Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character from the James Bond universe. He is the arch enemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond and head of the evil terrorist organisation SPECTRE.

Donald Pleasance as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in ‘You Only Live Twice’.

Ernst Stavro Blofeld usually appears accompanied by a white Persian cat in the films (but not in the novels). It was also briefly a trademark of the Bond films not to show Blofeld’s face, only a closeup of Blofeld stroking his cat. This “trademark” was later broken in the film You Only Live Twice and subsequent films.

Blofeld appears in six official James Bond films as well as Never Say Never Again, the 1983 remake of Thunderball, which makes him the most persistent and arguably greatest of James Bond’s enemies. Many of Blofeld’s characteristics have become clichés of supervillains in popular fiction, representing the stock character of the evil genius. In many versions, even the stroking of his white cat has been retained as a parodistic allusion to Blofeld’s character.

Biography: Fleming details Blofeld’s background in the novel Thunderball; none of his background is ever revealed in the Bond films. He was born on May 28, 1908 to a German father and a Greek mother in Gdingen, Germany. After the First World War he becomes a Polish national. Blofeld attends the University of Warsaw where he studies economics and political history. He later goes to the Warsaw Technical Institute to study engineering and radionics. He then takes a communication position with the Polish government, at the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. He begins to use his position for insider trading, buying and selling stocks at the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Foreseeing World War II, Blofeld makes copies of top-secret wires and sells them to Nazi Germany. Before the German invasion of Poland in 1939, he destroys all records of his existence, then moves to Turkey, where he works for Turkish radio and sets up an intelligence organisation. During the war, he sells information to both sides. After the defeat of Erwin Rommel, he decides to back the Allied war effort; ironically, he is awarded numerous medals by the Allied powers after the war’s end. After the war, Blofeld temporarily moves to South America before establishing SPECTRE.

Despite his willingness to murder millions to get what he wants, Blofeld has a few professional scruples. For instance, in the novel Thunderball he learns that during a standard fundraising kidnapping mission of a young girl, the responsible agent had sexual relations with her. Although Blofeld says that the relations may have been “voluntary or involuntary on the girl’s part,” he has the agent killed as punishment and returns the girl and half the ransom to her father as compensation. His reasons have nothing to do with morality, but rather with the importance of SPECTRE being known for keeping their word to those they did their “business” with.

The face of Blofeld remained hidden in ‘From Russia With Love’ and ‘Thunderball’. It was briefly a trademark not to show Blofeld’s face, only a closeup of Blofeld stroking his cat.

Novels: In the novel series by Ian Fleming, Blofeld makes three appearances in what is considered the ‘Blofeld Trilogy,’ or, the ‘Spectre Trilogy’. Blofeld first appears as the leader of SPECTRE in Thunderball, however, his role is reduced to a minor character. The plot, formulated by his organisation and by him is carried out by his henchman Emilio Largo.

Blofeld is absent from the next book, The Spy Who Loved Me, though its events take place while Bond is searching for Blofeld in North America. In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Bond learns that Blofeld is in hiding in Switzerland under the guise of Comte de Bleuville and defeats his plans to destroy Britain’s agricultural economy. In the final sequence of the novel, Blofeld gets revenge by murdering Bond’s new wife, Tracy.

In You Only Live Twice, Blofeld returns and is found by Bond to be hiding in Japan under the alias Dr Guntram Shatterhand. Bond strangles him to death at the end of the novel, making it the villain’s last appearance.

Films: In the film series, Blofeld first appears in From Russia with Love, in which he has a very small role. Similarly, he also plays a minor role in Thunderball after a one film absence. Afterwards, Blofeld takes on the role of the main villain in You Only Live Twice and again in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the latter being virtually identical to the novel. Blofeld returns once again in Diamonds Are Forever. Blofeld’s final appearance is generally held to be in the pre-title sequence of 1981’s For Your Eyes Only where he finally receives his comeuppance for the murder of Bond’s wife when he is hurled off a helicopter and into a giant smokestack. For copyright reasons involving Kevin McClory and the film rights to Thunderball (see the controversy over Thunderball) Blofeld’s name was never mentioned either verbally or in the final credits of For Your Eyes Only. The only indications that this wheelchair-bound character is Blofeld are the presence of the Persian cat, baldness, and the original trademark of not showing Blofeld’s face. (The cat escapes before Blofeld’s doom).

Telly Savalas (left) as Blofeld in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’.

In the films, Blofeld’s physical appearance and personality varies wildly due to the change of actors (i.e. Blofeld’s scar does not appear in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service or Diamonds Are Forever; in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service it is revealed that Blofeld has removed his earlobes, but they return in Diamonds Are Forever along with a full head of hair). This is actually in keeping with the Blofeld of Fleming’s novels, who is described as drastically changing his personality and appearance in order to hide from Bond.

Actors who have played Blofeld in the films (order of appearance):

1. Anthony Dawson — (From Russia with Love) (uncredited; only hands shown, in the credits Blofeld’s actor is labeled as a question mark)*
2. Eric Pohlmann — (From Russia with Love) (uncredited; voice)
3. Anthony Dawson — (Thunderball) (uncredited; only hands shown)
4. Joseph Wiseman — (Thunderball) (uncredited; voice)
5. Donald Pleasence — (You Only Live Twice)
6. Telly Savalas — (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service)
7. Charles Gray — (Diamonds Are Forever)
8. John Hollis — (For Your Eyes Only) (uncredited)
9. Max von Sydow — (Never Say Never Again) (unofficial)

See also:

• Bond villains