Henchmen: Tee Hee Johnson
Tee Hee Johnson has to be my favourite name for a Bond baddie henchman. He worked for Mr. Big (Kananga) in Live and Let Die as the head henchman. He was a big scary looking gangster with a metal arm and a pincer for a hand.
He appeared to be the right hand man or bodyguard of Mr. Big and was always hanging around in the background whether his employer was portraying Mr. Big or Kananga. The name Tee Hee refers to his habit of giggling at inappropriate moments, something which seems to irritate Bond. He tangles with the agent a couple of times during the film. The first time they meet the tarot reading Solitaire warns Tee Hee that Bond is armed and dangerous. He grabs the gun and showing off the formidable strength of his metal claw he bends it back on itself. At the next meeting Tee Hee tries to strand Bond at a crocodile farm. Apparently stuck on an island surrounded by hungry crocs Bond pulls his usual escape act by running across their backs and then he torches the place. Tee Hee’s final attempt is on the train at the end of the film where he attacks Bond and the two wrestle. Bond eventually wins by disabling his arm, cutting the wires that control it, and throwing him out of the compartment into the night never to be seen again.
In the book he was actually a fairly dull character with no metal arm. He broke Bondâ??s pinkie finger at the request of Mr. Big in a Harlem night club, giggling while he did it. He didnâ??t last long though and Bond soon kicked him down a stairwell which killed him off. In the movie his arm is supposed to have been bitten off by a croc named Albert, a reference to producer Albert Broccoli. Tee Hee clearly has a thing for the reptilian predators as he runs a crocodile farm. In real life the stunt co-ordinator for the film, Ross Kananga, owned the farm and he performed the stunt where Bond runs across their backs to escape wearing shoes made of crocodile skin. He had to do the stunt five times to get the right shot with the crocodile snapping at his heels. The film makers liked him so much they named the main villain Kananga after him.
Tee Hee Johnson was played by Julius Harris and he had a career which lasted over 40 years. Before he got into acting he actually worked as nurse and then as a night club bouncer in New York. He appeared in various television programmes including Kojak, The Incredible Hulk, Cagney and Lacey and E.R. He also appeared in the films Shaftâ??s Big Score, Super Fly, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Crimewave, Darkman and Maniac Cop 3. His portrayal of villains wasnâ??t restricted to Tee Hee and he also played Idi Amin in the film Victory at Entebbe. He died in 2004.
He was an intimidating henchman and he actually came closer than most to doing Bond some permanent damage but in the end 007 always has the last laugh.
