# Felix Leiter
**Felix Leiter** is a fictional American intelligence agent, [James Bond](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-bond)'s CIA friend and ally, created by [Ian Fleming](https://www.edgepedia.org/ian-fleming) and first appearing in the 1953 novel *Casino Royale*.[1](https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/the-cia-and-pop-culture/) A Texan, he is Bond's counterpart in six of Fleming's original 007 adventures and has become the most frequently recast supporting character in the film series, played by eight actors across ten films.[2](https://ianfleming.com/character/felix-leiter/) • [3](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/105170-james-bond-supporting-character-played-by-the-most-actors)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Creator and debut | Created by Ian Fleming; first appearance in *Casino Royale* (1953), named after Fleming's friends Thomas and Marion Leiter[1](https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/the-cia-and-pop-culture/) |
| Literary appearances | Six Fleming novels: *Casino Royale*, *Live and Let Die*, *Diamonds Are Forever*, *Goldfinger*, *Thunderball*, and *The Man with the Golden Gun*[4](https://jamesbondstudies.ac.uk/articles/10.24877/jbs.79) |
| Signature injury | Mauled by a shark at Mr Big's Florida base in *Live and Let Die*; thereafter has a prosthetic leg and a prosthetic hook replacing his hand[2](https://ianfleming.com/character/felix-leiter/) |
| Career path | US Marine Corps veteran who worked with NATO's Joint Intelligence Staff; after the shark attack the CIA let him go and he joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency in New York[2](https://ianfleming.com/character/felix-leiter/) |
| Screen record | Portrayed by eight actors in ten films, from Jack Lord (*Dr No*, 1962) to Jeffrey Wright (*Casino Royale*, 2006 onward)[3](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/105170-james-bond-supporting-character-played-by-the-most-actors) |
| First on-screen death | Killed in *No Time to Die* (2021), the character's first on-screen death in the franchise[5](https://bondscenes.com/characters/allies/felix-leiter/) |
## Origins and literary appearances
Fleming introduced Leiter in his first Bond novel as a CIA officer.[1](https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/the-cia-and-pop-culture/) The character's name came from Fleming's close personal friends Thomas and Marion Leiter.[1](https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/the-cia-and-pop-culture/) The Ian Fleming Publications character page describes him as a tall Texan with a bony, lightweight frame, sandy blonde hair and gray eyes, formerly of the US Marine Corps, where he worked with NATO's Joint Intelligence Staff.[2](https://ianfleming.com/character/felix-leiter/)
**The Casino Royale rescue.** Leiter's first function is to save Bond's mission: after SMERSH paymaster [Le Chiffre](https://www.edgepedia.org/le-chiffre) cleans Bond out at the baccarat table, Leiter provides him with 32 million francs to continue playing, calling the gift "Marshall Aid".[6](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary))
**The shark attack.** In *Live and Let Die*, Mr Big's henchmen capture Leiter and feed him to a shark. Fleming's original draft killed the character off; when Naomi Burton, Fleming's US agent at Curtis Brown, protested the death, Fleming relented and Leiter survived, maimed.[6](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary)) The character thereafter carries a prosthetic leg and a prosthetic hook in place of his hand.[2](https://ianfleming.com/character/felix-leiter/) The CIA let him go after the injury, and he moved to the Pinkerton Detective Agency in New York as a private investigator, which is the capacity in which he assists Bond in later books.[2](https://ianfleming.com/character/felix-leiter/) The novel also gives him a jazz connection: in his early twenties Leiter wrote pieces on Dixieland jazz for the *New York Amsterdam News*, and Mr Big's men spared his life because of that love of jazz.[6](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary))
After *Live and Let Die*, Leiter appears in *Diamonds Are Forever*, *Goldfinger*, *[Thunderball](https://www.edgepedia.org/thunderball-novel)*, and *The Man with the Golden Gun*, for a total of six Fleming novels.[4](https://jamesbondstudies.ac.uk/articles/10.24877/jbs.79)
