Sir Hugo Drax is a fictional character created by author Ian Fleming for the James Bond novel Moonraker. For the film and novelisation, Drax was largely transformed by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, Drax is portrayed by actor Michael Lonsdale.

Michael Lonsdale as Sir Hugo Drax.

Novel biography: In the novel, Sir Hugo Drax is a famous English World War II hero and post-war millionaire. He has red hair and half of his face is badly scarred from an accident during the War. The same accident left him with amnesia. Still, Drax was able to start up his company, “Drax Metals Ltd”, which specializes and has a monopoly in the production of a metal called columbite. Drax is also the backer of the ‘Moonraker’ missile project being built to defend the UK against its Cold War enemies. Using the metal, columbite, it gives the missile’s engine an extra layer of protection so it can burn hotter fuels which will expand its range of fire.

As it turns out, Sir Hugo is not who he seems; he was born Graf Hugo von der Drache. Because his mother was English he was educated in England until the age of 12. Afterwards he moved to Berlin and later Leipzig, where he finished his education. After graduating, he joined the Nazi party and entered World War II as a soldier in the 150th Panzer Brigade. During a mission, he dressed as a British soldier so that he could sabotage and destroy a farmhouse that was holding a mixed liaison group of American and British servicemen, but something went wrong and he was nearly killed. He was then rescued by the British and nursed back to health under the guise that he was a “missing soldier” by the name of Hugo Drax.

Because Drax is a Nazi and has an insurmountable hatred for England, he starts the ‘Moonraker’ missile project under the pretense that he would test fire the missile into the North Sea. Instead, he sets his target for London and arms a missile with an atomic bomb he receives through support by the Soviets.

James Bond, with the help of female Special Branch agent Gala Brand, sabotages Drax’s ‘Moonraker’ missile launch and changes the coordinates of the target back to the North Sea, whereafter the missile is launched Drax and his men escape so they can watch as London is destroyed. Instead, the Russian submarine Drax is on was blown entirely out of the water by the blast of the nuclear warhead.

Film biography: In the film adaptation, Hugo Drax is a billionaire living in California in a château that was imported from France. He owns Drax Industries, which constructs space shuttles. In addition, Drax supposedly owns the Eiffel Tower, but apparently cannot export it from France because they wouldn’t issue him an export licence.

Bond follows a trail around the world to investigate the theft of a NASA space shuttle (its engines were fired while it was riding on a 747), starting at Drax Industries, and following it to Italy, then to Brazil, then into space.

In a scheme similar to that of Karl Stromberg’s plan, Drax seeks to destroy the entire human race except for a small group of carefully selected humans, both male and female, that would leave Earth on six shuttles (the one just stolen from NASA to replace one that had faults) and have sanctuary on a space station in orbit over Earth. Using chemical weapons created by Drax’s scientists, derived from the toxin of a rare South American plant, the Black Orchid, at an installation in Italy, he would wipe out the remainder of humanity.

The biological agents are to be dispersed around the earth from 50 strategically placed globes, each containing enough toxin to kill 100 million people. Only three globes are launched when the station is destroyed, taking with it the threat from the other 47 globes. Bond and CIA agent Holly Goodhead escape the destruction of the space station in Drax’s own shuttle, and Bond uses laser guns mounted on the shuttle to destroy the three globes.

Bond and Goodhead, commandeer one of Drax’s space shuttles and blast off to his orbiting space station. There with the help of Goodhead, Jaws, and a group of American space soldiers launched on a military-owned shuttle, Bond foils Drax’s plan by destroying the space station. Bond shoots Drax with his wrist dart and throws him out into space.

See also:

• Bond villains