20 Things You Didn't Know About From Russia With Love (1963)
3. “We Do Not Tolerate Failure...”
Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) was the first SPECTRE operative to face James Bond onscreen, but From Russia With Love gave audiences their first glimpse of the organisation’s sinister leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. However, the SPECTRE Number One was more familiar to viewers than they realised, even though his face is never seen in the film.
Whilst Dr. No had warned Professor R.J. Dent (Anthony Dawson) about the penalties for failure in the earlier film, Dawson carried out those duties himself in the second Bond film, as he was the physical presence of Blofeld, issuing orders to Number Three, Rosa Klebb and Number Five, Kronsteen. Blofeld’s voice was provided by Austrian actor, Eric Pohlmann, who memorably portrayed The Fat Man in Carry On Spying (1964) and The Return of the Pink Panther (1975).
Both Dawson and Pohlmann returned as Blofeld in Thunderball, although Dawson had the distinction of portraying James Bond himself in screentests for the role of Tatiana Romanova in From Russia With Love.
Blofeld’s distinctive white Persian cat was also introduced in this film, not having featured in Ian Fleming’s Bond novels, after screenwriters, Richard Maibaum and Wolf Mankowitz’s earlier suggestion for Dr. No to have either had or (strangely) been a monkey was rejected. Blofeld’s cat has since become the villain’s defining characteristic.