Felix Leiter

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James Bond character
Felix Leiter
The many faces of Felix Leiter: from top-left: Jack Lord, Cec Linder, Rik Van Nutter, Norman Burton - from bottom-left: David Hedison (LALD), John Terry, David Hedison (LTK), and Jeffrey Wright.
Gender Male
Affiliation CIA
Relatives Wife: Della Leiter (deceased)
Daughter: Cedar Leiter
Portrayed by Various

Felix Leiter is a fictional character created by Ian Fleming in the James Bond series of novels and films. In both, Leiter works for the CIA, and assists Bond in his various adventures. In further novels Leiter joins Pinkerton Detective Agency and in the film Licence to Kill he transfers to the DEA. The name "Felix" comes from the middle name of Fleming's friend Ivor Bryce while the name "Leiter" was the surname of Fleming's friend Marion Oates Leiter Charles, then wife of Thomas Leiter.

In the 1954 Climax! television adaptation of Casino Royale, which featured Barry Nelson as CIA agent Jimmy Bond, his opposite number became British secret agent Clarence Leiter, played by Australian actor Michael Pate.

Contents

[edit] Novel biography

Felix Leiter makes his first appearance and introduction to James Bond in the first Bond novel, Casino Royale. He is a former member of the U.S. Marine Corps, now working for the CIA and stationed in Paris: a tall, lanky, blond Texan. He quickly befriends Bond, and funds the secret agent's mission when Bond runs out of money to play against SMERSH accountant Le Chiffre.

In Live and Let Die, the second Bond novel, Leiter teams once again with Bond early on in the story, this time to track down Mr. Big, a golden-coin smuggler in Harlem. After escaping Mr. Big's kidnapping together, Leiter goes alone to investigate a warehouse in Florida, where Mr. Big's henchman "The Robber" feeds him to a shark and ends up losing an arm and a leg. He remains unconscious for the rest of the novel, and subsequently left the CIA because "with my shooting arm gone, they could only offer me desk work."

After a brief absence in Moonraker, Leiter returns once more on crutches and wearing a prosthetic hook for his arm in Diamonds Are Forever. He is now employed as a private detective by Pinkertons Detective Agency. With the aid of Leiter and his ally Ernie Cuneo, Bond tackles diamond smuggling in Las Vegas and brings down the Spangled Mob.

By the time of Thunderball, Leiter is called back to the CIA during the atom theft crisis. Together with Bond they research Emilio Largo in Bahamas and fight an underwater battle under his yacht. Leiter is mildly hurt during the battle, and Largo is killed by his mistress, Domino.

Leiter's last appearance is in Fleming's final novel, The Man with the Golden Gun. Leiter has apparently been kept a position in the CIA, and helps Bond in Jamaica, this time around to tackle Francisco Scaramanga. Posing as a hotel clerk, Leiter and Bond infiltrate Scaramanga's train and jump out of it before finally derailing it (along with Scaramanga, who survives to have a last duel with Bond in the swamps).

Leiter is lastly seen with Bond at the hospital, along his recovering friend.

After John Gardner took over writing the James Bond novel series, Leiter made an occasional appearance. The novel For Special Services introduces his daughter, Cedar Leiter, who is also a CIA agent (and briefly Bond's romantic conquest), while in Win, Lose or Die U.S. President George H. W. Bush (making a cameo appearance in the novel) mentions working with Leiter in his previous capacity as CIA director.

Leiter also makes appearances in Raymond Benson's continuation Bond novels, The Facts of Death, in which he helps Bond substantially with a mission in Texas, and Doubleshot. Benson has Leiter sometimes making use of an electric wheelchair, in reference to the deterioration of his legs following the shark attack, but Leiter is still capable of walking with the aid of a cane. In later novels, Leiter has also found a Hispanic girlfriend, Manuela.

[edit] Film biography

In the films, Leiter is a CIA agent in all appearances except in Licence to Kill in which he worked alongside the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The cinematic Bond and Leiter meet for the first time in Dr. No, the first Bond film. Eon Productions had originally planned to film Thunderball, where Leiter featured prominently, as the first film in the series. However the controversy over Thunderball led the filmmakers to film Dr. No instead. It is possible that the producers felt that Leiter's CIA agent character would deflect American criticism that James Bond was "too British".

The film version of Live and Let Die does not contain the sequence with the shark, and Leiter survives intact to help Bond again. Leiter's confrontation with the shark would later be used in Licence to Kill where he is fed to a shark by the villain Franz Sanchez. The film version of Leiter lost only one leg at the knee to the shark, although one arm was seriously injured. Although severely mutilated, Leiter would still remain alive. His newly-married wife, Della, is raped and murdered by Sanchez's henchmen. These atrocities would send Bond on a quest for vengeance, which forms the film's central plot.

