James Bond wouldn't be half the spy he is if he didn't have some killer villains to
square off against. Since 1962, he's been facing down some of the toughest bad guys
in movie history. We're here to give you a glimpse of what they look like today, from
Le Chiffre to Hugo Drax.
In the 25th Bond film No Time to Die, the villainous and mysterious Safin will be played
by Rami Malek. Malek is best known for playing protagonist Elliot Alderson in the television
series Mr. Robot and Freddie Mercury in the film Bohemian Rhapsody. He's been active since
the early 2000s, playing small roles in shows like 24 and Gilmore Girls and films like Night
at the Museum. Mr. Robot was the launchpad he needed, and it appears Malek will only
continue to climb higher in Hollywood.
Christoph Waltz's breakout role arrived in 2009, when he blew audiences away as SS officer
Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. Waltz went on to secure major roles
in movies like Django Unchained and eventually, 2015's Spectre. Waltz is the latest actor
to play Ernst Stavro Blofeld, a recurring Bond villain played by five different actors
over six decades. In this continuity, Blofeld is actually Bond's adoptive brother, who believes
Bond supplanted his position as favored son. Blofeld is the head of the global criminal
organization SPECTRE, which is secretly responsible for the events of the previous three films.
"You killed them."
"Yes I did."
Waltz has continued to act since Spectre, having appeared in a wide variety of films
including Alita: Battle Angel, The Legend of Tarzan and Downsizing. Waltz will reprise
his role as Blofeld in 2020's Bond installment, No Time to Die.
Javier Bardem’s first work as an actor happened early. He began acting as a child in 1974
and went on to appear in many movies throughout the 1990s and 2000s, culminating in his star-making
turn as psychopathic killer Anton Chigurh in 2007's No Country for Old Men. This led
to bigger roles, including Raoul Silva in the 2012 Bond film, Skyfall.
Silva is a former MI6 agent who was brutally tortured after M traded him to the Chinese
government in return for six captured agents. Skyfall sees him become a cyberterrorist,
out for bloody revenge on M. Following Skyfall, Bardem has continued acting, most prominently
playing the mysterious male lead in Darren Aronofsky's mother! and Armando Salazar in
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Mathieu Amalric started acting in 1984's Favorites of the Moon, and his most notable performances
pre-Bond are his roles in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Munich. In 2008, Amalric
made his Bond debut as the villainous Dominic Greene in Quantum of Solace. Greene is an
environmentalist entrepreneur who secretly works for the mysterious organization known
as Quantum. This evil collective is buying up Bolivia's supply of fresh water, creating
a monopoly that will make Greene exponentially richer at the expense of the Bolivian people.
Amalric has remained very active as an actor, appearing in movies like Venus in Fur and
shows like Wolf Hall among many other credits.
Mads Mikkelsen enjoyed worldwide recognition for his role as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale.
A mathematical genius, Le Chiffre finances various terrorist groups, but ultimately loses
their money in risky investments. This forces him to set up a high-stakes poker game in
an effort to compensate for his losses. Bond enters the game, hoping to prevent Le Chiffre
from paying back his debtors and force him into seeking protection from MI6.
Mikkelsen's acting career exploded in the wake of Casino Royale. The years since have
seen him take on high-profile roles such as Kaecilius in Doctor Strange and Dr. Hannibal
Lecter in the celebrated television series Hannibal.
Stephens has enjoyed a robust career in acting since 1992, including performances in Twelfth
Night and the title role in the 2000 TV movie adaptation of The Great Gatsby. He assumed
the role of Bond antagonist in Die Another Day, as Gustav Graves, a British billionaire
with a dark secret.
Stephens has remained very active since Die Another Day. Most notably, he's starred as
Captain Flint in Black Sails and as John Robinson in the 2018 reimagining of Lost in Space.
Scottish actor Robert Carlyle started acting in the 1990s, taking on roles in films like
Trainspotting and The Full Monty. In 1999 he faced James Bond as the villainous Renard
in The World Is Not Enough. Renard previously survived an assassination attempt by MI6,
but it left a bullet in his brain. Now, he seeks revenge against MI6 by any means necessary.