## Characterisation and critical assessment
Leiter functions as Bond's American counterpart in a British series, and critics have long read him politically. The standard critical reading treats Leiter as an American pawn inferior to the British Bond, articulating pro-British sentiment at a Cold War moment within the [Special Relationship](https://www.edgepedia.org/special-relationship).[4](https://jamesbondstudies.ac.uk/articles/10.24877/jbs.79) Kingsley Amis, in *The James Bond Dossier*, called Leiter "such a nonentity as a piece of characterisation", noting that the American takes orders from the Britisher.[6](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary)) The historian Jeremy Black observed that the Bond-Leiter relationship suggested "a far smoother working of the Anglo-American alliance than was in fact the case".[6](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary)) Nigel West noted a practical irregularity: Leiter's domestic American involvement in *Live and Let Die* breached the CIA's charter under the [National Security Act of 1947](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-security-act-of-1947).[6](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary))
A recent scholarly reassessment pushes back on the pawn reading. An article in the *International Journal of James Bond Studies* argues that Leiter is characterized as Bond's important friend rather than simply a political stand-in, and that the novels' political statement is driven by friendship, allowing a partially positive reading of the Special Relationship rather than one in which the UK is inherently superior.[4](https://jamesbondstudies.ac.uk/articles/10.24877/jbs.79)
## On screen
Leiter is the Bond supporting character portrayed by the most actors: eight across ten films.[3](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/105170-james-bond-supporting-character-played-by-the-most-actors) The record lists [Jack Lord](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-lord) (*Dr No*, 1962), [Cec Linder](https://www.edgepedia.org/cec-linder) (*Goldfinger*, 1964), Rik Van Nutter (*Thunderball*, 1965), Norman Burton (*Diamonds Are Forever*, 1971), [David Hedison](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-hedison) (*Live and Let Die*, 1973 and *Licence to Kill*, 1989), Bernie Casey (*Never Say Never Again*, 1983), John Terry (*The Living Daylights*, 1987), and Jeffrey Wright (*Casino Royale*, 2006 and *Quantum of Solace*, 2008).[3](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/105170-james-bond-supporting-character-played-by-the-most-actors)
**Before Eon.** In the 1954 CBS *Casino Royale* teleplay, the nationalities were reversed: Bond became an American and Leiter became Clarence Leiter, an Englishman used largely for exposition, played by the Australian actor [Michael Pate](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-pate).[6](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary))
**The Eon films.** In *Live and Let Die* Felix takes an active role, captaining the boat that carries 007 and Quarrel Jnr. to Dr Kananga's voodoo island.[7](https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_felix_leiter) By the time of *Licence to Kill* (1989), Leiter has joined the DEA, and during his own wedding the drug lord Sanchez takes him prisoner; an old friend's treachery leads to Leiter being thrown to a shark, which costs him an arm and a leg, and he survives by the narrowest of margins.[7](https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_felix_leiter) That film is also the only one in which Bond and Leiter appear together outside business hours, as Bond attends Leiter's wedding.[7](https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_felix_leiter) In *The Living Daylights*, John Terry's Leiter helps Bond by using CIA surveillance to reach Whitaker's safe house after Pushkin's faked assassination.[7](https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_felix_leiter)
After the character's dismemberment in *Licence to Kill*, the producers replaced him with other allies such as Jack Wade through the Brosnan era; Leiter returned after a 17-year absence in *Casino Royale* (2006), played by [Jeffrey Wright](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeffrey-wright), who became the second actor to play the role more than once.[5](https://bondscenes.com/characters/allies/felix-leiter/) In *Quantum of Solace* (2008), Leiter serves under the corrupt CIA agent Gregg Beam, warns Bond about Dominic Greene, and is promoted to Beam's old position by the film's end.[5](https://bondscenes.com/characters/allies/felix-leiter/)
