10 James Bond Villains Who Simply Vanished
5. Ladislav Kutze
Ladislav Kutze (George Pravda) is the perfect example of a minor Bond villain simply vanishing after serving his purpose.
A Polish nuclear physicist working with SPECTRE, Kutze is instrumental in Emilio Largo’s (Adolfo Celi’s) plan to hold the NATO powers to ransom with two stolen atomic bombs in Thunderball (1965). Initially viewing the scheme as a scientific challenge, Kutze relents when Largo subsequently loses one of the bombs to US paramarines.
Whilst Largo tries to escape in his hydrofoil, the Disco Volante, Kutze frees Largo’s imprisoned mistress, Domino Derval (Claudine Auger), who ultimately saves James Bond (Sir Sean Connery) by killing Largo. However, when Largo jams the hydrofoil’s controls, Bond, Domino and Kutze must abandon ship before it collides with a rocky outcrop.
Warning Double-0 Seven that he cannot swim, the bespectacled Kutze is told “It’s never too late to learn” as Bond hands him a life preserver and shoves him overboard. When Double-0 Seven and Domino resurface after the explosion, Ladislav Kutze is simply gone.
Kutze’s equivalent in the unofficial remake of Thunderball, Never Say Never Again (1983), Dr. Kovacs (Milos Kirek) does not fare much better. Like Kutze, he also vanishes, albeit during a gun battle inside The Tears of Allah, a natural well underneath the North African oil fields that Maximillian Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) is planning to destroy.