Bond villains
In the colorful, high-stakes world of international espionage, Ian Fleming's immortal secret agent has crossed paths with memorable criminal masterminds and brawny henchmen eager to conquer the world - but not once Bond arrives to save the day in the nick of time.
One of the most memorable was in "Goldfinger"(1964), Auric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe), who has more than an obsession with precious metals, hatches a dastardly plot to steal all the gold from Fort Knox - but wait, that's not exactly what's up his sleeve.
Pictured: James Bond (Sean Connery) is strapped to a table facing a very nasty-looking laser beam.
Bond: "Do you expect me to talk?"
Auric Goldfinger: "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!"
Of note: Since the German actor spoke hardly any English, all of his lines were subsequently dubbed by British TV and film actor Michael Collins.
"Dr. No"
Dr. Julius No (Joseph Wiseman), once in the employ of a Chinese criminal society, seeks to sabotage the U.S. space program. Unlike in Ian Fleming's novel, in which Dr. No (inspired by Sax Rohmer's Oriental villain Fu Manchu) had ties to the Soviets, in the film he is allied with the criminal organization SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). Also, he was one of many Bond villains who happens to be deformed (his bionic hands are serviceable but hardly state-of-the-art).
Dr. No: "East, West, just points of the compass, each as stupid as the other. ... The Americans are fools. I offered my services, they refused. So did the East. Now they can both pay for their mistake."
James Bond: "World domination: The same old dream. Our asylums are full of people who think they're Napoleon, or God."
"From Russia With Love"
We don't get to see much of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE - only the cat he strokes while he dispatches minions who make the mistake of displeasing him. Among his arsenal of agents is Col. Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), a former Soviet intelligence agent who has defected to SPECTRE, who tries to obtain a stolen Soviet decoding device, the Lektor. And watch out for her shoe, which sports a poison-laced blade.
Here, Klebb makes known her intentions with Tatiana (Daniela Bianchi), a clerk in a Soviet consulate and one of Bond's many squeezes.
"From Russia With Love"
SPECTRE assassin Donald "Red" Grant (Robert Shaw) threatens Bond before engaging in a close-quarters fight over the stolen Lektor inside a train compartment.
Grant: "My orders are to kill you and deliver the Lektor. How I do it is my business. It'll be slow and painful."
"Goldfinger"
Oddjob (Harold Sakata) meets a particularly vivid end in "Goldfinger" (1964).
"Thunderball"
Back in 1965, £100 million was real money. That's how much SPECTRE's Number 2, Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi), wanted - in diamonds, mind you, not old-fashioned currency - in exchange for two hijacked nuclear warheads.
Largo: "You wish to put the evil eye on me, eh? We have a way to deal with that where I come from."
"You Only Live Twice"
In his first full-frontal appearance, Blofeld (Donald Pleasance) seeks to hijack American and Soviet spacecraft, to instigate a war between the two superpowers.
Blofeld: "As you can see, I am about to inaugurate a little war. In a matter of hours after America and Russia have annihilated each other, we shall see a new power dominating the world."
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service"
In "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969), Blofeld (Telly Savalas) sets a high price against his threat to sterilize the world's food supply - amnesty for his previous crimes. And who shows up at his mountaintop retreat to thwart the criminal mastermind's plans but none other than James Bond (George Lazenby). Bond saves the world yet again, but Blofeld gives the agent a cruel parting gift.
"Diamonds Are Forever"
In "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971), Blofeld (this time played by Charles Gray) uses a diamond-encrusted laser satellite to destroy parts of the U.S., Soviet and Chinese nuclear arsenals.
Here he poses next to his SPECTRE-emblazoned one-man submarine, potentially useful for getting away from a certain MI6 agent who infiltrates his offshore oil platform/secret base to foil his plans.
"Diamonds Are Forever"
The assassins Mr. Wint (Bruce Glover, left) and Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith) appear to have gotten the drop on James Bond (Sean Connery), in "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971).
"Live and Let Die"
Jamaican Dr. Kananga, a.k.a. Mr. Big (Yaphet Kotto) uses fears of voodoo to further his agenda of cornering the U.S. market for heroin addicts. Here he puts James Bond (Roger Moore) and his clairvoyant assistant Solitaire (Jane Seymour) in harm's way.
Mr. Big: "Is this the stupid mother that tailed you uptown?"
Bond: "There seems to be some mistake. My name is..."
Mr. Big: "Names is for tombstones, baby!"
"Live and Let Die"
Bond struggles with Mr. Big's henchman Tee Hee (Julius Harris), whose mechanical pincer hand is adept at clipping off appendages, in "Live and Let Die" (1971).
"Live and Let Die"
Geoffrey Holder as the voodoo priest Baron Samedi, one of Kananga's henchmen in "Live and Let Die" (1971).
"The Man With the Golden Gun"
Freelance assassin Francisco Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), who charges $1,000,000 for a kill, engages Bond (Roger Moore) in a duel on his own private island in "The Man With the Golden Gun" (1974). Aside from his talent with a gold-plated pistol, Scaramanga also has a third nipple, because, well, just because.
Scaramanga: "A duel between titans - my golden gun against your Walther PPK."
Bond: "One bullet against my six?"
Scaramanga: "I only need one, Mr. Bond."
"The Spy Who Loved Me"
In "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977), Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens), holed up in his underwater hideout, seeks to trigger a nuclear war that would destroy the world, so he can begin civilization afresh. Using a huge supertanker, he hijacks Russian and American nuclear-armed submarines to further his plans, but doesn't count on the intervention of James Bond (Roger Moore) and Soviet agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach).
