Francisco Scaramanga is a fictional character and the main

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

and

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

version of '' The Man with the Golden Gun''. Scaramanga is an assassin who kills with his signature weapon, a pistol made of solid gold. In the novel, the character is nicknamed "Pistols" Scaramanga is also called "Paco" (a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

of Francisco). In the film, the character was played by

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee became known as an actor with a deep and commanding voice who often portrayed villains in horr ...

(the real-life step-cousin of James Bond creator

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

). As with another of James Bond's nemeses,

Ernst Stavro Blofeld Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional supervillain in the ''James Bond'' series of novels and films, created by Ian Fleming. A criminal mastermind with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of British MI6 agent James Bond. Blofel ...

, in 2007 the

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

reported that the inspiration for this fictional character was a classmate of Fleming's, at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

in the 1920s, George Ambrosios (Ambrose) Scaramanga.

Novel biography

Francisco Scaramanga, of

(

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

) origin, became a trick shot while a youngster, and he performed in a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

owned by his father Enrico. Francisco also cared for one of the circus

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

s, which he stated was his only real friend. When the elephant went on a rampage during the circus visit to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, Scaramanga witnessed a

policeman A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of ...

kill it. The enraged boy, who was 16 at the time, retaliated by shooting the policeman through the eye. He then made his way to the United States from

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, where he found employment as an enforcer for the Spangled Mob, an

outfit Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of ma ...

that plays a role in two other Bond novels: '' Diamonds Are Forever'' (where they were the main foe of Agent 007) and '' Goldfinger'' as an accomplice to

Auric Goldfinger Auric Goldfinger is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Ian Fleming's 1959 seventh ''James Bond'' novel, '' Goldfinger'', and the 1964 film it inspired (the third in the ''James Bond'' series). His first name, Auric, is an adjective ...

's Operation Grandslam. He posed as a pitboy at the

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

of Tiara Hotel in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, while in fact he was

executioner An executioner, also known as a hangman or headsman, is an official who effects a sentence of capital punishment on a condemned person. Scope and job The executioner was usually presented with a warrant authorizing or ordering him to ...

of cheats and other transgressors within and outside the gang. In 1958, he was forced to emigrate from the US because of his gun duel with Ramon "The Rod" Rodriguez, his opposite from

the Purple Gang The Purple Gang, also known as the Sugar House Gang, was a criminal mob of bootleggers and hijackers composed predominantly of Jewish gangsters. They operated in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1920s of the Prohibition era and came to be Detro ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

(also featured in the novel ''Goldfinger''), in which he killed Ramon, earning $100,000. He spent some time travelling the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

as a representative of Las Vegas interests in real estate and plantation dealing, later switching to

Rafael Trujillo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( ; ; 24 October 1891 – 30 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (; "the boss"), was a Dominican military officer and dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until Rafael Trujillo#Assassination, ...

of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

and

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

where he settled in 1959, in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

's party, becoming an "enforcer" for DSS after the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

. By the time Bond finally encounters him in '' The Man with the Golden Gun'', Scaramanga works as a freelance assassin, often working for Castro's

secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

, in addition to being engaged in other criminal enterprises such as drug-running into the United States in partnership with the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

has evaluated Scaramanga as one of the finest shots in the world, and M authorizes Bond to assassinate the gunman—if he can. Bond catches up with Scaramanga in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, where Bond pretends to be a freelance security officer named Mark Hazard and Scaramanga hires him to guard an upcoming meeting of gangsters. During the meeting, a Dutch-born KGB officer named Hendriks reveals Bond's identity, resulting in a shootout between Scaramanga and Bond. Bond wounds him, but before Bond can kill Scaramanaga, Scaramanga shoots Bond with a poisoned bullet from his backup weapon, a golden

derringer A derringer or deringer is a small handgun that is neither a revolver, semi-automatic pistol, nor machine pistol. It is not to be confused with mini-revolvers or pocket pistols, although some later derringers were manufactured with the pepp ...

