Auric Goldfinger James Bond Villain: Actor, Plot and Death

Auric Goldfinger is a rich gold dealer with a suspicious fortune, and he is the central villain of Goldfinger (1964), directed by Guy Hamilton. He is played by Gert Fröbe, who is billed second in the cast behind Sean Connery.

Goldfinger had its UK premiere on 1964-09-20 (reported) and its US release on 1964-12-22.

The setup is easy to follow in order. MI6 sends James Bond to keep watch on Auric Goldfinger. In Miami, Bond catches him cheating at cards and ruins the game, and Auric Goldfinger answers by taking revenge on the woman who helped Bond. Back in Britain, Bond receives an Aston Martin loaded with gadgets and beats him at golf, which is how Bond learns more about the man.

Auric Goldfinger is not a member of SPECTRE and does not appear in Spectre (2015) or any other Bond film. For the wider rogues gallery, see our guide to James Bond villains.

Auric Goldfinger's plan is to make his own gold worth more by ruining the gold stored at Fort Knox, not by stealing it. A bomb set off inside the vault would leave the American reserve radioactive and unusable, and that scarcity would lift the value of what he already owns. He treats the whole operation as a market move.

His character shows in how he gets there. A cheated card game in Miami goes wrong when Bond interferes, and Goldfinger punishes the woman who helped Bond: Jill Masterson dies with her body covered in gold paint. The trail then runs to a factory in Switzerland, where Jill's sister crosses Bond's path because she wants revenge.

Bond is captured and held in Kentucky, and that is where he learns the target. Goldfinger has Pussy Galore and her flying team ready to spread gas over the area, so the guards cannot respond. Bond manages to get a message out, and US forces move in while the raid unfolds. Goldfinger leaves Bond handcuffed to the bomb in the vault. A specialist stops it with seven seconds left.

Auric Goldfinger's allies are Oddjob and Pussy Galore, and his enemies are James Bond, Jill Masterson and Tilly Masterson.

His closest ally is Oddjob, his silent and deadly servant, played by Harold Sakata and billed fourth. Bond meets Oddjob while Bond is learning about Auric Goldfinger, and Oddjob is killed in the vault. His second key partner is Pussy Galore, played by Honor Blackman, who leads the flying team that is meant to spread gas over the Fort Knox area.

His enemies begin with James Bond, played by Sean Connery. The rivalry starts at the card table in Miami, carries through the golf game in Britain and ends in a fight in a plane cabin. Two other people stand against him because of what he does to their family: Jill Masterson, played by Shirley Eaton, who is killed for helping Bond, and her sister Tilly Masterson, played by Tania Mallet, who comes looking for revenge in Switzerland.

Bond also has CIA support in Felix Leiter, played here by Cec Linder. The film sets Auric Goldfinger against a mix of British and American forces, and none of them are ever on his side.

Auric Goldfinger dies in Goldfinger (1964) when a gunshot breaks a window of the hijacked jet and the loss of cabin pressure pulls him out. The Fort Knox bomb is stopped in the last seconds and Oddjob is killed in the vault, so Auric Goldfinger escapes by hijacking a jet. Bond is on board, and a struggle between the two leads to the gunshot.

Bond and Pussy Galore then bail out over the sea. A rescue helicopter passes overhead as they kiss. No later EON film revives Auric Goldfinger, and he does not appear in the unofficial films Casino Royale (1967) or Never Say Never Again.

The best Auric Goldfinger scenes are the Miami card game, the golf match in Britain and the Fort Knox vault finale. These are my picks, and each one shows a different side of him.

First, the Miami card game. Auric Goldfinger cheats, Bond ruins it, and Auric Goldfinger answers with a murder. It sets up the character in a few minutes: he is rich, he is careful, and he does not forgive. For my money, that is the most efficient villain introduction of the early films.

Second, the golf match in Britain. Bond arrives with a gadget loaded Aston Martin and a plan to learn about the man, and the contest becomes a duel without a gun. It shows why a villain does not need an army to be frightening, much like a tense round of poker between two people who both know the other is bluffing.

Third, the Fort Knox plan itself. Most Bond villains want to steal or destroy, while Auric Goldfinger wants to make his own gold worth more by ruining everyone else's, which makes his scheme about money rather than politics. The vault scene, with Bond handcuffed to the bomb and seven seconds on the clock, is the payoff for all of it.

If you are new to the series, start with Goldfinger (1964) and then compare him with Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who thinks on a larger scale.