"The Spy Who Loved Me"
The steel-toothed assassin-for-hire Jaws (played by Richard Kiel) first appeared in "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977). Able to survive virtually any situation, the character was brought back in the next film, "Moonraker."
"Moonraker"
Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) builds an orbiting space platform from which to launch nerve gas into Earth's atmosphere, allowing a de-populated planet to become home to his genetically pure race of human beings, in "Moonraker" (1979).
Drax: "Mr. Bond, you persist in defying my efforts to provide an amusing death for you."
"For Your Eyes Only"
Blofeld (not named but obviously him, owing to his white cat) traps James Bond in a remote-controlled helicopter, which he puts into a terrifying spiral, in the opening sequence of "For Your Eyes Only" (1981).
Blofeld: "I trust you had a pleasant 'fright'?"
"For Your Eyes Only"
In "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), Greek smuggler Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) attempts to sell a captured British intelligence communications device to the Soviets. He tries to dispose of Bond (Roger Moore) and his accomplice, Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet), by keelhauling them behind his yacht.
Kristatos: "Bind that wound. We don't want any blood in the water. Not yet!"
"For Your Eyes Only"
In "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), Michael Gothard played Locque, a Belgian hired gun, who is shot by Bond. His car careens and dangles over a cliff's edge, but with Bond nearby, it doesn't dangle for long.
"Octopussy"
Afghan prince Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan) aids Soviet General Orlov, who plots to detonate a nuclear bomb in East Germany as a pretense to expand Soviet domination in Europe, in "Octopussy" (1983).
"A View to a Kill"
Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), the product of Nazi experiments to produce a super race, seeks to destroy Silicon Valley, thereby furthering his own interests in establishing an international microchip cartel, in "A View to a Kill" (1985).
Zorin: "You lost, 007."
Bond: "Killing Tibbett was a mistake."
Zorin: "Then I'm about to make that same mistake twice."
"A View to a Kill"
The righthand woman of Max Zorin, May Day (Grace Jones) effortlessly disposes of Zorin's rivals in "A View to a Kill" (1985).
"Licence to Kill"
Drug smuggler Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi), responsible for the murder of the wife of DEA agent Felix Leiter, puts Bond (Timothy Dalton) on a conveyor belt heading towards a shredder, in "Licence to Kill" (1989). Seen in the background is a henchman played by Benecio Del Toro.
"GoldenEye"
Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean), a former Secret Agent (006) who becomes a turncoat, commandeers the GoldenEye satellite system to unleash electromagnetic pulses against vulnerable electrical systems and thus cripple the British government, in "GoldenEye" (1995).
"GoldenEye"
A femme fatale in the strictest sense, Xenia (Famke Janssen) kills men during sex in "GoldenEye" (1995). But Bond manages to turn the tables on her, and she meets her end in what proves to be a rather crushing blow.
"Tomorrow Never Dies"
Media titan Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce) seeks to trigger a war between China and the United Kingdom - what better way to make news? - in "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997).
Carver: "There's no news like bad news!"
"The World Is Not Enough"
Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), who killed her own father in an act of revenge, will stand at nothing to complete a valuable oil pipeline, in "The World Is Not Enough" (1999). Here she has James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in a compromising position.
King: "I could have given you the world."
Bond: "The world is not enough."
King: "Foolish sentiment."
"The World Is Not Enough"
The terrorist Renard (Robert Carlyle), who has explosive plans for Istanbul, first has to get past James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in "The World Is Not Enough" (1999).
"Die Another Day"
Will Yun Lee as North Korean Colonel Moon, and Rick Yune as Zao, in "Die Another Day" (2002).
Thanks to gene-replacement therapy, Moon resurfaces as a Caucasian, Sir Gustav Graves.
"Die Another Day"
The terrorist Zao (Rick Yune), assistant to a North Korean colonel trafficking in blood diamonds, in "Die Another Day" (2002).
"Casino Royale"
In the 2006 Daniel Craig reboot "Casino Royale," Mads Mikkelsen plays Le Chiffre, a financier for terrorist organizations who duels James Bond at the gaming tables of Monte Carlo.
Also pictured is Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), a shadowy figure who represents the criminal organization Quantum, an arm of SPECTRE.
"Quantum of Solace"
Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a Bolivian General in exile who is helping mastermind a coup, establishes an environmental organization as a front to monopolize his nation's water supply, in "Quantum of Solace" (2008).
"Skyfall"
Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), a former MI6 agent who was "betrayed" by M, seeks revenge against her and her best agent, James Bond (Daniel Craig), in "Skyfall" (2012).
Silva [placing hand on Bond]: "There's always a first time."
Bond: "What makes you think this is my first time?"
"Spectre"
James Bond (Daniel Craig) confronts Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), the fugitive agent now working for Quantum, in "Spectre" (2015).
Mr. White: "I always knew death would wear a familiar face - but not yours."
"Spectre"
In "Spectre" (2015), Christoph Waltz plays Franz Oberhauser, a major figure in the criminal organization SPECTRE whose real identity is discovered to be [REDACTED!]. It turns out he has had big plans for Mr. Bond all along.
Oberhauser: "It was me, James. The author of all your pain."
"Spectre"
Oberhauser: "Welcome, James. You've come across me so many times, yet you never saw me. What took you so long?"
See also:
"Bond Girls" through the years
Designing 007: Fifty years of Bond style
The 10 best James Bond theme songs
For more info:
"Spectre" (Official site); opens in the U.S. November 6
007.com (Official James Bond site)
James Bond International Fan Club
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan