The Many Faces of Doctor No
Movies, TV, novels, and comics - we take a look at all the different aspects of 007’s first cinematic nemesis.
For a variety of reasons I’ve been coming across references to Doctor Julius No a lot recently, and thought it might be fun to take a look at the ways he (or variations of him) have been portrayed across different media.
Most people are aware of Doctor No as played by actor Joseph Wiseman (as shown above) in the first Bond movie, entitled Dr. No. He set the bar for Bond’s cinematic villains with his menacing monologues and dramatic demise. Although the movie follows the plot of the original Ian Fleming novel fairly closely, the same can’t really be said for the appearance of the titular villain. As the image below shows, Fleming’s description of how the evil Doctor should look is somewhat different to the way he was portrayed.
It may be heresy, but it could be argued that the version of Doctor No that appeared in the James Bond Jr. animated show was in some ways closer to the Fleming version, although with the claws upgraded to cybernetic hands, oh and that skin tone maybe a touch to green! (OK maybe not!)
It may come as a surprise to many that Doctor No also made a short come-back of sorts in the 1976 Daily Express comic strip story Hot Shot written by Jim Lawrence, with art by Yaroslav Horak. Here the villain of the story known as Huliraya, or King Tiger, reveals himself to be actually Doctor No. Or is he?
Then there is the Doctor Noah, as played by Woody Allen in the 1967 version of Casino Royale, who other than apparently sharing the same tailor has little to do with the charismatic villain who faced off with Sean Connery back in 1962.
Of course it all could have been very different if the early draft of the movie had been adopted in which it was proposed that ‘Doctor No’ would be revealed to be the name of an intelligent monkey!
Bond Briefing
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Alan J. Porter & Gillian J. Porter
Bond Reads
A round-up of thoughts on Bond-related books recently read or announced.
A recent arrival at the Bond Lexicon office was Mark Edlitz’s new book James Bond After Fleming.
We were lucky enough to get to read a draft of the book earlier this year and provide some notes and feedback. Even at the draft stage we were very impressed by the thoroughness and depth of research into the world of 007 continuation novels.
This has already become an invaluable research tool, and sits on the shelf right by the desk where I keep our most referenced Bond resources.
If you haven’t read any of the Bond novels after Fleming, then this provides an invaluable guide and introduction to another aspect of the 007 mythos; and if you have read them all, it's a great trip down memory lane as well as providing the stories behind each volume in a way that provides additional context.
You can order your copy via our James Bond Bookstore right HERE -
Bond Chronology
An extract from our current in-progress project. - A detailed chronology of the James Bond phenomenon from creation until today, one month at a time.
March 1952.
18
Ian Fleming finishes work on the first draft typescript of Casino Royale .
24
Ian Fleming marries Lady Anne Rothermere, formerly Lady O’Neill, nee Anne Chateris in Port Maria's town hall, Jamaica. Actor, and composer Noel Coward acted as one witness and his secretary Cole Leslie as the other.
25
Mr and Mrs Ian Fleming flew to New York en route to London with the typewritten manuscript for Casino Royle in their luggage.
Bond Blatherings
We experienced a bitter sweet, slightly emotional bit of podcasting last week as Jarrod and I recorded our final Bond Music: Six of the Best show, after 47 episodes and just short of 5 years of talking about the sounds of 007.
A lot of fun memories.
But we are excited to kick off our new Bond related show starting early next year.
Bond for Sale
Looking for a few JamesBond book ideas for gifts this holiday season? - How about checking out our dedicated 007 on-line bookstore?
Of course, there is always our own James Bond Lexicon which you can order from Bookshop.org just be clicking HERE or on the cover below.
If you would like a personalized, signed copy we still have a few copies of both the James Bond Lexicon and James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007 in stock. Just drop us a note at alan@jamesbondlexicon.com and we can get that fixed for you. (Sorry US only at the moment due to shipping costs)
Where to Find Us Online
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Alan J. Porter & Gillian J. Porter