Mr Big is a James Bond villain in the novel and film Live and Let Die. In the film, Big is portrayed by Yaphet Kotto. The novel and film versions of Mr Big are extremely different, with the film incarnation bordering on being a completely new character altogether.

Yaphet Kotto as Mister Big in ‘Live and Let Die’.

Novel biography: In the novel, Mr Big’s name is actually an acronym for Buonapart Ignace Gallia, his real name. Big was born in Haiti and is half French. Supposedly trained in Moscow as a Soviet agent after World War II, Mr Big according to M is one of the most powerful criminals in the world. Head of the “Black Widow Voodoo Cult”, Big is believed by some to be the voodoo master Baron Samedi himself. Big is also a member of SMERSH.

Mr Big, using his yacht, the Secatur, smuggles 17th century gold coins from Bloody Morgan’s cove in Jamaica to Saint Petersburg, Florida. Using tanks in a warehouse owned by Big’s henchman, The Robber, the gold coins are secretly hidden under the dirt of the tank and guarded by deadly fish. The coins are then trickled out into the market. All of this is done in an effort to finance operations by SMERSH.

Her Majesty’s Government unleashes James Bond on Mr Big after the events of Casino Royale, allowing Bond to exact his revenge on the organisation SMERSH. Big’s demise comes when Bond places an explosive on Big’s yacht, the Secatur, sinking it. Although Big actually survives the explosion, he is killed moments later by the swarm of barracuda and sharks that not only devour him, but his remaining henchmen as well.

The scheme is used in the film Licence to Kill, although instead of smuggling gold coins, Franz Sanchez smuggles drugs. Other parts of Live and Let Die are also used in Licence to Kill including the warehouse scene in which Bond kills The Robber for feeding Felix Leiter to a shark.

Film biography: In the film, Mr Big is a business man and owner of a chain of restaurants in New York City and New Orleans called “Fillet of Soul”. Big is also the head of one of the most vicious street gangs in Harlem. On the fictional tiny island of San Monique, Big is known by his alter ego Dr Kananga. Kananga is the de facto dictator of the island and thus has certain diplomatic immunities in the United States easily allowing him to smuggle drugs into the country.

Kananga stands out as a Bond adversary due to the supernatural aspect of his villainy. He uses a psychic mistress, Solitaire, to tell the future; has an ally in Baron Samedi, who appears to be the genuine voodoo God of the Dead; and it has been implied that he, himself, is at least twice the age he appears to be, since he also used the powers of both Solitaires’ mother and grandmother, before both lost their powers by getting pregnant (losing their virginity).

Through Big’s alter ego, Kananga, he grows vast quantities of opium in San Monique that are covered by large camouflage nets and guarded by the mystical Baron Samedi. Using the poppies Kananga hopes to flood the US market with heroin distributed through Big’s legitimate restaurants for free thus forcing other drug dealers out of business. In doing so he believes that he would double the amount of addicts, which he would be able to exploit with his new found monopoly.

Big is thwarted by his voodoo high priestess, Solitaire, and Bond. During the final sequence, Bond forces Kananga to swallow a pellot of compressed air, which unloads in Kananga causing him to inflate and eventually explode.

See also:

• Bond villains