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M - the code letter for James Bond's boss and fictional
head of the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6.
In the Bond books M is named as Admiral Sir Miles Messervy (the name, hinted at throughout the series, was
finally revealed in The Man with the Golden Gun, Ian Fleming's final
Bond novel). In the movies he is not named, though he has the rank of Admiral and various hints indicate that he is intended to
be the same person.
The title "M" is believed to derive from the first real life head of MI6, Mansfield Smith-Cumming, who used his initial "C" to indicate he had seen a paper and so became
referred to as "C", a practice which carried on with his successors.
In the books M clearly has a liking for Bond, and they have obviously had a long professional relationship. M bends the rules
for Bond on several occasions. At one point Bond attempts to assassinate M, as a result of extreme Soviet brainwashing, but M
insists that Bond is rehabilitated rather than punished. In the first post-Fleming book Colonel Sun M is kidnapped, and
Bond goes to great lengths to rescue him. In the later books M protects Bond even more from the new, less aggressive, climate in
the Secret Service, saying that 'sometime this country will need a blunt instrument'. In the movies the relationship is similar,
although Judi Dench's M is initially distrustful of Bond.
In the movies the part of M was played by Bernard Lee from the first movie, Dr. No, until Moonraker (1979). Lee died in 1981 and out of respect the character was removed from that year's For Your Eyes Only (1981) (with M's lines given to either his Chief of Staff or Q), and was subsequently played by Robert Brown and then Judi Dench. It is never explicitly
stated onscreen whether Robert Brown's character is intended to be the same person played by Bernard Lee, or else is intended to
be a promoted Admiral Hargeaves, the role played by Brown in 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me, though the later Bond books retain
Messervy. Judi Dench clearly plays a new person appointed to the position of M, possibly Barbara Mawdsley, who is named as a
female M in the later Bond books.
In 1983's unofficial Never Say Never Again, it is clearly stated that a new M is in post, played by Edward Fox. This M is portrayed as being concerned with making the
books balance, constantly testing agents and being quite open about his low regard for Bond, three character traits that Judi
Dench's character also shows in her first movie, GoldenEye.
The M in the Bond books is believed to have been a composite character based on Rear-Admiral John
Godfrey (Ian Fleming's former boss in the Department of Naval
Intelligence), Maxwell Knight, former head of counter-subversion in MI5
and Maurice Buckmaster, head of the F Section of the SOE.
References
- The Man Who Was M, Anthony Masters, Basil Blackwell ISBN 0-631-13392-5
External links
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