Felix Leiter in James Bond: Who He Is and Who Plays Him

Felix Leiter is the CIA agent who works alongside James Bond and is his closest American ally in the series. Every film credits him simply as Felix Leiter. He appears in ten official EON films, and seven different actors have played him. The role has been recast in almost every film. Outside the official series, Bernie Casey played him in the unofficial, non EON Never Say Never Again (1983).

He works best as the pit crew of the Bond saga: Bond drives the set piece, and Leiter supplies the money, the manpower and the pickup. In Dr. No (1962), directed by Terence Young, he meets Bond in Jamaica while the Americans look into radio jamming that disrupts rocket launches from Cape Canaveral. In Casino Royale (2006), directed by Martin Campbell, the same job looks different because the help arrives as a stack of poker money. The role stays the same while the tools change.

Jack Lord played him first. The UK release of Dr. No is reported as 7 October 1962, and the US release is reported as 8 May 1963. Here are the ten EON films, in release order, with the actor in each.

Jeffrey Wright holds the longest run with three films in a row. David Hedison is the only other actor to return to the part, with Live and Let Die in 1973 and Licence to Kill in 1989. For the full list of men who have carried the lead, see James Bond actors in order.

Felix Leiter's story runs from a helpful American contact in Dr. No to the friend whose request pulls a retired Bond back to work in No Time to Die. Most of the early appearances are short, and the later ones carry real weight.

In Dr. No, Leiter and a local boatman named Quarrel become Bond's allies in Jamaica, and at the end Leiter finds Bond and Honey Ryder after they flee Crab Key and picks them up. Cec Linder plays him in a supporting role in Goldfinger (1964), directed by Guy Hamilton. In Thunderball (1965), again directed by Terence Young, Leiter helps Bond with the search in the Bahamas for the stolen atomic bombs. Norman Burton takes the part, again in a supporting role, in Diamonds Are Forever (1971), also directed by Hamilton. Live and Let Die (1973), directed by Guy Hamilton, has Bond working with his CIA friend in New Orleans while he survives several attempts on his life.

Never Say Never Again (1983, unofficial, non EON), directed by Irvin Kershner, retells the Thunderball story, and there Bond and Leiter recover the first stolen warhead in Washington. The Living Daylights (1987), directed by John Glen, brings in John Terry in a supporting role.

Then comes the turn. Licence to Kill (1989), also directed by John Glen, opens with Bond about to be best man at Leiter's wedding. The two help the DEA capture the drug lord Franz Sanchez, Sanchez bribes his way out, and his men kill Leiter's new wife and maim Leiter. Bond refuses M's order to drop it and goes after Sanchez alone, and the film closes with Leiter recovering.

The Daniel Craig films start the part over. In Casino Royale (2006), Leiter backs Bond with more money after Bond loses his stake to Le Chiffre, and Bond wins the pot. In Quantum of Solace (2008), directed by Marc Forster, Leiter and Mathis help Bond after M cancels his passports and cards. In No Time to Die (2021), directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, Leiter finds the retired Bond in Jamaica and asks for help finding the kidnapped scientist Valdo Obruchev. Obruchev created Project Heracles, a nanobot weapon that targets people by their DNA. Logan Ash, Leiter's colleague, then reveals himself as a traitor, and Leiter is killed.

James Bond and Felix Leiter are friends and professional allies, an MI6 agent and a CIA agent who trade help across borders. The friendship is the whole point of the character. Leiter rarely gets a mission of his own, but he is the person Bond calls when a job needs American money, muscle or intelligence.

The film that shows the bond most clearly is Licence to Kill, where Bond is due to serve as best man at Leiter's wedding before the two help the DEA capture Franz Sanchez. When Sanchez's men go after Leiter, Bond treats it as a personal debt and keeps going even after M orders him to stop.

The relationship also changes with the actor. Early on, Leiter is mostly an ally who turns up where the plot needs him. Wright's version is closer to an equal, since in Casino Royale (2006) he is the one who keeps Bond in a game that would otherwise end. Bond sits across the table from Le Chiffre with Leiter's cash behind him.

Beyond Bond himself, Leiter is tied to Franz Sanchez in Licence to Kill, to Mathis in Quantum of Solace, and to Valdo Obruchev and Logan Ash in No Time to Die. For the lead character, see James Bond.

Is Felix good or bad in James Bond? He is good. He is on Bond's side in every film he appears in, and the harm in his story comes from the enemies around him, not from anything he does.

Yes, Felix Leiter dies in No Time to Die (2021), the last of Jeffrey Wright's three appearances in the role. Logan Ash, a colleague of Leiter's, reveals himself as a traitor, and Leiter is killed. That makes his death part of the final film of the Daniel Craig era, which closes that version of the character.

He came close to dying earlier. In Licence to Kill, Sanchez's men maim him and kill his bride, but he survives and is recovering when the film ends. In his other appearances he is alive when the film closes.

The release picture for his last film matters because the franchise is British. The UK premiere of No Time to Die is reported as 28 September 2021 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The UK release followed on 30 September 2021, and the US release came on 8 October 2021.

His status in the Craig continuity is therefore settled: Leiter is dead. Earlier actors played him in separate stories, and the unofficial Never Say Never Again sits outside the EON series altogether. For where the film sits in the sequence, see James Bond movies in order.

In my opinion, Jeffrey Wright is the best Felix Leiter. Licence to Kill gives the character his best material. That is a matter of taste, so here is the reasoning, moment by moment.

The Dr. No pickup is the cleanest example of the job. Bond and Honey Ryder escape Crab Key by boat, and Leiter and his forces collect them. It is a small beat, but it sets the rule that Leiter handles the extraction while Bond handles the fight.

The Licence to Kill wedding is the strongest use of the character across the series, in my view. David Hedison gets to play a friend rather than a contact, so when Sanchez's men maim him and kill his bride, Bond's revenge has a reason the audience can feel. It is the one film where Leiter's personal loss drives Bond's mission.

The Casino Royale (2006) poker stake is the neatest. Bond loses his money after Le Chiffre reads his tell, and Leiter puts up more, so the game stays alive. Wright plays it like a mechanic handing over the right part at the right moment, with no speech. That restraint is why he works so well across three films.

The No Time to Die request is the payoff. A retired Bond in Jamaica hears from Leiter again, and the story that follows ends with Leiter killed. Because Wright has played him since Casino Royale, the loss lands harder than it would with a one off actor.

Who is the best Felix Leiter? Wright for me, with Hedison a close second because of Licence to Kill. If you are new to the character, start with Licence to Kill for the friendship and Casino Royale for the modern take.