Since his turn in The World Is Not Enough, Carlyle has taken on a variety of notable
roles in film and television. He appeared as Doctor Nicholas Rush in Stargate Universe,
portrayed Rumpelstiltskin in Once Upon a Time, and took on the role of Prime Minister Robert
Sutherland on the television series Cobra.
Welsh actor Jonathan Pryce started his career on the British stage of the 1970s and later
moved to film with projects like Brazil. In 1997, Pryce played the Bond villain Elliot
Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies. Carver is a sociopathic media baron who plans to expand
his empire by inciting a war between China and the UK.
Pryce has enjoyed a number of stellar roles since Tomorrow Never Dies. He's earned particular
acclaim for his performances as Pope Francis in The Two Popes, Weatherby Swann in the Pirates
of the Caribbean movies, and the High Sparrow in Game of Thrones.
Before playing a Bond villain, Bean performed Shakespeare onstage and earned roles in films
like Patriot Games and Black Beauty. In 1995, he took on the role of Alec Trevelyan, a fellow
MI6 agent and close friend to James Bond in GoldenEye. The two conduct a mission together
in which Trevelyan is seemingly killed - but nine years later, it's revealed that he staged
his death and betrayed MI6 to become a crime lord.
Bean has continued to have a very successful career, landing roles in The Lord of the Rings
trilogy, National Treasure, and Game of Thrones.
Robert Davi has enjoyed a rich acting career since the 1970s, appearing in such classics
as The Goonies and Die Hard. In 1989 he starred as international drug lord Franz Sanchez in
Licence to Kill. Sanchez's master plan is quite simple, really: He wants to continue
to sell drugs on a massive scale and corrupt or kill anyone who gets in the way.
After playing a Bond villain, Davi has continued acting in a wide variety of projects including
Predator 2, Stargate: Atlantis, Criminal Minds, The Expendables 3, and more.
Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbé began acting in the 1960s, enjoying particular distinction
from his work in Soldier of Orange and The Fourth Man. The late '80s saw him play a string
of villainous roles which brought him widespread acclaim, most prominently General Koskov in
the 1987 Bond film The Living Daylights. Koskov is a brilliant Soviet general who feigns neutrality
in the Cold War. In reality, he plans to misuse Soviet funds to buy a large supply of opium
and trade it for arms.
Krabbé went on to play many more famous villains, including Gianni Franco in The Punisher, Charles
Nichols in The Fugitive, and even Satan himself in the 1999 TV movie Jesus. He continues to
act, and is also an accomplished painter.
Joe Don Baker started his acting career with parts in westerns like Wild Rovers, going
on to earn major attention for his roles in Charley Varrick and Walking Tall. In 1987,
Baker played the war-obsessed arms dealer Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights.
Baker has continued to act in the years following The Living Daylights, though the last decade
did see him grow considerably less active. Before this slowdown, Baker appeared in movies
like Congo and even returned to the Bond franchise. He played the very different role of Bond's
ally Jack Wade in GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies.
Prior to taking on Bond, Christopher Walken earned acclaim for his roles in classics like
Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, and The Dead Zone. In A View to a Kill, he played tech
giant Max Zorin, who planned to destroy Silicon Valley to eliminate competition for his microchip
business.
After playing Max Zorin, Walken has maintained a very active career. He's appeared in Batman
Returns, Pulp Fiction, Antz, Sleepy Hollow, Catch Me If You Can, and many other notable
films. Walken is also a frequent host of Saturday Night Live – where you likely best know
him for being in an unforgettable sketch with an unforgettable line:
"Guess what? I got a fever! And the only prescription is more cowbell."
Julian Glover has been acting since the 1950s, taking on a wide variety of roles in productions
including The Empire Strikes Back, Quatermass and the Pit, and The Avengers. In 1981, Glover
found himself face-to-face with James Bond as the villain Aristotle Kristatos in For
Your Eyes Only. Kristatos appears to be a respectable war hero and businessman, but
is later revealed to be a heroin smuggler and double agent.
After playing a Bond villain, Glover has continued to have a very successful acting career. Most
prominently, Glover played Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, voiced
Aragog in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and portrayed Grand Maester Pycelle
in Game of Thrones.
