Is Charles Gray's Blofeld in DAF based on a parody of Ian Fleming?
Silhouette Man
The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
I've just been thinking about this lately. Hear me out on it.
To look at Charles Gray's portrayal of James Bond's arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) it's so very left-field that it really makes one wonder where the inspiration for the character came from. It obviously doesn't come from the James Bond novels, although the Blofeld of On Her Majesty's Secret Service looked superficially similar. This Blofeld dresses in drag, makes humorous comments, makes eloquent speeches; is in sum the perfect English gentleman (the only one?) - hardly the man who two years' earlier blasted Bond's wife, Tracy Bond to eternity. I have a theory that just as DAF is a parody, so Charles Gray's Blofeld is equally a parody of Ian Fleming himself, the creator of James Bond. The James Bond films were all lighter in tone than their 1960s predecessors or their 1980s successors, for that matter. Gray plays Blofeld as a silver fox - he is the classic English gentleman replete with tunic and cigarette holder (a la Fleming). His background would appear to be English upper class or Eton educated, just like Fleming. His Blofeld is the best mannered (an early version of Christopher Lee's Scaramanga in some ways) and most civilised of al;l the portrayals. It's also the least effective, but I have the sneaking suspicion that the Blofeld of DAF was based on Fleming by screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz as a little in-joke to refer to the light approach taken to the Fleming novels and stories from herre in in until about 1980 or so with a return to the gritty realism of For Your Eyes Only (1981), Roger Moore's finest and most Flemingesque portrayal of James Bond on film. Perhaps the key to understanding all of this is the fact that both Ian Fleming and his villainous creation Ernst Stavro Blofeld shared the same birthday: 28 May 1908. Both Fleming and Blofeld in DAF were accused of being poseurs, chocolate sailors and rather fey and theatrical and the below snapshots hopefully demonstrate. Both Fleming and Gray as Blofeld pose with cigarette holder and gun in some of the selected photos that have been added due to their similarity.
So what do we think of my recent theory on the Blofeld of DAF?
As alweays, I'd really love to hear your views on this one!
See these pretty pictures of Fleming and Gray as Blofeld:
OT, but Charles Gray even has a Flemingesque look as the narrator character of The Criminologist in The Rocky Horror Show (1978)
To look at Charles Gray's portrayal of James Bond's arch-nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) it's so very left-field that it really makes one wonder where the inspiration for the character came from. It obviously doesn't come from the James Bond novels, although the Blofeld of On Her Majesty's Secret Service looked superficially similar. This Blofeld dresses in drag, makes humorous comments, makes eloquent speeches; is in sum the perfect English gentleman (the only one?) - hardly the man who two years' earlier blasted Bond's wife, Tracy Bond to eternity. I have a theory that just as DAF is a parody, so Charles Gray's Blofeld is equally a parody of Ian Fleming himself, the creator of James Bond. The James Bond films were all lighter in tone than their 1960s predecessors or their 1980s successors, for that matter. Gray plays Blofeld as a silver fox - he is the classic English gentleman replete with tunic and cigarette holder (a la Fleming). His background would appear to be English upper class or Eton educated, just like Fleming. His Blofeld is the best mannered (an early version of Christopher Lee's Scaramanga in some ways) and most civilised of al;l the portrayals. It's also the least effective, but I have the sneaking suspicion that the Blofeld of DAF was based on Fleming by screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz as a little in-joke to refer to the light approach taken to the Fleming novels and stories from herre in in until about 1980 or so with a return to the gritty realism of For Your Eyes Only (1981), Roger Moore's finest and most Flemingesque portrayal of James Bond on film. Perhaps the key to understanding all of this is the fact that both Ian Fleming and his villainous creation Ernst Stavro Blofeld shared the same birthday: 28 May 1908. Both Fleming and Blofeld in DAF were accused of being poseurs, chocolate sailors and rather fey and theatrical and the below snapshots hopefully demonstrate. Both Fleming and Gray as Blofeld pose with cigarette holder and gun in some of the selected photos that have been added due to their similarity.
So what do we think of my recent theory on the Blofeld of DAF?
As alweays, I'd really love to hear your views on this one!
See these pretty pictures of Fleming and Gray as Blofeld:
OT, but Charles Gray even has a Flemingesque look as the narrator character of The Criminologist in The Rocky Horror Show (1978)
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Comments
He was part of the Clermont Set, a dodgy crowd, and I think Boothby had an affair with Ann Fleming but I'm not sure. He was bisexual, for sure, and of course there is the gambling connection there.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
You think that he was based on Bob Boothby MP, he that had an affair with Dorothy Macmillain, the Prime Minister's (Harold Macmillan's) wife? Interesting theory, but I naturally prefer my own!