. Bond returns fire with his .32

Walther PPK The Walther PP (, or police pistol) series pistols are blowback-operated semi-automatic pistols, developed by the German arms manufacturer Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen. Design The Walther PP series feature an exposed hammer, a double-action ...

pistol, killing Scaramanga instantly; soon thereafter, a policeman finds the nearly dead Bond in time to save him. In the 1965 novel,

British intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intell ...

also has an in-depth psychological profile of Scaramanga, which is printed in the book before the mission begins. He is tall, slim and fit. He is about 35 years old and has light brown eyes. His hair is reddish in a crew-cut with long sideburns. The profile (read by M) also delves into his background and

psyche Psyche (''Psyché'' in French) is the Greek term for "soul" ( ψυχή). Psyche or La Psyché may also refer to: Psychology * Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious * ''Psyche'', an 1846 book about the unc ...

. Among other things, the profile claims that Scaramanga might be a latent homosexual, since he cannot whistle—based on the popular (but unfounded) theory that a man who cannot whistle has homosexual tendencies.

Film biography

In the 1974 feature film '' The Man with the Golden Gun'', Scaramanga (

) is a high-priced

assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

, supposedly the best in the world, charging US$1 million per kill. He is best known for being "the man with the Golden Gun", for using only bullets made of gold in a custom 4.2 mm cartridge with a disassemblable golden handgun made of a gold

cigarette case A cigarette case (sometimes called a cigarette tin) is a sturdy container used to store small numbers of cigarettes and prevent them from being crushed. A typical cigarette case is a flat box (commonly made of metal) that opens symmetrically int ...

, gold

cigarette lighter An automobile auxiliary power outlet (also known as car cigarette lighter or auxiliary power outlet) in an automobile was initially designed to power an electrically heated Lighter, cigarette lighter,LifeWire.com article''“From Car Cigarett ...

, gold

fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument that uses a metal nib (pen), nib to apply Fountain pen ink, water-based ink, or special pigment ink—suitable for fountain pens—to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal r ...

and gold

cufflink Cufflinks are items of jewelry that are used to secure the cuffs of dress shirts. Cufflinks can be manufactured from a variety of different materials, such as glass, stone, leather, metal, precious metal or combinations of these. Securing o ...

as the gun's trigger. All of Scaramanga's assassination contracts are arranged through his henchman Nick Nack (

Hervé Villechaize Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (; April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993) was a French actor. He is best known for his roles as the evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film '' The Man with the Golden Gun'' and as Mr. Roarke's assistant ...

), which allows Scaramanga to be anonymous. His specialized ammunition is made by a custom gunsmith in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

, who provides for its delivery to Scaramanga's lover, Andrea Anders (

Maud Adams Maud Solveig Christina Adams (née Wikström; 12 February 1945) is a Swedish actress and model, best known for her roles as two different Bond girls, first in '' The Man with the Golden Gun'' (1974) and then as the title character in ''Octopus ...

), at a casino in Hong Kong. He also speaks in a British accent as opposed to his American one from the novel. Francisco Scaramanga was a British national born in a travelling circus. His father was the ringmaster, a former Cuban national and his mother was the

snake charmer Snake charming is the practice of appearing to hypnotize a snake (often a cobra) by playing and waving around an instrument called a pungi. A typical performance may also include handling the snakes or performing other seemingly dangerous ...

. By age 10, Francisco was part of the circus as a trick-shot pistol marksman. At age 15, he became an international assassin-for-hire. He was recruited some years later by the KGB while living in

Ipanema Ipanema () is a neighbourhood located in the South Zone (Rio de Janeiro), South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, Leblon and Arpoador. The beach at Ipanema became known internationally with the populari ...

, in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

; and trained in Eastern Europe where for many years he was basically just another "overworked and underpaid assassin" for the KGB. He quit the KGB in the late 1950s, becoming an independent hitman-for hire. No photographs of him exist, but he has an unusual anatomy: a

third nipple Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

. This information later comes in handy to James Bond (

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the actor to portray Ian Fleming's fictional secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in the Eon Productions/MGM Studios film series, playing the ...

