Ian Fleming Didn't Want Bond to have an "American-shaped head"
A recently discovered piece of correspondence reveals Fleming's thoughts on how Bond should look, in the comic-strip adaptation of the 007 novels
We already know what Ian Fleming wanted James Bond to look like. In his 1957 novel From Russia, with Love, a memo from the evil organization SMERSH contains a profile of the spy:
“Name: Bond, James. Height: 183 cm; weight: 76 kg; slim build; eyes: blue; hair: black; scar down right cheek & on left shoulder; all-round athlete, expert pistol shot, boxer, knife-thrower; does not use disguises. Languages: French and German. Smokes heavily (NB: special cigarettes with three gold bands); vices: drink, but not to excess, and women.”
In other words, he kind of looks like Timothy Dalton. Or Hoagy Carmichael, the popular 50s singer. Fleming used this direct comparison more than once in his novels. In the 1953 novel Casino Royale, Vesper Lind remarks “Bond reminds me rather of Hoagy Carmichael, but there is something cold and ruthless,” while, in the 1955 novel Moonraker, Gala Brand describes Bond as “certainly good-looking … Rather like Hoagy Carmichael in a way. That black hair falling down over the right eyebrow. Much the same bones. But there was something a bit cruel in the mouth, and the eyes were cold.”
So, we know how Fleming wanted him to appear, in the minds of his readers.
But now we also know how Fleming definitely did not want Bond to appear.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a new communiqué from Fleming has been found, containing some additional thoughts about the appearance of his creation. The note is from a 1958 correspondence with the cartoonist John McLusky, who was working on a comic strip about Bond for the Daily Express. McLusky’s son recently found portions of the exchange, in which Fleming was so adamant about Bond’s appearance that he hired another artist to draw Bond to show McLusky.
Included in his demands is the directive: “In general, I think we should avoid giving Bond an American-shaped head and a duck’s haircut.”
Evidently, this was in response to one of McLusky’s drawings. So, ouch.
This description, though, fascinates me. What is “a duck’s haircut?” And what, pray tell, is “An American-shaped head?”
This is roughly the look that McLusky ended up going with:
McLusky, who died at age 86 in 2006, wrote and drew a James Bond comic that ran in the Daily Express from 1958 to 1966. In that time, he adapted thirteen of Fleming’s 007 novels and short stories in graphic form.
Many of his original strips can be viewed here.
Olivia Rutigliano
Olivia Rutigliano is an Editor at Lit Hub and CrimeReads. Her other work appears in Vanity Fair, Vulture, Lapham's Quarterly, AirMail, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Public Books, The Baffler, Bright Wall/Dark Room, Politics/Letters, The Toast, Truly Adventurous, and elsewhere. She has a PhD from the departments of English/comparative literature and theatre at Columbia University, where she was the Marion E. Ponsford fellow. She hosts the podcasst "Culture Schlock" at Lit Hub Radio. She is on instagram at @oldebean, twitter at @oldrutigliano, and bluesky at @oliviarutigliano.bsky.social.