Yes, I often overturn stones to reveal things others have never even considered. You need such a skill as the blogger of The Bondologist Blog. Yes, as you say, it does explain why the Gray version of Blofeld was written so differently - it's almost as if Maibaum/Mankiewicz wrote with him in mind (Gray had already played Dikko Henderson in YOLT after all, so it's feasible). And is this Blofeld meant to be presented as a lordly English gentleman-type a las Fleming. I think so. If Gray's Blofeld is a parody of Fleming, it's a nice little in-joke and gives this high-camp Bondian comedy a very different reading. We Bond fans all see different things in the light, don't we?
As for Fleming in drag, there the similarities end, my friend.
I've read a bunch of the articles you write for the Bondologist Blog and they are all great by the way! Some very interesting stuff about things rarely or never discussed! You certainly know a lot more than me on the subject in general and especially on the literary side of things (I'm still making my way through the books) but I suppose we all have to learn from somewhere.
I always knew that the DAF Blofeld was different, it's obvious but I suppose I just never put too much thought as to why!
Thank you, LastRatStanding.
We do all have to start somewhere indeed. Glad you like The Bondologist Blog - please feel free to leave some comments there on the various articles if you like. More new content coming soon on that blog space.
I suppose that looks wise you may have a point there, Nap!
As always it's something else to mull over. -{
Good, TP. I like making people mull things over. Well, it's only fair after I've spent literally days mulling it over myself!
In YOLT and OHMSS, perhaps they got carried away with the " keep it light"
Attitude to the film.
Yes, well Guy Hamilton's attitude was very much "keep it light" - certainly with Christopher Lee as Scaramanga this was his exist advice (and to Moore).
When casting OHMSS, Peter Hunt definitely did not want Donald Pleasance as Blofeld- he had disliked that performance and wanted a more physically commanding actor particularly since Blofeld is a lot more involved in the action scenes than he had been in YOLT. Telly Savalas also had the advantage of being a name actor, important since Lazenby certainly wasn't (this was one reason for Diana Rigg's casting as well).
This wasn't a problem with DAF- Connery's return gave them all the star power needed- and Savalas may have been simply too busy (he was in four films that year, and Kojak was on the horizon).
Sanchez : "Get out of here.......I'll kill you if you mention it to Krest !"
(Sanchez puts on "Way we were" on his boom box)
Sanchez : "Mem'ries , like the corners of my mind , misty........"
Solid theory. There must be millions of in-jokes in the 50-plus year old franchise that we didn't get. I never made the link of the cigarette holder myself, and it's there for everyone to see. Also he's the only Bloefeld with hair (was the novels' Bloefeld bald?). But did Fleming dress in drag? That always puzzled me about DAF. Also, if Ian Fleming based Bond on himself, and if in this case Bloefeld is Fleming, then Bond would be fighting himself in a way! very Star Wars.
Of his characters.
I know there are a few of his characters I'd love to put part of myself into !
( sorry I always have to go for the bad joke ;% )
Oh, I wouldn't call RHPS 'making a fool of himself' - now, if you've seen the sequel to RHPS where Charles gets to sing and dance (and be surprisingly wonderful), THAT was making a fool of himself. :-P
and good humour ( he hated pomposity ) -{ , also as Barbel points
Out, he could play a great villain. It's a shame he never got the chance
In DAF.
Well, according to the 2006 BBC Radio 4 radio play "From Father with Love" his young son Caspar Fleming occasionally wore a skirt/dress, so you never know! Caspar wasn't a transvestite, though. It's probably an English public school thing akin to "fagging" and the like.
*gasp* Blasphemy!!
(Though... admittedly, when you're heavily involved with Rocky as I am, one tends to treat Shock Treatment in the same regard as its predecessor. Like, if a Rocky convention DIDN'T cover Shock Treatment as well, people would be outraged.)
I still personally don't think there is a Connection between the two -{
I'm drawing a few threads together to write a new blog piece on Charles Gray's Blofeld in DAF so I thought I'd revive the thread as the subject fascinates me.
Exactly what my thinking is, though you very rarely if ever hear it said! This article is going to be fun to write!
Just a heads up that your site is not accessible. Every time I click to it, the main page comes up for a moment, followed by a total redirect to some retail site or another.
Edit: On a fourth try the main page stayed up.