The very first in a long line of Bond villains was the unfortunate eponymous Dr. No. He struck an imposing character with his unusual racial background and dangerous metal hands. He also behaved as a classic Bond villain, inviting the agent for dinner and politely explaining his nefarious plans.

Dr. No was a mad scientist, the son of a German missionary and a Chinese girl. This racial blend was probably the most monstrous that British Empire stalwart Fleming could imagine. He was supposed to have worked for the Chinese criminal gang the Tongs and escaped to the US with a large portion of their profits. In the book the gang tracked him down and cut off his hands as punishment, in the film he is supposed to have lost them during his research messing with radiation. He set up an island lair at Crab Key, Jamaica in a Bauxite mine where he constructed his own nuclear reactor. Having joined SPECTRE he interferes with NASA and the US space programme with the aim of terrorising the world. In our first encounter with Dr. No we only hear his voice as interrogates the incompetent Professor Dent.

In the film Dr. No captures Bond and they have a polite dinner, he even offers Bond a job in his organisation. Naturally Bond refuses and the two later fight to the death. Poor Dr. No ends up boiled alive because he can’t climb out of the over heating reactor, his metal hands keep slipping.

Dr. No tries several times during the course of the film to have Bond killed and he employs various henchmen and henchwomen. The taxi driver Mr Jones who picks up Bond from the Kingston airport is the first to have a go then the group of assassins known as the Three Blind Mice try their luck. Finally Miss Taro seduces Bond to set up the opportunity for Professor Dent to kill him but Bond is too clever for them. Dent also uses a tarantula at one stage which Dr. No has given him. None of the hired help are as memorable or scary as Dr. No himself.

The character was played by Joseph Wiseman but the part nearly went elsewhere. Ian Fleming wanted his cousin Christopher Lee to play Dr. No and he asked his friend Noel Coward as well. The producers offered the part to Max von Sydow but he turned it down. Joseph Wiseman is a Canadian actor born in 1918 and he has had a very long and varied career, mostly in television. He is actually the only surviving actor to have played a villain in a Bond film starring Connery.

Dr. No sets up all the parameters of a classic Bond villain. He has some kind of physical oddity, he is a genius of sorts, he constructs a huge base for his activities and he employs an army of loyal subjects. His exchanges with Bond are also like a template for later films in the franchise. His desire to explain his plan to his adversary and his lack of patience for Bond’s wisecracks are traits he shares with Blofeld. There were better villains later in the series but Dr. No served as a great first baddie.