Michael Lonsdale has appeared in over 180 different films and television shows. However,
his most famous role is likely still Bond villain Hugo Drax, from the 1979 film Moonraker.
Drax is an extremely wealthy businessman who owns a company that builds space shuttles.Being
rich and powerful has clearly gone to Drax's head, as he wants to wipe out humanity and
restart society with a few selected humans. Using his spacecraft, he and his master race
plan to orbit the planet until toxins kill everyone below.
Lonsdale continued to enjoy a rich acting career post-Drax. Notably, he won a Cesar
Award for his performance as Luc in the 2010 film Of Gods and Men, and remained active
on screen until 2016. He passed away in September of 2020.
French actor Louis Jourdan gained major acclaim for playing suave roles in French and American
films, working closely with big names like Alfred Hitchcock and Elizabeth Taylor. In
1983, Jourdan played the villainous Kamal Khan in Octopussy. Khan, an exiled Afghan
prince, starts out as a jewelry smuggler whose plans get bigger and deadlier when he helps
smuggle an atomic bomb into West Germany.
After playing a Bond villain, Jourdan continued acting in film and television until his retirement
in 1992. In 2015, Jourdan passed away at the age of 93.
Richard Kiel played henchman Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Jaws is extremely
strong and tall, forcing Bond into creative approaches when fighting him. His most striking
feature, however, are his metal teeth, which can bite through even the hardest materials.
In an interesting plot twist, Jaws ends up undergoing a major change of heart, turning
on his boss and helping Bond defeat Drax. Jaws even gets a girlfriend in the end.
"Well, here's to us."
Kiel continued acting after playing Jaws, appearing in roles like Mr. Larson in Happy
Gilmore. He passed away in 2014, at the age of 74.
Curd Jürgens' filmography is extensive. Before his Bond days, he starred in films like The
Enemy Below and The Longest Day. Then, in 1977, Jürgens took up the Bond villain mantle
in The Spy Who Loved Me, playing the ocean-obsessed Karl Stromberg, who plans to start a nuclear
war and start a new life for humanity at sea.
Jürgens continued acting after his role in The Spy Who Loved Me, with roles in the sci-fi
sports drama Goldengirl and the war film Breakthrough. His last role was General Vladimir in the
BBC miniseries Smiley's People. He passed away in 1982, at the age of 66.
It's no surprise that the late Christopher Lee played a Bond villain: His impressive
acting career contains many villainous roles, from Saruman in The Lord of the Rings series
to Count Dracula in the Hammer Horror films. In 1974, Lee took on the role of Francisco
Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun. An infamous assassin with a famous weapon,
Scaramanaga also has a flying car and a secret island. To Scaramanaga, it's not about eliminating
Bond - it's about besting him.
"This is the part I really like."
Lee remained very active as an actor leading up to his death in 2015 at the age of 93.
In addition to his work in major franchises like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars,
in which he played Count Dooku, he also enjoyed a career as a heavy metal vocalist.
Yaphet Kotto is the sinister Dr. Kananga in 1973's Live and Let Die. Simultaneously a
dictator and a gangster, Kananga's plan is to freely distribute heroin at his restaurants,
bankrupt his competitors, then raise his prices.
Kotto went on to enjoy more major success as an actor, including his role in the NBC
television series Homicide: Life on the Street. He's also widely known as Parker in Alien
and Alonzo Moseley in Midnight Run.
Baron Samedi, played by Geoffrey Holder, is one of the most frightening bad guys in the
Bond franchise. Appearing in 1973's Live and Let Die, he's a witch doctor of the fictional
Caribbean island of San Monique who works for the main villain, Dr. Kananga.
Outside of Bond, Holder enjoyed a stellar career as an actor, dancer, musician, and
artist on both stage and screen, with roles in films like Annie and Boomerang. Holder
passed away in 2014 at the age of 84.
English actor Charles Gray actually appeared in You Only Live Twice as a different Bond
character. But in 1971, he returned to the franchise as the main villain, Ernst Stavro
Blofeld, in Diamonds Are Forever. This time, Blofeld has physically altered his henchmen
to look like him. Bond must identify and stop the real Blofeld, who plans on using a satellite
built out of diamonds to destroy the world's arsenals.
