Which James Bond movies was Jaws in?
There is no Bond movie without a villain, and in the midst of all the speculation over who might fill the shiny Derbys of 007, we must never lose sight of just how crucial the casting of the baddies is, too. There have been more than two dozen official James Bond movies, each with at least one moustache-twirling antagonist. As a whole, they’ve created the blueprint for movie villains, but inevitably, some of them have worked better than others.
All of it comes down to personal taste, of course, but in general, the weirdest Bond villains are the best Bond villains. This is not the franchise in which to make subtle social commentary with villains bad guys who also happen to be blandly altruistic millionaires (looking at you, Quantum of Solace).
This is the franchise that thrives most when it devotes excessive amounts of precious screen time to laser-toting gold fiends with comically thick German accents. It is the franchise for the sinister stroking of a white cat and lightsabering in space. You can keep your breathy Lyustifer Safins and subdued Dominic Greenes; I’ll take Goldfinger and Blofeld any day.
One of the greatest Bond villains to ever literally chew through a scene was not even the primary bad guy. Jaws, played by Richard Kiel, is the 2.18 metre (7 foot 2 inches) henchman of Karl Stromberg, the villain in 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. Aside from his towering height, he is most notable for his metal teeth. Where Stromberg is a relatively mild, formulaic psychopath, Jaws is delightfully unhinged. He does a lot of slow walking (that’s all it takes to terrify his victims), a lot of smiling, and a lot of biting. In one memorable scene, he chomps straight through a table.
So, how many movies is he in?
Luckily, the Bond producers recognised an icon when they saw one, and while Stromberg didn’t get invited back for another movie, Jaws did. In his second and final outing with the franchise, Jaws is working for Hugo Drax in 1979’s Moonraker. Of all the Bond films, Moonraker really went for it. It’s a 007 Star Wars mashup that only works on a comedic level, but boy does it deliver.
In this film, Jaws is a more sympathetic assassin, thanks to the soothing influence of his new love interest, Dolly. The producers toyed with the idea of bringing the metal-toothed villain back in a subsequent film but decided to bring the franchise back from the brink of panto instead, which required them to drop Jaws from the equation.
Which James Bond villain has appeared in the most movies?
With only two movies to his name, Jaws is far from the most reprised villain in Bond franchise history, sad though that may be. That distinction goes to the incomparable Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who menaced his way through a total of eight official movies.
The math isn’t straightforward, though. The character first appears in 1063’s From Russia with Love, but his face is never seen. We only catch a glimpse of him stroking his trademark white cat. The same is true of his next appearance in Thunderball.
The franchise finally gives the villain a face in You Only Live Twice, in which he is played by Donald Pleasance. In On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever, the character was played by two other actors, and in For Your Eyes Only, the character is subordinated yet again to the credits sequence.
In his most recent appearances, Blofeld has been portrayed by Christoph Waltz in the rebooted timeline of the Daniel Craig portion of the series. It’s all pretty convoluted, but if you’re going by name rather than actor, Blofeld is the villain who recurs in the most movies.
