The real people who became James Bond characters – from the gambling spy behind 007 to the architect Fleming turned into a villain

Ian Fleming was a man of the world. He studied in Austria, worked as a journalist in Moscow covering Stalin’s show trials and lived the life of a playboy stockbroker in London. There was tragedy along the way, too. His father, a Member of Parliament, went to serve in the First World War and never came back, while both his younger brother Michael and first love Muriel Wright both died at the hands of Nazis.

All of these experiences informed the characters, the plots and locations in James Bond, but none more so than his travels and experiences in the Second World War. It was here the world of 007 would be born as Fleming sipped martinis and smoked cigarettes with fellow intelligence agents, planned operations of deception and became involved at the heart of the British espionage operation that sought to thwart the Nazis.

As such, Fleming drew from very real influences for James Bond, his enemies and allies, with iconic characters such as 007 himself, Goldfinger and M all traceable to men he met across his life. Check out some of the real-world inspirations below.

Ian Fleming

Yes, the author himself. Before he sat at his desk in Jamaica at his Goldeneye estate (itself named after a sabotage operation he helped plan) piecing together a Bond story every year, Fleming worked in naval intelligence throughout the Second World War. Everything he saw and heard informed the characters and plotlines depicted across the 12 Bond novels and nine short stories he penned before his premature death in 1964 at the age of 56.

But beyond Fleming’s own forays into spycraft – work that saw him conduct intelligence operations that paved the way for the D-Day landings – he imbued so much of his own personality into 007. As well as sharing his military rank (commander), Bond possessed Fleming’s own somewhat insatiable appetite for liquor, women and high-stakes gambling, while they would also smoke the same brand of cigarettes (Morland, which Fleming had custom made for him), wear the same watch (Rolex) and possess an identical golf handicap (a none too shabby nine). In many ways, Bond was an idealised, fantastical version Fleming held of himself and the spies he became acquainted with throughout his life.

Dusko Popov

Perhaps the man the public best associates as inspiration for Bond wasn’t even British. Dusko Popov was a Serbian spy who worked as a triple agent for the Allies during the Second World War. An avowed anti-Nazi, Popov leaked information from German intelligence throughout the war, while also running deceptions for the British and French.

Popov and Fleming first crossed paths during a mission to the Portuguese Riviera in 1941. During one trip to a casino, Popov was betting big with the government’s money on a game of baccarat, with Fleming watching on as the spy wiped out his Nazi adversaries on the casino floor. The moment would then be translated by Fleming into one of the central scenes of Casino Royale. Before he died in 1981, Popov, who had become a minor celebrity thanks to his saucy autobiography, was frequently asked the question about being an influence for Bond but always played it down, mocking 007’s rampant drinking.

Gus March-Phillipps

Gus March-Phillipps's war exploits, combined with his gentlemanly upper-class background and penchant for going against the grain, have obvious echoes of Fleming's martini-drinking super-spy. While there is no single smoking gun proving Fleming based Bond directly on him, the two men knew each other and Fleming had a close-up view of his extraordinary wartime exploits.

Recently portrayed by Henry Cavill in Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, March-Phillipps lived a short but eventful life as a daring commando. As depicted in Ritchie’s film (which also features Freddie Fox as Fleming in an apt nod to March-Phillipps's influence on 007), the founder of the Small Scale Raiding Force was tasked with a clandestine Bond-like mission of hampering the German fleet’s ability to resupply in West Africa.

The daring operation essentially saw March-Phillipps's small team hijack and steal three Axis vessels during a party and sail them to Lagos. The mission solidified the reputation of the Special Operations Executive and earned March-Phillipps a reputation as a brave and inspirational leader. On Operation Postmaster, Fleming would liaise between the operation side and his intelligence bosses, helping prepare the cover story for the mission as well as obtaining information for the daring heist with him and March-Phillipps meeting many times. Like Fleming, he was also a writer of spy fiction but was killed in 1942 during the ill-fated Operation Aquatint.

To honour his exploits, Fleming asked for official permission to write about units like the SSRF but was denied by his superiors, instead turning his attention to the spy capers we all know and love. Whether or not March-Phillipps was a direct model for 007, Fleming clearly knew first-hand that men capable of Bond-like exploits really did exist.

Christopher Lee

Of course, the horror icon played deadshot assassin Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun but Christopher Lee’s history with James Bond may go back a little further. According to Lee’s autobiography, he enlisted in the RAF in 1941, joining their intelligence arm after damage to his optic nerve brought an end to his flying career. Lee undertook important missions in Italy and North Africa before being part of a unit tasked with hunting down Nazi war criminals.

A relatively little known fact about Lee is that he was a step-cousin of Ian Fleming with the actor remarking during an interview on Pebble Mill at One that the two would have endless conversations about his stories. In true raconteur style, Lee also divulged that the names Fleming would use in the book would all have a real-life origin, with Scaramanga apparently taken from an Eton classmate he disliked. Given their personal closeness and Lee’s extensive and dramatic war service, it would not be a stretch to say he found inspiration from their fireside conversations.

Ernő Goldfinger

It’s hard to imagine a character as eccentrically villainous as Goldfinger having any semblance to a real person and while this Hungarian architect did not try to steal all of the gold in Fort Knox, Ian Fleming was certainly no fan. The real Goldfinger quickly rose to prominence in the post-war years. Britain’s housing stock had been decimated by the Blitz and high-rises were seen as a quick solution, with Goldfinger at the front of the Brutalist movement.

In Hampstead, near where Fleming lived, Goldfinger received permission to knock down a number of cottages in favour of a new terraced building, something the author vehemently objected to. Fleming was so enraged at the demolition that he cast Goldfinger as his second most famous villain. In revelations that did not come to light until 2005, Goldfinger was furious at Fleming and initiated legal action against him, winning costs from publisher Jonathan Cape. In turn, Fleming was enraged and wanted to change the name of the character to Goldp***k, which sadly, did not occur.

Admiral John Henry Godfrey

Fleming’s boss in naval intelligence, the Birmingham-born admiral employed the future author as his assistant in the early years of the war. In the role, Fleming was exposed to the thrilling and often seductive world of international espionage. By all accounts, the two worked closely, with Fleming operating as Godfrey’s liaison to other agencies and, on behalf of his boss, the soon-to-be author penned the now famous trout memo – an elaborate metaphor comparing deceiving Nazis to fly-fishing.

On the evidence available, Fleming did not have to look far for his inspiration for M. Godfrey was well known for his studiousness, severity and commanding grasp of espionage as well as being a stickler for the rules. Godfrey was not a fan of M when he read the books, clearly seeing the resemblances between himself and the spymaster. In interviews after his retirement, he would lament that he had been made to look unsavoury by his former subordinate even though M is a much-loved character of the books and certainly the films.

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