In more recent films the character of Jack Wade has appeared as the regular representative of the CIA, ostensibly because the producers did not want to feature a disabled Leiter. It is hinted in GoldenEye that he was friends with Leiter, though Leiter is never mentioned by name. Leiter appeared in the 2006 adaptation of Casino Royale, and due to the fact that the film is a reboot, Leiter once again works for the CIA with no mention of the shark encounter. This however would've been the case if it wasn't a reboot as Casino Royale is still a precursor to the other films chronologically.

[edit] Dr. No

Felix Leiter was first mentioned by M in his office when briefing Bond. M mentions that Leiter was working in Jamaica, Bond tells M that he has heard of Leiter but not met him. Felix Leiter and James Bond first meet in a restaurant in Jamaica. But before that Felix tails Bond with Quarrel when Bond goes in a car of the “enemy”. When Bond tries to extract information from Quarrel, Quarrel threatens Bond, but Bond gets the upper hand, pointing his gun at Quarrel and his friend Puss-Feller. Felix enters and threatens Bond, before revealing himself as a CIA agent. Leiter and Bond soon become very good friends, working together on the case in Jamaica. They soon find that Professor Dent is actually a henchman of the mysterious Doctor No. Bond, Leiter and Quarrel go out to Crab Key where they presume that Doctor No is hiding. But Leiter goes back after half-way, and leaves Bond and Quarrel at Crab Key. Later when Bond has completed the mission, Felix saves Bond and Honey Ryder after they are stranded at sea.

[edit] Goldfinger

Felix Leiter is sent to tell James Bond about Auric Goldfinger, and his mission to inform him of what M wants him to do with him. Felix interrupts Bond while he is being massaged by Dink. They arrange to have dinner for a better briefing, but Bond reschedules to breakfast as he is enjoying time with Goldfinger's girlfriend Jill Masterson. When Masterson is killed, Felix is asked to come to Bonds room.

Later Felix calls M, telling him Bond is going to Kentucky. M asks Felix to follow and keep an eye on him but not to "drop" in on him. Felix and one of his allies tail Bond (using the Homer device in Bonds shoe) to a farm, where they spy on him. When Bond takes his homer out and puts it in the car of Oddjob and Mr. Solo, Felix follows. Oddjob destroys the car and Mr. Solo and the homer device and Felix must return to the farm fearing Bond is dead. However after spying on the farm he sees that Bond is under-control of the situation. Felix however doesn't know that Bond is being held captive.

On the day of "Operation Grand Slam" Felix gets told by Pussy Galore of Goldfinger's plan, they change the canisters of the gas. Felix then waits for Goldfinger to arrive at Fort Knox, and when he does they manage to stop Goldfinger.

[edit] Thunderball

Felix Leiter is sent to the Bahamas to investigate two stolen nuclear missiles with Ml6 agent and old friend James Bond. Felix follows Bond several times without him noticing, and when he goes to Bond’s room, Bond opens the door and punches him. Bond quickly brings him inside and tells him to be quiet while he deals with an intruder in his house. Bond later apologises for punching him. Felix and Bond investigate Emilio Largo, who has stolen the weapons. Felix later saves Bond when he is trapped and helps him find the missing plane.

[edit] Diamonds Are Forever

Felix Leiter appears, undercover, as a customs inspector who enables Bond to smuggle in a cache of diamonds, using the corpse of Peter Franks (a smuggler who had died while battling Bond in an earlier sequence). When James arranges for the exchange of diamonds to Tiffany Case (hidden in a stuffed animal), Leiter and his men lose her in a parking lot. Leiter later escorts James to a remote hideout where hotel magnate Willard Whyte is being kept. Leiter grows flustered when James subdues Whyte's two bodyguards, 'Bambi' and 'Thumper' (two athletic women who attack their opponents with kicks), by dunking them in a pool, complaining about Bond "giving breast-stroke lessons" while trying to find Whyte. Leiter then assists Bond and Whyte in tracking down the satellite operating center and makes another appearance on one of the helicopters leading the assault on the center. He is finally seen with Whyte bidding farewell to Bond and Tiffany on their cruise at the end of the film.

[edit] Live and Let Die

Leiter acts as the CIA liaison as Bond operates in New York, investigating the deaths of British agents who were the victims of Mr. Big. When Bond arrives in New York, Leiter wants some information about s pimpmobile driver (Whisper), who had killed Bond's taxi driver. In this film, Leiter and other CIA men also operate out of a hotel room overlooking the residence of Kanaga, the dictator of a small island called San Monique. Leiter, while investigating Kanaga for corruption in the United States, goes with James to a Fillet of Soul restaurant, under the guise of finding out more information about Mr. Big, a notorious drug dealer. However, Bond is removed from the restaurant and captured by Mr. Big by a descending floor, and Leiter appears to have no idea what happened to Bond. When Bond later escapes, he assists James in handing him a series of bombs to explode the poppy fields that Mr. Big/Kananga is growing. He's last seen in the film escorting James and Solitaire to their train.

