Ernst Stavro Blofeld

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and as you can see, I am about to inaugurate a little war. In a matter of hours after America and Russia have annihilated each other, we shall see a new power dominating the world."

- Blofeld to James Bond in You Only Live Twice.

Ernst Starvo Blofeld is a supervillain in the James Bond series. He is an evil and knowledgeable mastermind, and the archenemy of James Bond. Ernst Starvo Blofeld is the head of the global criminal organization of SPECTRE with aspirations of world domination. He makes anonymous, cameo appearances in From Russia with Love and Thunderball. He appears as the main antagonist in You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Diamonds are Forever. He is recognizable for always having a cat with him who he pets.

Lektor
Blofeld makes his first, anonymous appearance in From Russia with Love, onboard his private yacht. His face remains unseen, but his hands and his signature white cat remain visible. There he meets with Rosa Klebb, SPECTRE agent number three, and as well as Number Five, the chess master Kronsteen. He had developed a plan to play the Soviet Union off against the west via the theft of the new Lektor decoding device, which was being kept at the Russian embassy in Constantinople. The plan required an embassy worker to cont {C act one of the western powers with a plan to steal the device. Klebb, who had until recently been a high ranking member of the Soviet agency SMERSH, was given the task of choosing the Russian, who would believe they were in fact working for SMERSH. The plan was given a second purpose, revenge on James Bond for killing SPECTRE agent Dr. No. The Russian dupe, Tatiana Romanova, was ordered by Klebb to contact the British secret service and act as if she had fallen in love wih Bond from afar, offering to help him steal the Lektor. The plan was to be carried out, and the duo were shadowed by Red Grant, a SPECTRE assass n also selected by Klebb. However, the plan failed and Bond managed to kill Grant and make off with the Lektor. Blofeld then had Kronsteen killed for failing to consider Bond's capabilities.

Largo and Nassau
Blofeld makes his second anonymous appearance in Thunderball. He is seen in SPECTRE's Paris {C lair, where he watches as Number Two, Emilio Largo, unveils his personal plan. It involved using plastic surgery, murder, and deceit to hijack a Vulcan bomber carrying two nuclear warheads and conceal the plane underwater near Largo's estate in Nassau, the Bahamas. SPECTRE would then threaten to detonate warheads over a major US city if they weren't payed millions of dollars. Ho wever, then plan fell apart when Bond and an army of frogmen stopped Largo from launching the warheads and when Largo was killed by his mistress.

Japan
Blofeld makes his next appearance in You Only Live Twice. Apparently at his wits' end with failed plots, he decided to operate this one personally. He set up his base in the crater of an extinct volcano on an island in Japan. He used this base to launch a rocketship which had the ability to capture space capsules. Blofeld's intention was to capture both United States and Soviet capsules, getting the superpowers to blame each other. This was supposed to touch off a nuclear war, and in the ensuing chaos SPECTRE and Blofeld would take control of the world. Bond, having faked his death, was sent to investigate. He managed to infiltrate the volcano lair and tried to get on board the rocket, but a minute error caught Blofeld's attention, and he ordered Bond to be brought to him. At this point, Blofeld reveals his face, name and plans to Bond, whom he intends to kill after he captures one more space capsule. The rocket succcesfuly launched, but the lair was attacked and penetrated by ninjas led by Tiger Tanaka, the head of the Japanese secret service. During the ensuing battle, Blofeld tries to take Bond away to be executed, but is struck by a ninja-star thrown by Tanaka. As Blofeld made his escape, he set off the self destruct sequence. Although Blofeld escaped, Bond managed to destroy the rocket remotely before it could capture more astronauts.

Piz Gloria
Blofeld would return as the main antagonist in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, where he had relocated himself to the treacherous Swiss Alps. Receiving plastic surgery as he had in the past to disguise his identity, he sought to have his noble heritage confirmed, so that he would become recognized as a Baron. He had opened a research clinic known as 'Piz Gloria', which dealt with all menagerie of allergies and illnesses, his business partner, the cold Irma Bunt standing by his side.

An elegant thug, this incarnation of Blofeld invited the interests of his sworn nemesis, James Bond, who discovered that he was seeking to confirm his aristocracy, and so went undercover as the Herald, Sir Hillary Bray, dispatched to spend time with the villain and to determine the authenticity of his claims for greatness. He learned that all of his patients were beautiful women, and fraternizing with a few, Bond discovered they were receiving psychedelic hypnosis as a cure, brainwashing them into believing they were better, besides more obvious physical remedies.

