Q (James Bond)

Q is a famous character from the James Bond franchise, a codename which stands for "quartermaster". Q is portrayed as the technical adviser for MI6 as well as the head of Q Branch and is responsible for providing James Bond with a wide range of technologically advanced gadgets to aide him on his missions. To date, Q has been played by Peter Burton, Desmond Llewelyn, John Cleese and Ben Wishaw in the Bond film series, with Llewelyn having played the character in the most films with 17.

The character was first created by Ian Fleming for his original James Bond novels. He then appeared briefly in the first Bond film adaptation Dr. No (film, 1962) as portrayed by Burton. Lelewelyn took the role in the following film From Russia with Love and subsequently reprises the role in all following Bond films up to and including The World is Not Enough, with the exception of Live and Let Die. Following the death of Llewelyn in late 1999, Cleese's character R became the new Q in the following film Die Another Day. Although the character had been absent in the first two Reboot Bond films Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, he re-appeared as a much younger character in Skyfall and Spectre, played by Wishaw.

In the Bond film universe, the first character shown in the rank of Q is Major Boothroyd (played by Burton and Llewelyn). Boothroyd appeared in the series from Dr. No until Diamonds Are Forever and then again from The Man with the Golden Gun to The World is Not Enough. In TWINE, Boothroyd is eventually shown to reveal his plans for retirement to Bond, and introduces his assistant R (given the name by Bond). In the following film Die Another Day, Boothroyd is clearly shown to have retired and it is now established that R has been promoted to the rank of Q (played by Cleese), succeeding Boothroyd. Following the reboot of the Bond series timeline in 2006, Q was absent in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace but re-appeared in 2012's Skyfall. The new version of Q is depicted as being in his early-thirties, much younger than the original version, and prefers much simpler gadgets compared to the wide range of high-tech gadgetry developed by the previous Q characters, arming Bond with only a miniaturized radio, and a gun programmed to Bond's fingerprints so only he can fire it. The character re-appeared most recently in 2015's Spectre, offering a slightly expanded arsenal of gadgets in comparison to the previous film, such as an exploding watch utilized by Bond to escape from the villain, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, towards the end of the film.

Q has also appeared in the two un-official James Bond films Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again (1983). He was portrayed by Geoffrey Balydon in Casino Royale and by Alec McCowen in Never Say Never Again, where he was given the name Algernon or Q Algy.

Appearances in the James Bond films[edit]

• Dr. No (1962) - Played by Peter Burton
• From Russia with Love (1963) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• Goldfinger (1964) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• Thunderball (1965) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• You Only Live Twice (1967) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Played by Desomond Llewelyn
• Moonraker (1979) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• Octopussy (1983) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• A View to a Kill (1985) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• The Living Daylights (1987) - Played by Desmond Lewelyn
• Licence to Kill (1989) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• GoldenEye (1995) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• The World is Not Enough (1999) - Played by Desmond Llewelyn
• Die Another Day (2002) - Played by John Cleese
• Skyfall (2012) - Played by Ben Wishaw
• Spectre (2015) - Played by Ben Whishaw

• Casino Royale (1967) - Played by Geoffrey Bayldon
• Never Say Never Again (1983) - Played by Alec McCowen