M

M en fiktiv person som i böckerna och filmerna om James Bond är chef över MI-6, den brittiska underrättelsetjänsten. M är därmed chef över Bond och har i filmerna sedan 1962 (Agent 007 med rätt att döda) spelats av tre personer, två män och en kvinna:

I Casino Royale från 2006 får man för första gången i seriens gång höra anledningen till varför beteckningen är just M. Judi Dench spelar nämligen Barbara Maudsley, och Lee spelade Miles Messervy. Det är dock oklart vad förnamnet på Robert Browns M är. Det skulle fastslå denna teori. De flesta anser dock honom vara Admiral Hargreaves från Älskade spion, som aldrig nämns vid sitt fulla namn.

Background

"M" is a code letter and name for the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6. The title "M" is believed to have been derived by creator Ian Fleming from the first real-life head of His Majesty's Secret Service, Mansfield Smith-Cumming, who used his initial "C" to indicate when he had seen a paper and so became referred to as "C," a practice that carried on with his successors. Other influences on the character include Admiral John Godfrey, Fleming's superior in British Naval Intelligence during World War II, and "R," the secret service employer of W. Somerset Maugham's Ashenden. The third Bond novel, Moonraker, establishes M's personal initials as "M**** M*********". M's first name is also revealed in Moonraker when a character calls him Miles. In The Man with the Golden Gun M's true identity is revealed as Admiral Sir Miles Messervy; this may be where the M comes from, but does not explain the films because there has been more than one M. In the 2006 film version of Casino Royale, it is suggested the letter may likewise refer to the actual name of the later, female M.

In the novels and almost all films, all characters holding the title of M have been aided by Miss Moneypenny (personal secretary) and Bill Tanner (Chief of Staff).

Bernard Lee as M (Admiral Miles Messervy)

James Bond character

M (Admiral Miles Messervy)
Gender	Male
Affiliation	MI6
Status	Retired
Role	Ally
Portrayed by	Bernard Lee

In Ian Fleming's novels, M's real name is Vice Admiral Sir Miles Messervy KCMG; the name, hinted at throughout the series, was finally revealed in The Man with the Golden Gun, Fleming's final novel.

In the novels, M displays a liking for Bond, when he bends the rules for Bond on several occasions. For instance in the short story For Your Eyes Only, Bond agrees to carry out a private assassination for M, while in The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond attempts to assassinate M himself; this is as a result of extreme Soviet brainwashing and M insists that Bond be rehabilitated rather than punished. In the first post-Fleming book, Colonel Sun, M is kidnapped from Quarterdeck, his home, and Bond goes to great lengths to rescue him. In the later books, written by John Gardner, Messervy protects Bond from the new, less aggressive climate in the Secret Service, saying that "sometime this country will need a blunt instrument." In the films, their relationship is similar.

In On Her Majesty's Secret Service it is revealed that M's pay as head of the Secret Service was 6500 pounds a year, 1500 pounds of which coming from retired naval pay (by comparison, Bond makes 1500 pounds). Although his pay is good for the 1950s and 1960s, it is never explained how M received or can afford his membership at Blades, an upscale private club for gentlemen he frequents in London to gamble and dine. Blades has a restricted membership of only 200 gentlemen and all must be able to show 100,000 pounds in cash or gilt-edged securities.

In John Gardner's novel, Win, Lose or Die, it is stated that M has one daughter who married and produced two children which M adores.

Later Bond novels by John Gardner retain Sir Miles Messervy as M, and Raymond Benson's 1998 novel The Facts of Death show that Messervy has retired to his estate of Quarterdeck. He remains a close friend of Bond and refers to him by first name, though Bond has a difficult time calling him anything but "sir."