Swiftly discovered, Agent 007 found that these were Blofeld's 'Angels of Death', and that he was plotting to use them as plague carriers of a new germ agent he had been perfecting, 'Virus Omega', able to disintegrate all livestock and cereals, a threat he would tempt to bully and blackmail an unsuspecting globe. Giving them parting gifts in the form of make-up kits, these actually contained equipment that would allow him to communicate with the Angels of Death once they had returned to their homes all over the world, telling them how and when they would deploy his secret weapon which had also been concealed in the presents, but only if his demands weren't met. Blofeld used his hypnosis to ensure they would follow his instructions exactly.

The world was petrified by the megalomaniac's plot, but Bond refused to let him win and stormed his base with the help of his captured fiancee's father, a rival of Blofeld's, disguising themselves as a mercy flight for the Red Cross, their helicopters stormed Piz Gloria, and were able to destroy it, while Bond and Blofeld had a bobsled chase, ending with Ernst getting his neck clipped on a tree. After the wedding, a crippled Blofeld would have his revenge, he and Bunt organizing a drive-by shooting that stole Bond's wife, immortalizing their hatred of one another.

Nevada/Canberra
In Diamonds Are Forever, James Bond searched for Blofeld and found a facility where he was using plastic surgery to create duplicates of himself. Bond pushed one lookalike, whom he thought was the real Blofeld, into superheated mud, killing him.

Blofeld posed as a billionaire, Willard Whyte, seeking out diamonds to power his laser satellite. His henchmen, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, systematically killed diamond smugglers and stole their diamonds for Blofeld. When Bond entered the Whyte House to confront Whyte, he came face to face with Blofeld and a lookalike. This was the only other Blofeld double, since after the death of the first there were no more volunteers. Bond kicked Blofeld's white cat which one of the Blofelds caught, and Bond, thinking him to be the real Blofeld, shot him. However, both he and the cat turned out to be clones.

Blofeld knocked Bond out, and Wint and Kidd placed him in a pipeline to die. He escaped and posed as his henchman, Bert Saxby, and called Blofeld, finding out the real Whyte's location, but Blofeld kidnapped diamond smuggler Tiffany Case, who switched sides when she found out Blofeld was trying to kill her (and who Bond fell in love with).

With his laser satellite powered by diamonds, Blofeld destroyed nuclear weapons in the United States, China, and the Soviet Union, and proposed an international auction for global nuclear supremacy. However, Bond, Felix Leiter, and the CIA found Blofeld's base of operations, an oil rig, and attacked it. Blofeld attempted to escape in a submarine, but Bond took control of it and set it to repeatedly crash into the control room, destroying the base and satellite control. SPECTRE was dispersed and Blofeld presumed dead.

Death
However, in For Your Eyes Only it is revealed that Blofeld survived, although injured and wheelchair-bound. When a helicopter was giving Bond a ride, piloted by one of his men, Blofeld electrocuted the pilot and controlled the helicopter. After toying with Bond, Blofeld tried to crash the helicopter, but Bond regained control of the helicopter, picked up Blofeld with the helicopter's landing skid (his cat ran off when Bond got near) and dropped him down an industrial chimney, finally killing him.

This was before the opening credits of the movie, which featured a different antagonist in the main plot. Blofeld was not credited or identified by name due to the legal disputes over the Thunderball film.

Trivia

 * Blofeld inspired many villains, most notably Dr. Evil in Austin Powers. Dr. Evil bears a strong resemblance to Blofeld as portrayed by Donald Pleasance in You Only Live Twice, and has a cat named Mr. Bigglesworth (who later loses all his hair).
 * Other villains include Claw (whose face is not seen in his first scene and has a white cat), and Giovanni (whose face is also not seen until near the end of Season 1, whose Persian acts as a counterpart to Blofeld's cat).
 * Blofeld has many different appearances and voices due to being portrayed by different actors. Although his face is not seen in From Russia with Love, he is depicted with slick dark hair. His head is never seen in Thunderball, and he is bald with a scar on his face in You Only Live Twice, with a higher voice. His voice becomes deeper again in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, talking a different way, and he loses his scar. He has white hair in Diamonds are Forever. His face is never seen in For Your Eyes Only, but his appearance and voice are similar to You Only Live Twice.