| “ | My orders are to kill you and deliver the Lektor. How I do it is my business. It'll be slow and painful...The first one won't kill you. Not the second. Not even the third. Not till you crawl over here and kiss my foot! | „ |
| ~ Grant before fighting Bond. |
Donovan/Donald "Red" Grant is the secondary antagonist of the 1957 James Bond novel From Russia with Love and its 1963 film adaptation.
He is an assassin who works for SPECTRE who was tasked to kill James Bond and deliver a Lektor to his superiors. Grant is considered as one of the most famous James Bond henchmen of all time, alongside Oddjob and Jaws.
He was portrayed by the late Robert Shaw, who also played Mr. Blue in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
Novel Biography[]
Red Grant is a ruthless assassin working for SMERSH, well-known for his effectiveness and brutality. His bloodlust is not limited to his job; he frequently flies into fits of homicidal mania and kills young peasant girls. His superiors are aware of his "hobby", and provide him with victims as a reward for carrying out especially dangerous missions.
Grant is sent by SMERSH superior, Rosa Klebb, to intercept James Bond while safeguarding their pawn Tatiana Romanova in the Balkans. Grant encounters Bond aboard the Orient Express posing as an agent sent by M named Norman Nash. He puts a sleeping pill in Tatiana's drink to knock her out before holding Bond at gunpoint. He is eventually killed by Bond while on the train.
Film Biography[]
Red Grant, also known as Donald Grant, works for SPECTRE and is assigned the task of assassinating James Bond to avenge the death of Dr. Julius No.
The pre-title sequence in From Russia with Love shows Bond and Grant searching for one another. In the end Grant kills Bond, before a mask is removed from "Bond's" face to reveal that the whole thing was a training mission for Grant.
Grant is a homicidal maniac, "superb material" by SPECTRE standards. He escaped from Dartmoor Prison and, while still a fugitive, was recruited by SPECTRE in Tangier. Grant has been intensively trained by the organization; between missions, he resides on SPECTRE Island.
In Ian Fleming's novel, Grant is also a serial killer who preys on young women; his fits of bloodlust coincide with the full moon. SPECTRE knows about Grant's pathology, and allows him to kill innocent people as a "reward" for fulfilling his duties.
Although Grant's mission is to kill Bond, he initially takes on the role of Bond's protector...albeit to ensure that Bond (unknowingly) delivers the Lektor encoding device into SPECTRE's hands.
On the Orient Express, Grant gets the drop on Bond...who outsmarts him with the aid of Q-branch's attaché case, and by using Grant's own avarice against him. Ultimately, 007 strangles him with Grant's own wristwatch-garotte after a brutal fight. Bond then recovers his bribe from Grant, wryly observing that "You won't be needing this, old man." (Grant frequently addresses Bond as "Old Man" during the picture.)
Videogame appearance[]
In the video game based on the novel and film, Red Grant is the chief enforcer for the terrorist organization OCTOPUS. He has a female assistant named Eva. Grant does most of OCTOPUS' dirty work, but his primary mission is to kill 007 and acquire the Russian Lektor decoding device. He catches up with Bond on the Orient Express and attempts to kill him. Unlike the novel and film, he survives the confrontation unbeknownst to Bond. During the agent's final assault on OCTOPUS' island headquarters, he attacks Bond again, but this time is killed.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
External links[]
- Red Grant at the James Bond Wiki
- Red Grant at the Antagonists Wiki
