(Redirected from Red Grant)A list of henchmen from the
1963 James Bond film and novel ''
From Russia with Love'' from the
List of James Bond henchmen.
Donald "Red" Grant
'"Red" Grant' is a
fictional character in the
James Bond novel and film ''
From Russia with Love''. In both, Grant is a henchman for the villainess
Rosa Klebb. Donald Grant is played by actor
Robert Shaw. The very tall, muscular and bleach blond archetype created by Grant would become a clear characteristic of villains in the later Bond films, including
Hans,
Erich Kriegler,
Necros , and
Stamper.
Novel
In the novel, ''From Russia with Love'', Red Grant is
SMERSH's Chief Executioner. He was born 'Donovan Grant' in
Ireland, to an
Irish mother and is the illegitimate son of "The Mighty O'Donovan", a
German who is involved with an international circus group. Shortly after birth, his mother died.
Red Grant becomes a killer at an early age, his urges to kill coinciding with the full moon. After
World War II, he is called up for
National Service and is posted to
Berlin as a soldier with the British Army. He defects to the
Soviets after being disgraced for cheating in a boxing match. Grant enjoys killing people, and the Russians train him to become their Chief Executioner. He poses as a MI6 Agent to lull James Bond into a false sense of security. Bond then trusts him to takes watch one night on the Orient Express and inexplicibly gives grant his gun. Grant attempts to shoot Bond with a gun hidden in the spine of a copy of
War and Peace but Bond has put a cigarette case over his heart. Grant is then stabbed by Bond (who was playing dead) in the room and then shot by Bond with his book gun.
★ Red Grant's father is referenced in
Charlie Higson's ''
Young Bond'' book ''
SilverFin'', while Bond is in attendance at a circus.
Film
'Donald Grant', aka 'Red Grant', works for
SPECTRE and is assigned the task of assassinating James Bond to avenge the death of
Doctor Julius No. The pre-title sequence in ''From Russia with Love'' shows Bond and Grant searching for one another. In the end Grant kills Bond, before a mask is removed from "Bond's" face to reveal that the whole thing was a training mission for Grant.
Grant is described as being a homicidal-paranoiac maniac, who escaped from
Dartmoor prison in
1960 (where he was presumably incarcerated for life) and was recruited by SPECTRE in
Tangier two years later, whilst on the run from the law. He has been intensively trained by the organization and when not on a mission, he is resident on SPECTRE Island (location unknown). His finer education may be limited, shown by Bond's surprise that he doesn't know white wine goes with fish.
Although it is Grant's mission to kill Bond, the early part of the film shows Grant taking on the role of Bond's protector to ensure Bond delivers (unknowingly) the Lektor encoding device into SPECTRE's hands. Grant is killed on the Orient Express after a brutal fight when Bond, with the use of Q-branch's
attaché case knife, stabs him in the left arm and strangles Grant with his own garotte.
★ Donald 'Red' Grant shares his name (although not his nickname) with a real traitor, Donald Grant, who was a vacuum-cleaner salesman and member of the
British Union of Fascists from
Easter Ross. At the outbreak of war in 1939 this Donald Grant was in
Germany and was employed by the Nazis to broadcast to
Scotland as 'Radio Caledonia' with the aim of increasing disaffection.
★ Grant doesn't speak in the movie until he meets Bond at a train station, posing as Nash.
Computer Game
In the
computer game based on the novel and film, Donald (Red) Grant is the chief enforcer for the terrorist organization codenamed OCTOPUS. He has a female assistant named Eva Adara, portrayed by
Maria Menounos. Grant does most of OCTOPUS' dirty work, but his primary mission is to acquire the Lektor decoding device and kill Bond. He catches up with Bond on the Orient Express, and survives the confrontation at the train station unbeknownst to Bond. During the final assault on OCTOPUS headquarters, he uses a spider-like machine to attack Bond again, but this time he is killed, where Bond shoots with a Wright Magnum after Grant pulls out a PPK.
Kronsteen
' Kronsteen' (Кронстейна) is a fictional character from the
James Bond novel ''
From Russia With Love'' by
Ian Fleming, and of the
film of the same name, released in
1963. He was portrayed in the film by
Vladek Sheybal.
In the novel Kronsteen was the head of the planning department for
SMERSH. He was a
Chess grand master and the champion of
Moscow for two years running. During the championship game for his third year Kronsteen was called away by SMERSH to come up with a plan to kill and discredit
James Bond. He actually survives in the novel and never encounters James Bond.
In the film, Kronsteen worked for
SPECTRE and was tasked with inventing a plan to kill and disgrace James Bond for the "murder" of
Dr. Julius No in the film, ''Dr. No''. Kronsteen is first
seen when he is playing chess, he wins shortly after he is given a
message under his glass of water. Kronsteen leaves after the match
and reports to
Rosa Klebb and
Ernst Stavro Blofeld. He explains his plan to his superiors. But at the end of the movie, it
turns out that Bond survived his plot against him. Kronsteen points
to Klebb for the reason of the plot's flaw. Kronsteen seems immune
to Blofeld's anger. Klebb tries desperately to defend herself and
she gets downtrodden as Blofeld calls in
Morzeny. Morzeny puts
the poison tip of his boot out, but mentally noticing Kronsteen's
immune charm to his anger and has Kronsteen killed by Morzeny. Sparing Klebb.
Morzeny
Morzeny (left) is the only henchman mentioned by name who was created for the film; he does not appear in the novel. Morzeny ran Blofeld's training grounds on SPECTRE Island, which is where Klebb first inspected, then recruited Grant. Later in the movie, Blofeld has him kill Kronsteen, which he gladly does using the poison-tipped shoe blade Klebb would later use herself. He and other SPECTRE henchmen then pursue Bond on boats. After a deadly boat chase, Bond blows up some fuel tanks he drops into the water. This causes all of the enemy boats blow up and burn. Viewers witness Morzeny burning and falling into the water.
Morzeny is played by
Walter Gotell better known to Bond fans as
General Gogol, head of the
KGB during the
Roger Moore years.