), who uses Scaramanga's anonymity and only known physical feature to get into contact with Scaramanga's current employer, the crime lord Hai Fat (

Richard Loo Richard Loo (October 1, 1903 – November 20, 1983) was an American film actor who was one of the most familiar Asian character actors in American films of the 1930s and 1940s. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1982. Early lif ...

), though Scaramanga is already at Hai Fat's estate, and Hai Fat quickly guesses who Bond really is. Later in the film, Scaramanga reveals to Bond that as a boy living in the travelling circus, he shot and killed an abusive animal trainer for killing an elephant that he had befriended—and discovered that he "enjoyed killing people". Scaramanga also demonstrates his marksmanship to Bond by using a

Colt Single Action Army The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a Trigger (firearms)#Single-action, single-action revolver handgun. It was designed for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's Patent Fi ...

to shoot the cork off a bottle of champagne from long range (Scaramanga's Golden Gun in the novel is a gold-plated Single Action Army), later dismissing it as a toy. Scaramanga lives very well, drawing from the exorbitant sums of money he charges to carry out his assassinations. His home is on his own personal island somewhere off the coast of southeastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

—paying for lease of the island and protection through assassinations ('favours') for the Chinese. Despite his assertion that "science was never isstrong point," the island utilizes many aspects of modern technology, including its own self-sufficient

solar power Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to c ...

plant. In addition to the power plant, Scaramanga's home also includes a section which is something between a labyrinth and a

funhouse A funhouse or fun house is an attraction found in amusement parks and funfair midways, equipped with various devices designed to surprise, challenge, or amuse visitors. Unlike thrill rides or dark rides, fun houses are participatory attractio ...

, where Scaramanga and his foes duel to the death. Nick Nack hires assassins to kill Scaramanga as a challenge to keep him sharp; moreover Nick Nack will also inherit Scaramanga's entire fortune should one of the assassins succeed. Scaramanga is well aware of and approves of Nick Nack's efforts, and wishes him better luck next time when his hired guns fail. In addition, Scaramanga also has a private

junk Junk may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junk'' (film), a 2000 Japanese horror film * '' J-U-N-K'', a 1920 American film * ''Junk'' (novel), by Melvin Burgess, 1996 * ''Junk'', a novel by Christopher Largen * '' Junk: Record of the Last ...

, which Bond later steals to exit the exploding island. Scaramanga also uses some of his wealth to finance research and development of technologies that rival those developed by MI6's Q Branch. Such technologies include a car that transforms into an aircraft and a solar-powered

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

cannon. Scaramanga was hired by Hai-Fat to assassinate a British scientist named Dan Gibson (Gordon Everett), thought to be in possession of solar energy information and technology crucial to solving the

energy crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant Bottleneck (production), bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particu ...

. Gibson is assassinated and his invention, the solex agitator, is stolen from the crime scene by Nick Nack. The solex agitator is a critical component of Gibson's solar energy device. However, instead of turning the device over to Hai Fat, Scaramanga instead kills Hai Fat with his Golden Gun and takes the device and Hai Fat's company for himself. With it in his possession, it allows for him to sell the device to the highest criminal bidder or use it to power his personal solar energy cannon. Scaramanga also desires to test his skills against Bond, whom he regards as his only worthy rival. Besides the profit and/or power the solex agitator can give him, Scaramanga's scheme in acquiring the device is also intended to lure Bond to Scaramanga's private island so that the two of them can engage in one final, decisive duel. Although Bond is using his six-bullet .380

pistol while Scaramanga uses the Golden Gun, Scaramanga states that " eonly need one"—Bond's superior number of bullets being offset by Scaramanga's advantages of fighting on his own ground. After taking Bond's fellow MI6 agent Mary Goodnight ( Britt Eklund) hostage, Scaramanga lures Bond to his private island, where he reveals his plan and challenges Bond to a duel in his funhouse, after a tense discussion where Scaramanga told Bond they were "the same", enraging Bond to the point where he admitted to Scaramanga that "killing you would be a pleasure". Once in the funhouse, Bond takes the place of a

mannequin A mannequin (sometimes spelled as manikin and also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off dif ...

