE. In this fact, the Commander Red's face isn't seen in early episodes of the Red Ribbon Army Saga, and only shows his hands with a cat. Mission failures are punished with the execution, like SPECTRE, and his members are identified with colors instead the numbers on SPECTRE.
- In the Bruce Lee movie Enter the Dragon, villain Mr. Han (Kien Shih) cradles a white Persian cat while showing Roper (John Saxon) around his museum of weaponry. The film has been referred to as "a low-rent James Bond thriller",[7] a "remake of Doctor No" with elements of Fu Manchu.[8]
- In the Operation: Jet Fusion of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius TV series, a film starring Jet Fusion (a pun on James Bond) has two villains, one who resembles Blofeld and another who looks like Auric Goldfinger.
- In an episode of Scrubs, the Janitor, being approached by Dr. Cox, turns around in his chair to face him, stroking an imaginary animal in his lap. When Dr. Cox asks what it is, the Janitor responds, in an English accent, "Leonard, half-kitten, half-monkey."
- In the 1972 animated film Tintin and the Lake of Sharks, the main villain, Rastapopoulos, is based on the Blofeld character. In the first part of the film only his arms and his chair are visible, but later on his face appears.
- In the Danger Mouse cartoon series, the main antagonist, Baron Greenback, is also based on Blofeld. In his scenes he appears stroking a white-haired caterpillar instead of a white angora cat.
- The main villain of Charles Stross's novel The Jennifer Morgue patterns himself after Blofeld consciously, including the white cat, Nehru suit, and elaborate plan for world domination (using the Glomar Explorer to raise a Chthonian superweapon from the Caribbean sea floor). In the afterward of the novel, Stross discusses Blofeld's influences (Doctor Mabuse, Professor Moriarty, and Fantômas), as well as featuring a fictional interview between Stross and Blofeld. The 'real' Blofeld is currently serving as the Minister of Interior Investment of Transnistria and, as a follower of Leo Strauss and Ayn Rand, was attempting to restore liberty to Britain after he considered it taken over by communist agents such as Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan.
- In The Simpsons ninth season episode "Girly Edition", Bart acts like Blofeld and calls Lisa Octopussy.
- In the Pokémon animated series, Giovanni is a reference to Blofeld, being the head of a Criminal Organization, being rarely shown (often with just his lower body visible) whilst having a white cat - Persian.
- In House, M.D. episode "Here Kitty", the team has to deal with the prospect of a cat which foreshadows patients' deaths by sleeping on them. In a scene where House holds the cat in his arms and a cigar in his hand, Kutner asks, "What are you doing?" and House responds, "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die." (While the cat is a reference to Blofeld, the line House quotes is actually muttered by Goldfinger.)
- In the television series Monk (TV series), Monk's arch nemesis, Dale the Whale strokes a dog in their first encounter in the episode Mr. Monk Meets Dale the Whale.
Notes
- ^ It is commonly believed that the name Blofeld was inspired by the English cricket commentator Henry Blofeld's father, with whom Fleming went to school. The truth, however, is that he was named after Ernst Blofeld, the father of the author John Blofeld with whom Fleming was associated through club membership. Henry and John were cousins of some degree.
- ^ This is also Ian Fleming's birthday.
References
- ^ The Bond Film Informant: Ernst Stavro Blofeld
- ^ Ben Macintyre (5 April 2008). "Was Ian Fleming the real 007?". London: The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article3652410.ece. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
- ^ MovieDeaths.com: Ernst Stavro Blofeld
- ^ The Bond Files by Andy Lane and Paul Simpson, published by Virgin in 1999
- ^ Production Staff. (2000). Inside You Only Live Twice: An Original Documentary. [Television]. MGM Home Entertainment Inc.
- ^ Andy Lane and Paul Simpson. The Bond Files.
- ^ Pallot, James; The editors of CineBooks (1995). The Fourth Virgin Film Guide. Virgin Books.
- ^ Hong Kong Action Cinema by Bey Logan, published by Titan Books, 1995
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