Felix Leiter

Background

Felix Leiter is an intelligence officer employed by the CIA. Considered the American 007, he has worked with Bond many times over the years, played by seven different actors. Felix Leiter was Bond's closest and most trusted ally.

Actors

Jack Lord (1962)

Jack Lord

Jack Lord played Felix Leiter in the first of James Bond films: Dr. No, in 1962. Leiter first encountered Bond at the Kingston Docks in Jamaica, where Bond was investigating the mysterious radio jamming of American rockets. While Leiter doesn't join him on his mission he supplies Bond with information. This version of Leiter was around middle aged, being 42 but still younger than the next Felix Leiter: Cec Linder. Lord's Felix Leiter was also more of detective like than most of the other versions, though not as skilled of a detective as 007.

Cec Linder (1964)

Cec Linder portrayed Felix Leiter briefly in Goldfinger, due to his limited screen time Cec Linder's take on Felix Leiter is often the least remembered. His Leiter didn't involve himself too much and preferred to watch from afar and let others due the dirty work.

Rik Van Nutter (1965)

Rik Van Nutter

Rick Van Nutter played Felix Leiter in Thunderball, this time Felix was given a much larger role than previously. Nutter's Leiter was more of a spy than the previous versions were, not only providing info for 007 but actually going out into the field. Though he did almost jeopardize Bond during operation Thunderball when he surprised him in his hotel room and almost blurted out his codename while a henchmen was hiding in the shower but before he could saying anything Bond punched him.

Norman Burton (1971)

Norman Burton played Felix Leiter in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever. His take on Leiter differed from the others, showing him as more of an associate and friend of Bond's rather than being a stiff CIA agent as he was previously shown to be. He joined Bond in his first assignment to the United States to uncover a diamond smuggling operation being run by Bond's nemesis: Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

David Hedison (1973 and 1989)

David Hedison

David Hedison played Felix Leiter in 1973's Live and Let Die and 1989's Licence to Kill. While he only had a few minutes of screen time in Live and let Die he would become the center of the plot in Licence to Kill where his leg was mauled off by a shark owned by the drug lord, Franz Sanchez. His Felix Leiter is the most well remembered actor to play the character and a fan favorite.

Bernie Casey (1983)

Bernie Casey played Felix Leiter in the "unofficial" Bond film Never Say Never Again in 1983 alongside Sean Connery as James Bond. He is noted for being the first "black" actor to play the character.

John Terry (1987)

With Dalton taking over as Bond for The Living Daylights in 1987 it was once again decided to bring back Felix Leiter, but gone was the personality Hedison had brought to the character and in was the return of the old Leiter, the stiff CIA agent with no personality. Due to fans not caring this new Felix, the producers brought back Daivd Hedison for Licence to Kill two years later.

Jeffrey Wright (2006-Present)

Jeffrey Wright

When Daniel Craig was casted as James Bond for the reboot, Casino Royale it was decided to bring back Felix Leiter since he appeared in the novel. Jeffrey Wright's interpretation of the character showed as a capable spy for once and showed the friendship between Bond and him. In Quantum of Solace, Felix risks his career to aid Bond in uncovering Dominic Greene's connection to the terrorist organization Quantum. During which the CIA make a secret deal with Greene, once Quantum was exposed to the intelligence community Felix's superior Gregg Beam was fired and Leiter was chosen to replace him.

Name	Felix Leiter
Gender	Male
Credited In	10 movies
Credited In	0 shows
1st Movie Credit	Dr. No
1st Show Credit	n/a
Alias(es)

	Ed Killifer
	Dario
	Franz Sanchez
	Sharkey
	James Bond

2008	Quantum of Solace	Jeffrey Wright
2006	Casino Royale	Jeffrey Wright
1989	Licence to Kill	David Hedison
1987	The Living Daylights	John Terry
1983	Never Say Never Again	Bernie Casey
1973	Live and Let Die	David Hedison
1971	Diamonds Are Forever	Norman Burton
1965	Thunderball	Rik Van Nutter
1965	Goldfinger	Cec Linder
1963	Dr. No	Jack Lord