Richard Stamper is a villain in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. He was played by Götz Otto.

Götz Otto as Stamper in ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’.

Biography: Stamper is the henchman of Elliot Carver and protégé of Dr Kaufman, a professional assassin. Kaufman trained him in the many methods of torture, especially chakra torture, which involves inflicting the maximum amount of pain on the body’s most vital areas. A towering presence at 6’7″/2.01 m, his size alone is enough to send fear into the hearts of his intended victims.

The film’s novelisation reveals him to be a sadomasochist, taking pleasure in pain and fond of torturing and raping his victims, whose pleasure-pain senses have been ‘rewired’ so that what would cause pain in a normal person causes Stamper pleasure, and vice versa. This makes Stamper a truly formidable foe, since he will simply feel pleasure, instead of pain, from Bond’s blows. Kaufman is “like a father” to Stamper, who served as his protege in the field of torture, so after Bond kills Kaufman, Stamper determines to avenge his death. But before he can try to break his mentor’s 52-hour record of torture, 007 and Wai Lin escape from Carver with Bond burying a Chackra blade deep into Stamper’s thigh.

Stamper is the only villain left alive as he fights Bond on the platform holding the missile. Bond is less of a match to the physically fit Stamper and tries to resort to his knife. He first stabs Stamper in the arm but the man is clearly enjoying the pain. Bond then stabs him in the chest but that doesn’t work either. Bond then knocks Stamper backwards and releases the brake lever holding the missile. The missile slides backwards and jams Stamper’s foot, pinning him.

Angry, Stamper grabs Bond and dangles him over the edge, waiting for the missile to ignite. Bond tries to unzip his jacket but it’s stuck. He grabs the knife out of Stamper’s chest and cuts himself loose, falling into the water to safety. Stamper is left stunned as the missile ignites but Bond had put detonators on the engines. As a result, Stamper is left to die alone on the raised missile platform. The missile, the stealth boat, and Stamper are destroyed in the explosion.

Stamper is also the seventh in a line of tall, beach blond henchmen to fight 007, after Red Grant (Robert Shaw) of From Russia with Love, Vargas (Philip Locke) of Thunderball, Hans (Ronald Rich) of You Only Live Twice, Peter Franks (Joe Robinson) of Diamonds Are Forever, Erich Kriegler (John Wyman) of For Your Eyes Only, and Necros (Andreas Wisniewski) of The Living Daylights.

See also:

• Bond henchmen