1. Charles Gray As Ernst Stravo Blofeld - Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Then they saddled Charles Gray with the unfortunate part of Blofeld, in the film that should have saved the character. Not buried him. Charles Gray is an actor with a great amount of talent. He played the part given to him as well as anyone, yet Blofeld didn't get the reversal his character deserved. Lets start with the basics. Blofeld is still not threatening. They have taken the last of his iconic appearance and turned him into a loveable grandpa. All he has left are the cat and the iconic suit. Which is stupidity in itself. He is changing his appearance through multiple painful plastic surgery procedures, but still dresses the exact same and keeps the cat? I thought Blofeld was supposed to be a genius? And then there is the whole Howard Hughes angle. It just doesn't fit. SPECTRE is a huge organization that spans the planet. Why does Blofeld need to take on the Hughes identity to hide? If he has the clout to build the volcano lair in "You Only Live Twice (1967)," why can't he go to a SPECTRE lair or safe house? Then there is the change that would have been noticed by Hughes underlings. If Blofeld was suddenly using Hughes assets for the smuggling of conflict diamonds and other illegal activities, someone would have noticed. So Bl0feld is no longer the menacing presence he once was and is left to hiding out in a hotel like a common thug. He goes to the trouble of changing his appearance, but then maintains his iconic attire and cat, which would blow his new identity anyway. This is just the last straw for the character that had such promising beginnings. He subsequently is dropped from the Bond universe like a bad habit. Which someone finally noticed and in the opening from "For Your Eyes Only (1981)," he is tossed into a smoke stack like a low level thug. Not the mastermind he was. Blofeld is not the villain he should be. He should be at the top of all the greatest villains in cinema lists. But he is instead left to ridicule and parody. Blofeld was always a character played by legends of the industry. But the filmmakers forgot how fragile even an icon like Blofeld could be, and they let him fall to the wayside. Ernst Stravo Blofeld, I hope in the rebooting of the franchise we are seeing, you will be given a second chance to become the iconic villain you deserve to be.