Top Bond Blonde Henchman

One of the trademarks of a Bond film is the henchmen/woman of the Bond villains. Together with the movies main villain, they plan and execute elaborate plans to kill James Bond.

With lots of henchmen/women over the course of the Bond movies, only one was successful in directly inflicting a tragedy to Bond. That was Blofeld's henchwoman, Irma Bunt, when she fired a machine gun that hit Tracy Bond just moments after James and Tracy were married. Aside from Bunt, most have been unsuccessful in doing that task laid out by their boss.

However, we have seen Bond hurt in some of his fights against this specific category of henchmen.

Necros (left) and Bond (right) in The Living Daylights from moviemarmiteman.blogspot.com

They are what we fans call "the Blonde Bond henchmen" and they are tall, muscular, strong, often silent, and of course, Blonde. Those are what sets them apart from other henchmen.

6. Edmund Slate portrayed by Neil Jackson

Edmund Slate in Quantum of Solace from http://jamesbonddatabase.blogspot.com 

Since the reboot that gave us Daniel Craig and Casino Royale, the henchmen of the villains have not been a big deal and have been more realistic ones. Starting off this countdown is a minor henchman in Quantum of Solace. Slate is just another lead that Bond needs and meets in a blade fight to get to know more about Quantum.

5. Erick Kriegler portrayed by John Wyman

Erick Kriegler in For Your Eyes Only  from pinterest.ph

In the film For Your Eyes Only (1981), Erick Kriegler was a KGB assassin working for the main villain, smuggler Aris Kristatos, posing as an athlete and was a marksman. What made his portrayal memorable was the ski chase scene while Bond was skiing with Bibi Dahl, niece of Kristatos. However, the final showdown with Bond was not quite exciting. He fell to his death.

4. Hans portrayed by Ronald Rich

Hans in You Only Live Twice from jamesbond.fandom.com

Hans in You Only Live Twice (1965) was the first reincarnation of the Blond Bond Henchman, two films after Red Grant in From Russia With Love. He had limited screen time and did not say much throughout the film but the final fight in Ernst Stavro Blofeld's volcano lair was a feast for our eyes indeed. Bon Appétit!

3. Richard Stamper portrayed by Gotz Otto

Richard Stamper in Tomorrow Never Dies from die-hard-scenario.wikia.com

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) was one of the Bond films that followed the fundamental formula of the earlier Bond films. Part of that fundamental formula was the main villain and his henchman. Elliot Carver (portrayed by Jonathan Pryce) had a henchman who was just as theatrical as him. Although Stamper was mostly silent, he had time to exchange quips with Bond every now and then. He took pride in being trained by Dr. Kauffman, who was coldly killed off by  Bond.

2. Necros portrayed by Andreas Wisniewski

Necros in The Living Daylights from tvtropes.org

Necros in The Living Daylights (1987) was one of the coolest and lethal Bond Blonde Henchman. He disguises himself in order to blend in and be left unnoticed for him to do his orders. He disguised as a milkman delivering to an MI6 safe house in England to capture Georgi Koskov and bring him to Brad Whitaker. The second time he was in a disguise was when he killed off Saunders, MI6 contact in Vienna, with a triggering explosive. That time, he was a balloon seller in a carnival. Saunder's death enraged Bond and was acted very convincingly by Timothy Dalton.

The final fight between Bond and Necros was high above the sky in the opening of a plane, while hanging for their lives. Bond ultimately won the tight match by outwitting Necros, cutting off the laces of his own boot which was being held by Necros.

1. Red Grant portrayed by Robert Shaw

Rosa Klebb (left) and Red Grant (right) in From Russia With Love from flickriver.com

From Russia With Love (1963) was one of the greater Bond films, if not the greatest (it is, for me). One of its strength was the plethora of villains that it had. There was Blofeld's Number 1, Rosa Klebb, Kronsteen, and Red Grant. Grant's strength was first shown in the pre-title sequence, defeating a Bond-like agent with a garrote watch. Before he was selected for the mission, Klebb hit him in the abdomen with a knuckle and he did not move a bit. Strong guy indeed.

Grant killed off Captain Nash who was supposed to be Bond's contact in the Orient Express. He did a good impersonation that Bond did not notice he was an impostor. He only did when he drugged Tatiana Romanova, leading to their exciting exchange of words and brutal fight in a dark and tight space. Thanks to Q Branch's goods, Bond made it out alive.

As far as I am concerned, only George Lazenby's Bond was not able to experience the Bond Blonde Henchman. What he had was a redhead henchwoman in Irma Bunt, and that would require a different blog post.