[edit] The Living Daylights

Felix Leiter is investigating Brad Whitaker in Tangier, trying to determine why Whitaker had not made any arms deals after receiving a huge sum of money from General Leonid Pushkin. He sets up cameras around Whitaker's estate to spy on him. When James Bond comes to Tangier, and after Bond (with Pushkin's connivance) fakes Pushkin's assassination, Felix captures Bond using two girls to seduce him; they hold him at gunpoint until he realises they are working for Leiter. Bond and Felix discuss Pushkin and Whitaker. Later he is seen when Bond was breaking into Whitaker's house; Leiter helps Bond enter the house undetected.

[edit] Licence to Kill

Felix Leiter is going to be married, to Della Churchill, but on the way with Sharkey and James Bond, his friends from the DEA, catch up with him. They tell him that a drug lord and wanted man Franz Sanchez is nearby. Felix insists that they go despite his wedding. Felix and Bond, leaving Sharkey to explain to Della, go by helicopter to a house in the Bahamas. When they land, Felix tells Bond to stay in the helicopter, while he and several DEA officers find Sanchez. Sanchez's men try and distract Felix by shooting at him and his officers. Bond is brought in the action claiming "if I don't get you back to the wedding, I am a dead man for sure". Felix and Bond can’t find Sanchez but realise he is escaping in an aeroplane, so quickly get in the helicopter and chase. Bond manages to help Felix get Sanchez and both parachute down to the wedding, where Felix and Della wed.

Later, when Sanchez is travelling from the Bahamas to a prison, Ed Killifer, an agent, betrays his friend Felix and helps allow Sanchez to escape for $2million dollars. This indirectly allows Sanchez to find Felix.

Felix and Della are enjoying their post-wedding party, cutting the cake, opening presents and giving Bond a present (a lighter which ends up crucial at the end of the film). Felix and Della say good-bye to Bond (who is their last guest and best-man to Felix) and go inside. When they enter their bedroom, Perez and Braun are waiting for them, Felix insists they let Della go but is knocked out from behind by Dario. The three then rape Della Leiter before killing her, they then bring Felix to Sanchez at Milton Krest's marine lab. Felix realises that Killifer has betrayed them and that Sanchez is going to kill him. Sanchez claims that this is business nothing personal. Felix is then fed to the shark where he is brought up before he is killed. He loses his leg below his left knee and is scarred elsewhere. He is brought back to his house for James Bond to find with a note reading, "He disagreed with something that ate him.". Felix is sent to hospital and recovers.

Because Sanchez maims Felix, Bond goes after Sanchez. Bond loses his licence to kill in the process, but manages to keep his weapon. Much of the plot of the film is based around his revenge on Sanchez.

[edit] Casino Royale

In the reboot of the James Bond series, Felix Leiter is re-introduced as working for the CIA against Le Chiffre. He is entered in the major poker game that Le Chiffre must win.

When Bond is knocked out of the tournament, Felix reveals himself to him on a stairwell as "a brother from Langley," and proposes a plan for Bond to win against Le Chiffre. He says that he is "bleeding chips" and will not last much longer against Le Chiffre. Felix stops Bond’s attempt to assassinate Le Chiffre and gives him $5 million to buy back into the tournament. In exchange, Felix wants the CIA to take Le Chiffre in if Bond wins. Bond agrees.

Felix is knocked out of the poker game not too long after and Bond wins the $120 million pot prize and Le Chiffre is finished. It is stated later that Felix makes contact with Le Chiffre and will extract him at dawn, but as this is revealed to be a ploy to kidnap another character by the villains. Felix Leiter does not appear again.

[edit] Actors

While Leiter appears in a number of Bond films, he has almost always been played by different actors in each, and hence has not achieved the memorable status of other Bond characters such as M, Q and Miss Moneypenny. Leiter appears in eight official films and one unofficial film, played by eight different actors, who vary dramatically in age, physical characteristics and even race; for example, Leiter was portrayed as an African-American by Bernie Casey in the unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again and by Jeffrey Wright in the 2006 film Casino Royale.

David Hedison and Jeffrey Wright are the only actors to play Leiter more than once; Hedison was recast in Licence to Kill having previously played the role in Live and Let Die, while Wright continues in the upcoming film Quantum of Solace where he left off from Casino Royale. The producers decided that due to the events of LTK, with the entire plot being driven by Leiter's crippling and Bond's resultant quest for revenge, the producers would need someone who was already established in the role to resonate with the audience.

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

[edit] In the "official" films

[edit] In the "unofficial" films

[edit] Other appearances

Leiter is mentioned, but does not appear, in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier (he is referred to as 'F. Gordon Leiter', presumably a reference to G. Gordon Liddy). In it, the CIA is angry that British industrialist John Night (father of Emma Peel) has been given the lucrative special projects contracts by the United Nations. The CIA invents the threat of Doctor No to lure Bond to Jamaica so that Leiter can hire him to assassinate Night for them.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • Cultural Studies: "Holmes Had Watson. Why Can't Bond Keep Leiter?" by Thomas Vinciguerra, The New York Times, Nov. 17, 2002
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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)
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