21 replies to this topic

[RossMan]

I think that best Blofeld is Max Von Sydow from Never Say Never again. I wish he could have done the official movies.

When we first see his face in YOLT, I just can't see Donald Pleasence as that same mysterious man in FRWL or TB. Charles Gray was just too comical.

I don't mind too much that each movie Blofeld looks different since he even changed his appearence in the original books.

[General Koskov]

Telly Savales was the best. Charles Gray was the worst as Blofeld, but he would have made a good other villain.
Donald Pleasence was good too, but seemed to weak-willed (Ooh noo! Someone just threw a [um Japanese blade-disk thingy] at my wrist, I guess I'll just give up trying to kill Bond, and forget what he looks like!)

[Friedrich Baxter]

Oops, I've changed names!

[White Persian]

mrmoon (19 Jan, 2002 02:35 p.m.):
The Faceless Blofeld was actually played by Anthony Dawson aka Prof.Dent from Dr.No, the voice was done by actor Eric Pohlmann, and what a voice he had.

Every now and then you read that the faceless Blofeld in Thunderball was voiced by Joseph "Dr NO" Wiseman.
Did Wiseman do a version as well?
It's pretty clear that it's Pohlmann in my copies, but since several variants of Thunderball were floating around, could a Wiseman voiced print have been in circulation at some time?

[mrmoon]

It's possible that there was a print containing wiseman's voice, from what I've read, I always dismissed at just a myth. Could well be true though. Pohlmann has a great voice though, don't you think?

[Tedley King]

I feel that the character Blofeld was played a bit too often in that 4 year period, that led little thought to the final of his appearances (1971 - DAF). Charles Gray was brought in ashis portrayal of Henderson in YOLT was so good,they wanted to bring him back, only this tie in a bigger role, what was more bigger at tat time other than Bond himself? Well, Blofeld. Little thought put into DAF led Connery to return at an age of about 41. It also led to Bond and Blofeld having normal conversation, after the previous mission, Blofeld had escaped Bond with only a slight injury to the neck. It still allowed him to drive the car past Bond from, which Irma Bunt was able to shot his new wife, Tracy. What ever happened to Irman Bunt? (well Ilse Steppat, who played her, died soon after the film was made) We need more women like Irma Bunt, old and aggressive. Not young as with Electra or Xenia. Bond needs an older, more experienced woman to do battle with. Only the audience of toda want to see young beautiful women, not old ones who look slightly like they need some plastic surgery! So EON, Danjaq and MGM doing the first rule of mass media production, "give the people what they want!" - Bond to Carver - TND

[The Admiral]

I feel as though the faceless Blofelds from FRWL and TB were the best (just as we never saw their faces). But if it comes to a Blofeld with a "Face" - it would have to be Donald Pleasence. I just feel that that scar is the most memoriable thing about the character, and it's something that we didn't see followed through with the rest of the films, a great shame. We had Jaw's teeth...Oddjobs smallness...Dr. No's hands...and Blofeld's Scar.

I mean, we can see this clearly with the AP movies...Dr. Evil has the scar down his cheek - and people can make the resemblence between the two.

[rafterman]

My favorite is Telly, I personally think he did a great job with the part, Pleasance was all right, but Gray was bad, just very very bad, and I don't like him as Henderson either, he's just sucky and has no resemblance physically or character wise to the last two, at least Donald and Telly were both bald....

[Adam]

if you're a Halloween fan like myself, you have to be biased toward Donald Pleasance.

[White Persian]

My first Blofeld was Telly Savalas. He wasn't a familiar actor in those days (this was way before Kojak) and I liked him a lot, not least because he was a physical threat as well as a bit of a mad scientist.

What's more he was feasibly the same character as the unseen Blofeld of the early films.

Donald Pleasence struck me as too small and whiny. In the scene where he sneers up at Connery, who is about a foot taller, you wonder why Bond doesn't just swat him like a fly.

Charles Gray amuses me a lot, though I wish he'd had a different name. He might not really be Blofeld, but he's a lot of fun.

Von Sydow is excellent (as are all the NSNA baddies) and deserved more screen time.

But the best Blofeld is the one that never was. When McClory first tried to set up a Thunderball remake he wanted Orson Welles to be Blofeld.

Now that I'd like to have seen.

[Blofeld's Cat]

I posted a similar Blofeld breakdown elsewhere in which I declared Donald Pleasence as the best incarnation.

The shock of seeing the face with that scar and the underplayed evilness by far made him the best Blofeld.

As a matter of interest, Pleasence only stepped in at the last moment to replace Czech actor, Jan Werich, who was the original choice for Blofeld in YOLT (see below).

Makes one wonder how Blofeld would have been developed, if at all, in the succeeding movies if Werich ended up doing YOLT.

[freemo]

All the Blofelds seem to have clear strengths and weaknesses, therefore its relly hard to pick a best one.

Donald Pleasance - He was too short, he just didn't look that menecing when he had Connery towering over him. But in other scenes he was pretty sinister, he was okay.

Telly Savalas - A little dull I guess, but overall his performance is pretty solid.

Charles Grey - You can hardly call him Blofeld really, completly different face, hair, differet mannerisms, could you picture Pleasence or Savalas in drag ?. But ingoring his un-Blofeld like qualities hes actually a pretty good villian.

