Auric Goldfinger is a character in the James Bond film and novel Goldfinger. His first name, Auric, is an adjective meaning of gold. Ian Fleming chose the name to commemorate the architect Ernő Goldfinger who had built his home in Hampstead next door to Fleming’s; Fleming disliked Goldfinger’s style of architecture and destruction of Victorian terraces and decided to name a memorable villain after him. In 2003, the American Film Institute declared Auric Goldfinger the 49th greatest villain in the past 100 years of film.

Gert Fröbe as Auric Goldfinger in ‘Goldfinger’.

Auric Goldfinger was played by Gert Fröbe. Goldfinger was banned in Israel after it was revealed that Fröbe had been a member of the Nazi party during the Second World War. The ban, however, was lifted many years later when a Jewish family publicly thanked Fröbe for protecting them from persecution during World War II.

Gert Fröbe, who did not speak English well, was dubbed in the film by Michael Collins, an English actor. However, Fröbe is speaking (presumably heavily-accented) English in all his scenes, so this dubbing is not noticeable. [Exception: some of the long-distance AG Swiss factory scene where Goldfinger explains smuggling to Ling, in which the actor’s mouth isn’t moving].

Of his role as Goldfinger, Fröbe later remarked: “I am a big man, and I have a laugh to match my size. The ridiculous thing is that since I played Goldfinger in the James Bond film there are some people who still insist on seeing me as a cold, ruthless villain – a man without laughs.”

Novel biography: In the novel, Auric Goldfinger is a 42-year-old expatriate who emigrates at age 20 in 1937 from Riga, Latvia. He is 5 feet tall, has blue eyes, red hair, and has a passion for his tan.

Now a Commonwealth citizen naturalised to Nassau, he has become the richest man in England, though his wealth is not in English banks and he hasn’t paid taxes on it. Rather, it is spread as bullion in many countries. Goldfinger is the treasurer of SMERSH, Bond’s nemesis.

Goldfinger is obsessed with gold, going so far as to have yellow-bound erotic photographs, and have his women painted head to toe in gold so that he can make love to gold. (He leaves an area near the spine unpainted, but painting this area also is what kills Jill Masterson, as in the film). He is also a jeweller, a metallurgist, and a smuggler.

Auric Goldfinger.

When Goldfinger first meets Bond in Miami, he claims that he is agoraphobic; a ploy to allow him to cheat a previous acquaintance of Bond’s at a game of two-handed Canasta. Bond figures out how Goldfinger is managing this, and blackmails him by forcing him to admit his deception. Goldfinger is also an avid golfer, but is known at his club for being a smooth cheater there, also. When Bond contrives to play a match with Goldfinger, he again cheats the cheater by switching Goldfinger’s Dunlop One with a Dunlop Seven he had found while playing.

Goldfinger is the owner of “Enterprises Auric AG” in Switzerland, maker of metal furniture, which is purchased by many airlines. Twice a year, Goldfinger drives his vintage Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost car from England to Enterprises Auric. Bond learns that Goldfinger makes dead drops of gold bars for SMERSH along the way, and that his car’s bodywork is 18 carat (75%), solid white gold under the ploy that the added weight is armour plating. Once at Enterprises Auric, his car is stripped down, melted and made into seating for an airline company that Enterprises Auric is heavily invested in. The plane(s) are then flown to India where the seats are melted down again into gold bars and sold for a much higher premium rate; 100 to 200% profit.

Film biography: Arguably the most famous James Bond villain in any film, Goldfinger’s obsession is gold. In fact, Goldfinger is a gold smuggler accomplishing this feat by having a workable car built out of gold and transporting it via airplane. Once the car arrives at its destination, Goldfinger has it melted down. Goldfinger is also an avid golfer who plays with a Slazenger 1 golf ball. He is defeated by Bond, however, when he is tricked by Bond after attempting to cheat.

Auric Goldfinger owned many properties throughout the world including “Auric Enterprises, AG”, which was the headquarters for most of his smuggling operations. Located in Switzerland, it is where Bond nearly gets cut in half by an industrial laser when Goldfinger has him strapped to a table. “Choose your next witticism carefully, Mr Bond; it may be your last.”

Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Goldfinger: No, Mr Bond. I expect you to die.

In the novel version, Bond is captured by Goldfinger and threatened with being slowly cut in half by a metal-cutting buzzsaw. Bond is also put to torture at the same time, as Oddjob works his pressure points. He offers to work for Goldfinger in exchange for his life. Bond blacks out, and wakes to find that Goldfinger is going to take him up on his offer. Bond becomes Goldfinger’s prisoner and secretary. While working at this job he finds out about Operation Grandslam.

Later, Goldfinger and his henchman learn from SMERSH who Bond is, and determine to take him with them in defecting to the Soviet Union. They pose as doctors to incapacitate crew and passengers (including Bond) with drugged inoculations. Then they hijack the BOAC Boeing 377 Stratocruiser (service ceiling 32,000 ft), carrying Goldfinger’s total savings of gold. The hijacked plane is headed for Soviet Union airspace. In the novel, Goldfinger’s henchman Oddjob meets his end by being sucked through an airliner window after Bond pierces it with a knife. Goldfinger then attacks James by kicking him.

Bond and Goldfinger have a brief struggle, which Bond ends, after being described as “going berserk” for the first time in his life, by strangling Goldfinger to death by hand. Bond then turns to the pilots and forces the airplane to turn back from its intended flightpath, and this causes it to ditch in the ocean after running out of fuel. The airplane sinks rapidly (presumably due to its payload of gold), and Bond and Pussy Galore are the only survivors.

See also:

• Bond villains