10 Most Shocking James Bond Movie Moments
3. He Disagreed With Something That Ate Him
We know James Bond is not going to die or suffer lasting physical harm in one of his movies, that much is guaranteed. We can also be reasonably sure the traditional supporting cast is safe.
M, Q, and Miss Moneypenny are the three constants in the Bond cast, but the next most frequently appearing supporting character is Bond’s friend from the CIA, Felix Leiter. Originally played by Jack Lord, Leiter has changed faces, ages, and even race more times than Bond and has appeared in nine of the official Bond movies.
Since he’s a constant ally of Bond, it must have come as a brutal surprise to some audience members when, in License To Kill (1989), poor Felix, just after getting married, is attacked by the ruthless drug lord Sanchez, who kills Mrs. Leiter and feeds Felix to a shark. He survives, but loses a leg. The incident enrages Bond (Timothy Dalton) and sends him off on a quest for revenge.
Although Leiter’s shark-inflicted injuries occurred way back in the second of Ian Fleming’s novels, Live And Let Die (published in 1954), it took Eon Productions 27 years and 16 movies to include this shocking event in the films.