**No Time to Die.** In *No Time to Die* (2021), Wright's third performance, Leiter works with State Department newcomer Logan Ash, tracking down Bond to help locate a bioweapon in Cuba, and dies on screen, the character's first on-screen death in the franchise.[5](https://bondscenes.com/characters/allies/felix-leiter/)
## Continuation novels and other media
Leiter has appeared throughout the Bond continuation series and features in his own story, "The Hook and the Eye".[2](https://ianfleming.com/character/felix-leiter/) The Ian Fleming Publications page records that he smokes [Chesterfield cigarettes](https://www.edgepedia.org/chesterfield-cigarette), loves jazz, has a daughter named Cedar, a CIA officer who appears in John Gardner's *For Special Services*, and a nephew named Brig, who appears in William Boyd's *Solo*.[2](https://ianfleming.com/character/felix-leiter/) [Continuation](https://www.edgepedia.org/continuation) authors featuring the character include Gardner, Raymond Benson (*The Facts of Death*, *Doubleshot*), Sebastian Faulks (*Devil May Care*, 2008), and [Jeffery Deaver](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeffery-deaver) (*Carte Blanche*, 2011).[6](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary)) The character's physical state varies by continuity: in Benson's novels Leiter uses a wheelchair, while the 2011 reboot *Carte Blanche* depicts him with fully functioning limbs; in Boyd's 2013 *Solo*, set in Fleming continuity, the nephew Brigham follows Leiter into the CIA.[5](https://bondscenes.com/characters/allies/felix-leiter/)
## By the numbers
The literary record is stable: six Fleming novels, always the same six titles.[4](https://jamesbondstudies.ac.uk/articles/10.24877/jbs.79) The film record is larger but not uniformly counted. [Guinness World Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/guinness-world-records) puts Leiter at ten films played by eight actors,[3](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/105170-james-bond-supporting-character-played-by-the-most-actors) while the franchise wiki counts eleven movies with the same eight actors,[6](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary)) a discrepancy this article leaves unresolved. Leiter is gravely injured by a shark in the *Live and Let Die* novel, though the film adaptation omits this event, which occurs on screen in *Licence to Kill*; he is killed in *No Time to Die* (2021).[5](https://bondscenes.com/characters/allies/felix-leiter/) • [7](https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_felix_leiter) • [8](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/58171)
## Reception and legacy
Leiter's significance rests on his position as the American presence in a British franchise. The older critical tradition, from Amis's "nonentity" onward, read him as a subordinate American foil;[6](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary)) recent scholarship reads the Bond-Leiter friendship as the novels' vehicle for a partially positive vision of the Anglo-American alliance.[4](https://jamesbondstudies.ac.uk/articles/10.24877/jbs.79) His production history is itself a record of the franchise's turnover: eight actors in ten films makes him the most-recast Bond supporting character,[3](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/105170-james-bond-supporting-character-played-by-the-most-actors) and his death in *No Time to Die* ended a screen career that had run from 1962 to 2021.[5](https://bondscenes.com/characters/allies/felix-leiter/)
## References
1. [The CIA and Pop Culture, CIA.gov](https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/the-cia-and-pop-culture/)
2. [Felix Leiter, Ian Fleming Publications character page](https://ianfleming.com/character/felix-leiter/)
3. [James Bond supporting character played by the most actors, Guinness World Records](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/105170-james-bond-supporting-character-played-by-the-most-actors)
4. ["The Texan with whom he had shared so many adventures": Reassessing the Role of Felix Leiter in Fleming's Bond Novels, International Journal of James Bond Studies](https://jamesbondstudies.ac.uk/articles/10.24877/jbs.79)
5. [Felix Leiter, Bond Scenes](https://bondscenes.com/characters/allies/felix-leiter/)
6. [Felix Leiter (Literary), James Bond Wiki](https://jamesbond.fandom.com/wiki/Felix_Leiter_(Literary))
7. [Felix Leiter, MI6-HQ](https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_felix_leiter)
8. [catalog.afi.com](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/58171)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Adaptations, tie-ins, and fictional worlds › Fictional universes, characters, and places › Recurring series and franchise characters › Detective and crime series characters*
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