Jane Moneypenny, better known as Miss Moneypenny is a character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M. Although she has a small part in the films, it is always highlighted by the underscored sexual tension between her and Bond (something virtually nonexistent in Ian Fleming’s novels, though somewhat more apparent in the novels of John Gardner and Raymond Benson). According to the film You Only Live Twice, she holds the rank of lieutenant in the Royal Navy.

Miss Moneypenny, secretary to M, gets a hug from James Bond in ‘Dr No’.

Miss Moneypenny is believed to be based on two women who worked with Ian Fleming in Naval Intelligence during World War II. One on these was his secretary Paddy Bennett (who later married Julian Ridsdale and was made a Dame for her services to the House of Commons Parliamentary Wives Club). Paddy Bennett played a key role in an operation, devised by Ian Fleming, to deceive German Intelligence over the site of the D-Day landings by letting a body of a uniformed British naval officer fall into German hands complete with briefcase containing intelligence information pointing to landings in the Pas de Calais region (this operation has been immortalised in the film The Man Who Never Was). She helped create the false persona for the body by creating a paper trail that would satisfy German Intelligence that the naval officer existed, including many love letters.

In both the Bond novels and films based upon them, Moneypenny is smitten with Bond. For example, in the novel Thunderball, Fleming wrote that she “often dreamed hopelessly about Bond.” However, she never vocalizes these feelings.

Miss Moneypenny’s role in Fleming’s novels is even smaller than that of her role in the films. In the novels, Bond also has his own secretary, Loelia Ponsonby and later Mary Goodnight, both of which often had their lines and relationships transferred to Miss Moneypenny for the films. As a rule, Moneypenny generally never directly participates in Bond’s missions, although there have been a few exceptions in both film and literature (most notably Diamonds Are Forever, in which she disguises herself as a customs agent to help send Bond on his mission). In Octopussy, Moneypenny has an assistant named Penelope Smallbone, who appears to be equally smitten with Bond, despite a “thorough briefing” on the subject by Moneypenny. Apparently intended as either a foil or a replacement for Moneypenny, Smallbone appeared only once.

On October 10, 2005, John Murray published the first of three Ian Fleming Publications‘ sanctioned novels, written by Samantha Weinberg under the pseudonym Kate Westbrook, entitled The Moneypenny Diaries, a trilogy from the point of view of Miss Moneypenny.

Miss Moneypenny gets a peck from James Bond in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’.

Although Moneypenny is supposed to be English, in the James Bond films in which Lois Maxwell portrayed the character, she actually spoke with a Canadian accent, due to Maxwell herself being Canadian.

Since the character’s first appearance in Casino Royale, neither Fleming nor any succeeding Bond novelist or screenwriter had ever seen fit to give Moneypenny a first name. In a few of the books and at least one film, Bond refers to her by the nickname “Penny” (a shortened version of her last name). The Moneypenny Diaries officially gives her a first name: Jane. It remains to be seen if any future Bond film follows suit.

Moneypenny has been played by five different actresses in the Bond films:

1. Lois Maxwell
2. Barbara Bouchet
3. Pamela Salem
4. Caroline Bliss
5. Samantha Bond

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See also:

• Bond allies