"James Bond" and tricks Scaramanga into revealing his position to look for Bond with his pistol drawn. Bond shoots Scaramanga in the heart, killing him, while Goodnight inadvertently sabotages the solar power plant which causes the destruction of the island.

Henchmen

* Nick Nack * Kra (

Sonny Caldinez Sonny Caldinez (1 July 1932 – 12 April 2022) was a Trinidadian actor and professional wrestler. He was often cast in television and films for his great height and muscular physique. Caldinez appeared as various Ice Warriors on the British p ...

) * Andrea Anders

Hit list

This is the death toll caused by Scaramanga in the film. * Rodney (

Marc Lawrence Marc Lawrence (born Max Goldsmith; February 17, 1910 – November 28, 2005) was an American character actor who specialized in underworld types. He has also been credited as F. A. Foss, Marc Laurence and Marc C. Lawrence. Early life Lawrence w ...

), arguably the same Slumber Inc. employee from '' Diamonds Are Forever'' * Dan Gibson, inventor of the solex agitator * Hai Fat * Andrea Anders In addition, Scaramanga is revealed to have been behind the murder of Bill Fairbanks, MI6 Agent 002, in 1969.

The Golden Gun

's novel, the Golden Gun was a long-barrelled, gold-plated, single-action

Colt Peacemaker The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a single-action revolver handgun. It was designed for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company (toda ...

.45 calibre

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

that fired silver-jacketed bullets with a solid gold core and a cross-cut tip for additional wounding due to the dum-dum effect. However, in the film, it was a single-shot weapon that fired a custom-made dum-dum bullet made of 23-carat gold with traces of

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

, which Scaramanga carried on his belt buckle. The movie gun could be disassembled and its components disguised as a fountain pen (the barrel), a cigarette lighter (breech), cuff-link (trigger), and a cigarette case (the grip), all

gold plated Gold plating is a method of depositing a thin layer of gold onto the surface of another metal, most often copper or silver (to make silver-gilt), by a chemical or electrochemical (electroplating) process. Plating refers to modern coating meth ...

. Scaramanga also utilizes a gun similar to his novel counterpart's when he meets with Bond at his island. He uses it to shoot a champagne cork off the bottle, but insists that it was "merely a toy". Scaramanga used the Golden Gun in numerous assassinations of officials, political enemies, gangsters, and a 00-agent, Bill Fairbanks (002). Scaramanga later used the Golden Gun to kill British scientist Gibson and Scaramanga's own employer, Hai Fat. But, when Scaramanga was killed and his island destroyed, the Golden Gun was presumably also lost. The Golden Gun ranked sixth in a 2008

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...

poll of the most popular film weapons, which surveyed approximately two thousand film fans. In October 2008, the Golden Gun was stolen from the company Elstree Props which is based in

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. At the time, the prop was estimated to be worth £80,000.

Video games

Francisco Scaramanga is a playable character in the multiplayer portions of the 2003 game '' 007: Nightfire'' and the 2010 game '' GoldenEye 007''. In the original ''GoldenEye 007'' game, Scaramanga's weapon, the Golden Gun, was initially added to the "Egyptian" level and

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

portion of the game. It is said in the briefing for the "Egyptian" mission that the Golden Gun was stolen from Scaramanga by Baron Samedi. Also, the multiplayer-only fan remake '' GoldenEye: Source'' features the weapon as well. Due to its popularity it was also added into subsequent James Bond games ''

The World is Not Enough ''The World Is Not Enough'' is a 1999 spy film, the nineteenth in the List of James Bond films, ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional Secret Intelligence Service, MI6 agent Jam ...

'', '' James Bond 007: Agent Under Fire'', '' 007: Nightfire'', '' James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing'', '' GoldenEye: Rogue Agent'', '' From Russia With Love'', '' 007: Quantum of Solace'', '' GoldenEye 007'' and ''

007 Legends ''007 Legends'' is a first-person shooter video game featuring the character of British secret agent James Bond. It was developed by Eurocom and first released by Activision in October 2012 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, with Microsoft Windows ...

