Auric Goldfinger
From Double-Oh-Wiki
| James Bond Character | |
 | |
| Auric Goldfinger | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | Mid 50s |
| Status | Deceased |
| Behind the scenes | |
| Portrayed By | Gert Fröbe |
Auric Goldfinger is the villain in the James Bond film and novel Goldfinger. His first name, Auric, is an adjective meaning of gold. Ian Fleming chose the name to commemorate the architect Erno Goldfinger who had built his home in Hampstead next door to Fleming; Fleming disliked Goldfinger's style of architecture and destruction of Victorian terraces and decided to name a memorable villain after him. In 2003, the American Film Institute declared Auric Goldfinger the 49th greatest villain in in the past 100 years of film.
Auric Goldfinger was played by Gert Fröbe. Consequently, Goldfinger was banned in Israel after it was revealed that Fröbe was a member of the Nazi party. The ban, however, was lifted many years later when a Jewish family publicly thanked Fröbe for protecting them from persecution during World War II. Gert Fröbe, who did not speak English, was dubbed by Michael Collins, an English actor. Of his role as Goldfinger, Fröbe later remarked: "I am a big man, and I have a laugh to match my size. The ridiculous thing is that since I played Goldfinger in the James Bond film there are some people who still insist on seeing me as a cold, ruthless villain - a man without laughs."
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[edit] Film biography
Arguably the most famous James Bond villain in any film, Goldfinger's obsession was gold. In fact, Goldfinger was a gold smuggler accomplishing this feat by having a workable car built out of gold and transporting it via airplane. Once the car arrived at its destination, Goldfinger would have it melted down. Goldfinger is also an avid golfer who plays with a Slazenger 1 golf ball. He is defeated by Bond, however, when he is tricked by Bond after attempting to cheat.
Auric Goldfinger owned many properties throughout the world including "Auric Enterprises, A.G", which was the headquarters for most of his smuggling operations. Located in Switzerland, it is where Bond nearly gets cut in half by an industrial laser when Goldfinger has him strapped to a table.
- Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
- Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.
Goldfinger also owned a farm in Kentucky that was used for horse breeding called "Auric Stud".
Goldfinger was killed when he was blown out of a depressurizing airplane, midflight, while attempting to assassinate Bond.
[edit] Scheme
Goldfinger's scheme, codenamed "Operation Grand Slam", involved breaking into the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, and detonating a nuclear weapon thus contaminating the United States gold reserve and thereby dramatically increasing the value of his gold holdings.
[edit] Henchmen
- Oddjob
- Pussy Galore & Pussy Galore's Flying Circus
[edit] Trivia
- In the film Goldfinger's automobile has the license plate "AU 1". Au is the symbol on the periodic table for the element gold.
- The voice of Goldfinger was dubbed due to Gert Fröbe's heavy German accent.
- The architect Erno Goldfinger was not pleased to find the character sharing his name and contacted his lawyers; he eventually settled for, among other things, the promise that the character's first name Auric would always be used.
[edit] Novel biography
In the novel, Auric Goldfinger is the richest man in England and the treasurer of SMERSH, Bond's nemesis. Goldfinger's passion is gold. He is also a jeweller, a metallurgist, and a smuggler.
When Goldfinger first meets Bond in Miami, he claims that he is agoraphobic; a ploy to allow him to cheat a previous acquaintance of Bond's at a game of two-handed Canasta. Bond figures out how Goldfinger is managing this cheating and blackmails him by forcing him to admit his deception. Goldfinger is also an avid golfer, but is known at his club for being a smooth cheater. When Bond contrives to play a match with Goldfinger, he again cheats the cheater by switching Goldfinger's Dunlop One with a Dunlop Seven he had found while playing.
Goldfinger is the owner of "Enterprises Auric A.G." in Switzerland, maker of metal furniture, which is bought by many airlines including Air India. A few times during the year, Goldfinger drives his Rolls Royce "Silver Ghost" car from England to Enterprises Auric. Bond learns that Goldfinger makes repeated dead drops of gold bars along the way and that his car's bodywork is 18 carat (75%), solid white gold under the ploy that the added weight is armor plating. Once at Enterprises Auric, his car is stripped down, melted and made into furniture (seating) for an airline company that Enterprises Auric is heavily invested in. The plane(s) are then flown to India where the seats are melted down again into gold bars and sold for a much higher premium rate; 100 to 200% profit.
[edit] Operation Grand Slam
Operation Grand Slam is Goldfinger's codename for his scheme that involves "knocking off" the U.S. bullion depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Through the use of a chemical created by the Germans during World War II, Goldfinger plans to poison the water supply at Fort Knox, thus rendering everyone on the base (60,000) dead. From there Goldfinger would use an atomic bomb he had purchased for one million USD to blow open Fort Knox's impregnable vault. With the help of American gangsters, Goldfinger would then remove roughly 15 billion dollars in gold bullion and escape.
James Bond foils Goldfinger's plan by getting word to Felix Leiter of the impending operation. With the help of The Pentagon Leiter was able to stop Goldfinger, and foil the operation. But Goldfinger escapes.
Goldfinger met his end while trying to escape to the Soviet Union. He was choked to death by James Bond after attempting to get his revenge.
[edit] Henchmen
[edit] Associates
In addition to Henchmen, Goldfinger enlisted the help of several American gangsters:
- Helmut M. Springer — The Purple Gange (Detroit)
- Mr. Springer backed out of the deal and did not participate in Goldfinger's Operation Grand Slam. Moments later, Mr. Springer had an "accident", falling down the staircase as he was leaving. In fact, he was killed by Oddjob.
- Jed Midnight — Shadow Syndicate (Miami, Havana)
- Billy (The Grinner) Ring — The Machine (Chicago)
- Jack Strap — The Spangled Mob (Las Vegas); see Diamonds Are Forever
- Mr. Solo — Unione Siciliano
- Miss Pussy Galore — The Cement Mixers (Harlem, New York City)
- All of the gangsters that participated in Operation Grand Slam were subsequently shot when the operation failed, but Goldfinger enlisted Pussy Galore's help in exacting his revenge on Bond, which ultimately failed.
[edit] GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
Auric Goldfinger was brought back to life in the 2004 Electronic Arts video game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. In the game Goldfinger recruits the player character, a former secret agent ousted by MI6. Goldfinger is also an ally of Francisco Scaramanga, the villain of The Man with the Golden Gun. In this game, Goldfinger's scientists develop what is considered to be the deadliest weapon known to mankind: the O.M.E.N. (Organic Mass Energy Neutralizer), and plans to use it against Dr. No's forces.
He is eventually killed when Goldeneye and Scaramanga understand his betrayal and use the O.M.E.N against him.