Gray continued acting post-Blofeld, playing roles like the criminologist in The Rocky
Horror Picture Show and Mycroft Holmes in the 1984 TV series Sherlock Holmes. He passed
away in 2000, at the age of 71.
Telly Savalas gained fame for roles in films like The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Dirty
Dozen, and Birdman of Alcatraz. Then, in 1969, Savalas portrayed Ernst Stavro Blofeld in
On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Blofeld is threatening the world yet again in this movie,
this time through biological warfare. He brainwashes women, putting them into a hypnotic state
in which they distribute bacterial agents capable of devastating the world's agriculture.
After Bond foils his plans, Blofeld kills Bond's wife Tracy, which furthers the feud
between the two epic rivals.
Savalas continued to play big roles post-Blofeld, including starring in the popular television
series Kojak. Savalas remained active as an actor right up until his death in 1994, at
the age of 72.
In You Only Live Twice, Ernst Stavro Blofeld is portrayed by British actor Donald Pleasence,
who ended up creating one of the most recognizable villains in the entire Bond series. His Blofeld
has a secret base hidden inside a volcano, where he dispatches orders with his white
cat in his lap.
After bringing Blofeld to life, Pleasence remained very active as an actor, playing
notable roles in the Halloween franchise, Prince of Darkness and more. In 1995, Pleasence
passed away at the age of 75.
Adolfo Celi specialized in playing villains with a cosmopolitan edge. It's no surprise,
then, that he played Emilio Largo in Thunderball with such panache. Largo's evil plan is to
steal warheads and blackmail NATO into paying him a large sum of money, lest he start destroying
major cities.
Celi went on to act in numerous roles post-Largo, including The Borgias and Danger: Diabolik
and continued acting right up until he passed away in1986 at the age of 63.
Gert Fröbe played the title role of gold-obsessed madman Auric Goldfinger in Goldfinger, one
of the quintessential Bond films. The film's plot features Goldfinger's attempt to rob
Fort Knox in order to drive up the price of gold, and also includes one of the most famous
lines in the franchise:
"No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."
After his turn as one of the most iconic Bond villains ever, Fröbe continued to have a
rich acting career on stage and screen. His roles in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Those
Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines saw him gain particular acclaim in very different
genres - musical fantasy and comedy, respectively. He passed away in 1988 at the age of 75.
Even though he isn't the main villain of the movie, Oddjob is one of the most memorable
parts of Goldfinger. Played by Harold Sakata, his weapon of choice is his hat, which has
a razor-sharp steel rim. Oddjob is terrifyingly good at assassinating victims by hurling his
hat at high speed.
Though Oddjob was Sakata's first role as an actor after a successful weightlifting career,
it definitely wasn't his last. He went on to perform in productions like Hawaii Five-0,
Impulse and Dimension 5. Sakata occasionally spoofed his role as Oddjob in later years,
most prominently by appearing in a series of Vicks cough syrup commercials. He passed
away in 1982 at the age of 62.
Lotte Lenya played Rosa Klebb, a high-ranking member of the mysterious SPECTRE organization,
in From Russia, with Love. Klebb, one of the franchise's first villains, is remembered
best for her signature weapon: Poison-tipped blades, concealed in the tips of her shoes.
Lenya was already a respected actor pre-Bond thanks to an acclaimed stage career and roles
in films like The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone. She was also an accomplished singer, and was
inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1979. Two years later in 1981, she
passed away at the age of 83.
Joseph Wiseman had the honor of playing the first Bond villain, Julius No, in 1962's Dr.
No. Julius No has a killer outfit, a complex backstory, and an epic underground lair, where
he plots to start a war between the Russians and Americans. Like so many Bond villains
who would follow him, No also has a unique physical trait - prosthetic metal hands.
Wiseman continued to act after his turn as Dr. No, appearing in The Twilight Zone, Magnum,
P.I., MacGyver, and more Wiseman passed away in 2009, at the age of 91.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus, even more Looper videos about your favorite
movie villains are coming soon. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so
you don't miss a single one.