''. In ''The World is Not Enough'' for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...

, the gun must be assembled from the pen, lighter, and case before it could be used. In each of the games (except ''Everything or Nothing''), the Golden Gun would count for an instant kill, which reflected that Scaramanga never missed, although in the games the player can and because of this, the Golden Gun is not available in single player mode (except ''Everything or Nothing'') but golden versions of the game's standard weapon(s) are usually available (such as a golden Walther PPK, P99, and a golden rocket launcher). In ''GoldenEye'', the Golden Gun appears in a special mission. In the mission, the Golden Gun is stolen by Baron Samedi, and Bond needs to defeat Samedi and recover the Golden Gun. Although Samedi is not killed (referencing '' Live and Let Die''), Bond escapes with the Golden Gun. Other variants of the Golden Gun also exist, such as the Golden PP7 and the Silver PP7. The Golden Gun also appears in the ''Quantum of Solace'' video game; in a notable deviation from its typical depiction, this Golden Gun is a gold-plated revolver like the gun from the novel, albeit based on a

Smith & Wesson Model 686 The Smith & Wesson Model 686 is a six- or seven-shot double-action revolver manufactured by Smith & Wesson and chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge; it will also chamber and fire .38 Special cartridges. Smith & Wesson introduced the Model 6 ...

as opposed to a

. ''

Perfect Dark ''Perfect Dark'' is a 2000 first-person shooter developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The first game of the '' Perfect Dark'' series, it follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute research centre, as she attempts ...

'', made by ''GoldenEye'' developer Rareware, also featured a Golden Gun which would count for an instant kill, this time a customized

Colt Python The Colt Python is a double action/single action revolver chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge. It was first introduced in 1955 by the Colt's Manufacturing Company. Dougherty, Martin ''Small Arms: From the Civil War to the Present Day'', Ne ...

revolver belonging to

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

boss Trent Easton. Francisco Scaramanga returned for the game '' GoldenEye: Rogue Agent'' voiced by Christopher Lee. In the game, he is an ally of

(voiced by

Enn Reitel Enn Reitel (born 21 June 1950) is a Scottish actor who specialises in voice work in films, television series and video games. Early life Reitel's family arrived in Scotland as refugees from Estonia. He trained as an actor at the Central Sch ...

). He is the manufacturer of the synthetic eye given to the player (GoldenEye) and makes a virus used against Goldfinger's O.M.E.N. device. The game also features a Multiplayer "Funhouse" level, including the traps that caused Bond to lose most of his bullets such as

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone ( ; ; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American organized crime, gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-foun ...

and cowboy mannequins and an image of Scaramanga. In addition, the level includes a Bond mannequin, whose gun the player can take and use.

Reception

Francisco Scaramanga was listed at number five in UGO's list of the Top 11 Classy Assassins. Chris Nashawaty of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' argues that Scaramanga is the best villain of the Roger Moore James Bond films.

In genetics

A gene linked to the cause of supernumerary nipples in animals is named the "Scaramanga gene".

References

Works cited

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Louis Jourdan Louis Jourdan (born Louis Robert Gendre; 19 June 1921 – 14 February 2015) was a French film and television actor. He was known for his suave roles in several Hollywood films, including Alfred Hitchcock's '' The Paradine Case'' (1947), '' Let ...

, style="width:44%; text-align:center;", Oldest living Bond villain actor
Played by

February 14 – June 7, 2015 , style="width:28%; text-align:center;", Succeeded by

Michael Lonsdale Michael Edward Lonsdale Crouch (24 May 1931 – 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes as Michel Lonsdale, was a French-British actor and author who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is often ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scaramanga, Francisco Literary characters introduced in 1965 Characters in British novels of the 20th century Fictional characters from the 20th century Bond villains Fictional assassins Fictional gunfighters Male literary villains Male film villains The Man with the Golden Gun (film) Fictional Catalan people Fictional circus performers Action film villains Film supervillains Fictional gentleman detectives