Films

In the films, only his first name, Miles, was revealed (in The Spy Who Loved Me), and he also holds the rank of Rear Admiral which his insignia suggests in You Only Live Twice. M was played by Bernard Lee from the first Bond movie, Dr. No, until Moonraker (1979). Lee died in 1981 and, out of respect, the character was removed from that year's For Your Eyes Only (1981), with his lines given to either his Chief of Staff or the Minister of Defence, Sir Fredrick Gray. The film version of Dr. No suggests that Messervy is a relatively recent appointee to the position of M (he boasts about his ability to reduce the number of operative casualties since taking the job), suggesting someone else held the job before him. Gardner makes references to M's predecessors in Scorpius, again suggesting that Messervy is not the first. Also, in the film version of Dr. No, M is heard to call himself head of MI7 which actually was the department in charge of propaganda and censorship (the actor originally said MI6, but for reasons unknown was overdubbed with the now-fictional MI7 prior to the film's release, the DVD subtitles also state that M is head of MI6); this contradicts later films that state he is in charge of MI6. This M refers to Bond by his first name, James, in both The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker.

Featured in:

1. Dr No
2. Form Russia With Love
3. Goldfinger
4. Thunderball
5. You Only Live Twice
6. On Her Majesty`s Secret Service
7. Diamonds Are Forever
8. Live And Let Die
9. The Man With The Golden Gun
10.The Spy Who Loved Me
11.Moonraker 1979

Following the death of actor Bernard Lee, M is said to be "on leave" in For Your Eyes Only (1981) but otherwise does not appear in that film.

It should also be noted that the likeness of Sir Miles Messervy is used in the 2005 James Bond video game adaptation of From Russia With Love by EA Games. From Russia With Love is the last James Bond video game that EA marketed before they lost the rights to Activision in 2006.

Messervy in real life

The character of M is apocryphally based on Rear Admiral John H. Godfrey, Director of the British Department of Naval Intelligence during World War II. During this time, Fleming was his assistant. Godfrey and Fleming were close friends and on first name terms, unlike M and Bond in the novels. Other names that have from time to time been referenced as a possible resemblance include Maxwell Knight, former head of counter-subversion in MI5, and Maurice Buckmaster, head of Section F of the SOE.

Fleming biographer John Pearson states in his 1966 book The Life of Ian Fleming that M may in fact be based on Fleming's own mother:

"There is reason for thinking that a more telling lead to the real identity of M lies in the fact that as a boy Fleming often called his mother M. [...] While Fleming was young, his mother was certainly one of the few people he was frightened of, and her sternness toward him, her unexplained demands, and her remorseless insistence on success find a curious and constant echo in the way M handles that hard-ridden, hard-killing agent, 007."^[1]

Robert Brown as M

James Bond character

M
Gender	Male
Affiliation	MI6
Status	Retired
Role	Ally
Portrayed by	Robert Brown

After Lee's death in 1981, the producers hired actor Robert Brown to continue the role in the Bond films. Brown picks up the role in Octopussy, however it is never explicitly stated on screen whether Robert Brown's character is intended to be the same person played by Lee, if he was intended to be Admiral Hargreaves, the role played by Brown in 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me, or if he is supposed to be another character altogether.

Later Bond novels by John Gardner retain Sir Miles Messervy as M. Raymond Benson's 1998 novel, The Facts of Death is more clear by having Hargreaves present at a party hosted by Sir Miles Messervy. Other films hint that they are not the same character. The World Is Not Enough (1999), for instance, features an oil-painting portrait of Bernard Lee as the original M, prominent on a wall behind Judi Dench, as the current M, in the Scottish MI6 headquarters. One further thing to note is that in the pre-title credits to The Living Daylights, M's insignia suggests he is a Rear Admiral, which would mean if he is Hargreaves then he has been demoted; since Hargreaves' insignia in The Spy Who Loved Me suggests he is a Vice Admiral, though in A View to a Kill he is referred to as Admiral which creates a continuity problem either way.

As played by Brown, M lacks a sense of humor and has absolutely no tolerance whatsoever for Bond's antics, which supports the theory that this M is Hargreaves or someone else and not Messervy. Brown's M came off tougher than his predecessor, wasting no time to revoke Bond's licence to kill in the film Licence to Kill when Bond went off on a personal vendetta (though he nevertheless felt some sympathy towards the younger man privately in this case.)