Focus on Felix

Felix Leiter’s on-screen life is as long as 007’s, appearing in the very first film, Dr. No. (1962). Played by Jack Lord, Felix is a man of mystery, sporting sunglasses when tailing 007 (Sean Connery) upon his arrival at Kingston Airport. After Bond is jumped in a bar by Jamaican fisherman Quarrel (John Kitzmiller) and the bar owner, Leiter holds Bond at gunpoint, announcing his CIA credentials and revealing Quarrel as a fellow agent. Later, Leiter assists Bond with his mission, helping him and Honey Ryder following their escape from Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman)’s hideout. 

Leiter returned in Goldfinger (1964), now played by Cec Linder. He is the first to point out Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) at Bond’s hotel in Miami, and later plays a crucial role in foiling the attack on Fort Knox. In Thunderball (1965) Leiter (Rik Van Nutter) rescues Bond from an underwater cave and calls in the US Navy to battle Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi)’s frogmen.

Played with a lighter, more exasperated touch by Norman Burton in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Leiter helps Bond infiltrate a diamond smuggling ring. Leiter saves Bond’s life by swapping real diamonds for fake ones and does significant work investigating American billionaire Willard Whyte (Jimmy Dean). He also launches the helicopter attack that destroys Blofeld’s (Charles Gray) base on an oil rig.

With a new Bond, Roger Moore, came a new Felix. David Hedison, an old friend of Moore’s, played the character in Live And Let Die (1973). Investigating Harlem drug dealer Mr. Big (Yaphet Kotto), Leiter takes Bond to the Fillet of Soul restaurant, a front for Big’s drugs racket, and smooths things over with the Louisiana police after 007 causes carnage with a speedboat. He later plays a key part in the destruction of Big’s heroin operation.

After John Terry played the character in The Living Daylights (1987), Hedison returned to the role in Licence To Kill (1989), this time playing opposite Timothy Dalton. Rather than assisting Bond, Leiter becomes the catalyst for the plot, after his wife Della (Priscilla Barnes) is killed by drug dealer Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) on their wedding day, causing 007 to seek revenge. Sanchez tortures Leiter by lowering him into a shark tank and leaving him to die. Fittingly, Bond sets fire to Sanchez with Leiter’s best man present — an engraved cigarette lighter.

Leiter did not appear at all during Pierce Brosnan’s era but returned in Casino Royale (2006), played by Jeffrey Wright. Leiter first meets Bond (Daniel Craig) at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. After 007 has lost the funding of treasury agent Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) to stay in the high-stakes poker game, Leiter gifts Bond $5 million to buy back in. The catch is the CIA will get to bring in Bond’s target Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) once Bond has won the game. 

In Quantum Of Solace (2008), Leiter works with CIA colleague Gregg Beam (David Harbour) to obtain American oil rights in Bolivia from exiled General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio). The corrupt Beam, working in cahoots with Quantum’s Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), arranges for Bond to be killed but Felix warns 007 with seconds to spare, allowing Bond to escape.

In No Time To Die (2021), Felix, working with partner Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen), lures Bond out of retirement to track down MI6 scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik) who had worked on Project Heracles, a deadly DNA weapon that spreads like a virus. Bond captures Obruchev in Cuba and brings him to Leiter and Ash on a boat, demanding to know who the scientist was working for. 

When it becomes clear that Obruchev is working for Ash, the latter pulls out a gun and shoots Leiter in the stomach, blowing the vessel up with a limpet mine. As the boat floods with water, Bond tries to haul Felix to safety. “It’s a good life,” says Felix. “The best,” retorts Bond. As the water rises, Felix slips away from a distraught Bond.

Bond later avenges Leiter’s death, crushing Ash to death with an upturned vehicle — after an injured Ash implores him “Why don’t you help me out, brother?” Bond simply replies, “I had a brother. His name was Felix Leiter.”