Max Von whatever - Looks too much like Santa Claus for my liking.

And my winner is..... The faceless one from FRWL and TB. Keeping Blofelds head faceless for only two films was a huge mistake, they should have had these mysterious, sinister, hidden cameos by Blofeld for four or five films before showing his face. Oh, well, none of the major Blofelds are up there with the Goldfingers and so on, but they all did a fair job of it.

[Alex]

I'd have to say the faceless Blofeld was the best, I mean, he was faceless, how much creepier can you get? They really should have kept him that way for a little longer, just to keep people guessing.

Also, take note that you can see the back of Blofeld's head in FRWL. He has black hair, like in the books, but he went bald for some reason later.

However, when it comes to Blofelds with a face, it would be Donald Pleasence, hands down. First, he was faceless for over have the movie, second, I don't think a criminal mastermind would have to be a superb physical specimen - I mean, look at Doctor No. A fantastic villain, yet you couldn't picture him in a fight with Bond without his metal hands, could you? I think the great villains aren't necessarily the ones who can stand up to Bond in a fight, but the ones with great weapons. I'm sure had Pleasence returned in the later films, not only would they have been improved, but Blofeld would have been changed to somebody who would rather push a button and laugh as 007 falls to his doom. Plus, it's not that Pleasence is especially short - it's that Connery is freaking tall! He's 6'3" or something like that, I'm sure he towers over most villains, especially when they're sitting in a large chair with a white Persian cat on their lap.

Telly Savalas' Blofeld was okay, I wished they kept up the tradition of keeping him faceless for a while, especially since it was a different actor playing him. Plus, I didn't like how he suddenly acquired an American accent, or how he suddenly started smoking (Blofeld seems too ingenius and sinister to resort to something like smoking), or how his scar mysteriously vanished. However, he wasn't awful.

The real horrendous Blofeld was Charles Gray. Here he's not sinister or evil or even the same Blofeld, he's a stuffy British aristocrat who has his henchmen undergo plastic surgery to look like him. As if one Charles Gray Blofeld wasn't bad enough, we have to deal with three in DAF. At the very least, they should have kept him faceless for a part of this movie, so we could at least wait with anticipation to see what the new Blofeld looked like.

I think they should make another Bond movie with Blofeld in it someday soon, where we can see somebody like Patrick Stewart in the role. He and Dr. No are my two favorite villains, and Dr. No died, so they really should bring back Blofeld (Last time I checked, McClory was pathetically peddling around the rights to the character, so I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard).

[Goldthumb]

Personally, I prefer the Donald Pleasance version in YOLT. A villain doesn't have to be tall or talk big to be threatening, and Pleasance's Blofeld is good that way. He's small, soft-spoken, and it's very chilling to think that this quitly spoken little man is th emastermind behind all Bond has faced so far.

The runner up for me is Max Von Sydow in NSNA. I just liked his voice.

I like both Telly Savalas (sp?) and Charles Gray as actors, nut neither were very effective Blofelds. For one thing, I'm amazed Bond never remarked that Blofeld in DAF looked like his old friend Henderson from YOLT(I know theyw ere played by the same actor, but it'd have been interesting if the writers ahd Bond note the resemblance).

[JAWS]

Donald was definietly my favorite Blofeld of the visible face variety. He seemed bizarre enough to be a good sadistic Bond villain. Unfortunetly he is given little to do.
I found Kojac Stavro Blofeld to be rather boring.
About grey, he's okay but I'm always dissapointed when the movie reveals blofeld to be the villain.

[mrmoon]

freemo (19 Jan, 2002 01:50 a.m.):
And my winner is..... The faceless one from FRWL and TB.

The Faceless Blofeld was actually played by Anthony Dawson aka Prof.Dent from Dr.No, the voice was done by actor Eric Pohlmann, and what a voice he had.

[OO7Qbranch]

frwl. very mysterious and memorable voice. but telly savalas aka ohmss blofeld was the most fit and my fav blofeld. I like to see him fight even in a bobsled.

[Friedrich Baxter]

Max von Sydow played Maximilian/Emilio Largo and NOT Ernst Stavros Blofeld. The Blofeld in NSNA however was also a very nice one.

[Mister Asterix]

Friedrich Baxter (19 Jan, 2002 05:39 p.m.):
Max von Sydow played Maximilian/Emilio Largo and NOT Ernst Stavros Blofeld. The Blofeld in NSNA however was also a very nice one.

Sorry, but you are wrong, Friedrich. Sydow played Blofeld. Klaus Maria Brandauer played Largo.

[Dr. Tynan]

My favourite Blofeld, would be Charles Gray.

[B5Erik]

Personally, I prefer Max Von Sydow. He played the part very much in the same vein as the faceless version from the first couple of movies.

The beard wasn't a good idea, though.

None of the rest really impressed me - except the version from the first few movies where you can't see his face. Now THAT was menacing!

[RossMan]

Didn't they decide not to have Donald Pleasence return in OHMSS becuase it would be a more physical role? That makes sense, I can hardly see Pleasence battling Bond while hanging onto a speeding bodsled.