Henchmen: Oddjob

Oddjob has always been one of my favourite Bond baddies. He appears in the Bond film Goldfinger played by the Japanese American wrestler Harold Sakata. He was inhumanly strong, ever vigilant, an expert in unarmed combat and he possessed a secret weapon. His bowler hat concealed a razor sharp disk and he could throw it to slice victims apart. He also appeared as the first in a long line of memorable henchmen to big Bond villains.

Oddjob was the mute henchman of the evil Auric Goldfinger. He was a superior class of henchman acting as chauffeur and golf caddy to his master. In the book we learn he is also a karate and judo expert and has formed hard calluses on his hands the better to beat people with. He was always ready to kill on Goldfinger’s whim and he used his hat during the film to despatch the unfortunate Tilly Masterston, throwing with deadly accuracy and breaking her neck. He also beheaded a statue with his deadly bowler as a warning to Bond but sadly it was his gimmicky weapon that ultimately led to his demise.

Sakata came to the USA as a young man and took up weight lifting to try and build up his physique. To say it worked is an understatement and in 1948 he won a silver medal for the United States at the Summer Olympics after lifting 410 kg. He also worked as a wrestler named Tosh Togo throughout the 50’s and 60’s and was a heavyweight and tag team champion.

The story of how he got the part is an interesting one. Apparently a British wrestler named Milton Reid was after the role and Sakata offered to fight him for it. Eventually producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli went for Sakata because Reid had already appeared in Dr. No. The proposed fight never took place in the end but my money would have been on Sakata.

Oddjob was a stern and fearless looking character and he met his end in Fort Knox as he battled against Bond. They fought for some time and Bond’s blows seemed to have little effect on the hulking brute. Sean Connery was actually injured in real life during the filming of this scene. Eventually Bond hurled Oddjob’s bowler but it missed and wedged itself in the metal bars behind his head. When Oddjob went to retrieve it quick thinking Bond electrified the bars and Oddjob was fried. Sakata was a tough man and he actually got a badly burned hand during the electrocution scene. He later explained that the director had not shouted cut so he continued to act and held on despite the pain.

The role of the villain’s henchmen became another staple of the Bond films after Oddjob. He was a memorable character and his bowler hat weapon is one of the most famous in film history. Harold Sakata appeared in a number of films and television programmes after Goldfinger including Gilligan’s Island and Hawaii Five-O and he was often credited as Harold ‘Oddjob’ Sakata. He died in 1982 at the age of 62.