Felix Leiter

CIA agent, later private investigator

Texan CIA agent Felix Leiter is an ally and friend to Bond in six of Ian Fleming’s classic 007 adventures, appearing through the continuation series and featuring in his own story, The Hook and the Eye.

Formerly in the US Marine Corps working with NATO’s Joint Intelligence Staff, Felix is tall with a bony, lightweight frame, sandy blonde hair, grey feline eyes, sharp cheekbones and wide, wry mouth. The agent has a prosthetic leg and a prosthetic hook replacing his hand after being mauled by a shark at Mr Big’s Florida base in Live and Let Die. After losing his leg and hand, Felix is let go by the CIA and moves to Pinkerton’s Detective Agency in New York as a private investigator. Often called back to help the CIA, the longtime jazz lover smokes Chesterfield cigarettes and has one daughter named Cedar, a CIA officer who appears in For Special Services, and a nephew named Brig, who appears in Solo.

DID YOU KNOW?

Felix’s name is possibly a hybrid of ideas borrowed from some of Fleming’s friends. Felix is one of the middle names of longtime friend, Ivar Bryce, while his surname comes from Tommy and Marion “Oatsie” Leiter.