With the death of Felix Leiter in the latest James Bond movie, No Time To Die, it's safe to say that almost every 007 picture has its sacrificial lamb. This is one of the common tropes of the series where an ally or a love interest who Bond has been with is killed, usually as a way for the villain's to send Bond a threat. It is also one that makes the audience hate the villain too.
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These deaths are often quite painful as they are usually involve a character that the audience has come to love throughout the film. While audiences experiences the death of Bond himself in No Time To Die, many of his ally's deaths hit even harder.
Sir Godfrey Tibbett
Patrick MacNee portrayed Bond's ally Sir Godfrey Tibbet in 1985's A View to a Kill. According to the film's behind-the-scenes DVD featurette, MacNee and Roger Moore became friends while they were filming The Avengers and The Saint, respectively, at Elstree Studios.
Tibbet was assigned to help Bond because of his expertise in horses. The actor's real life friendship shown through as they had tremendous chemistry together. Tibbet was such a loveable character and didn't deserve the brutal fate of being strangled by Mayday from his car's backseat while going through a carwash.
Quarrel
The very first foreign Bond ally seen on screen, Quarrel was a Caribbean fisherman who assisted John Strangways in his mission to search the small islands near Jamaica in regards to the radio interference of Cape Canaveral rockets. After Strangways is killed, Quarrel helped Bond and CIA Agent Felix Leiter to solve the mystery.
A charming character in his own way, Quarrel was a heavy drinker of rum and was afraid of Crab Key's alleged dragon. However, he proved to be exceptionally brave as he had no qualms about traveling with Bond to the island. Unfortunately, it was that very 'dragon,' in fact a motorized vehicle, which killed Quarrel with its flame thrower. To solve a continuity issue, he was given a son named Quarrel Jr. in Live and Let Die.
Ali Kerim Bey
Pedro Armendáriz portrayed the wealthy rug merchant Ali Kerim Bey, who was MI6's agent in Istanbul. Kerim had many sons, who were all his key employees. He assisted Bond in his mission regarding Tatiana Romanova's defection and the seizing of a lektor decoding machine. He then took Bond to an allied Romani camp, where two memorable action scenes took place.
Kerim was extremely loyal to his friends and accompanied Bond and Romanova on the Orient Express after they got the lektor. He was killed by Red Grant off screen and seeing Bond discover his body was a real gut-wrencher. Armendáriz' soon died of Cancer, but his son, Pedro Jr, appeared in the 1989 Bond picture Licence to Kill as the President of Isthmus.
Jill Masterson
When Bond suspects Auric Goldfinger is cheating at cards, he suspects foul play and discovers bikini-clad Jill Masterson on Goldfinger's balcony, communicating to the villain about his opponent's hand. However, Bond humiliates Goldfinger and has a rendezvous with Masterson.
Later, Bond is knocked out and wakes to discover Masterson covered in gold paint, her death caused by "skin suffocation." It is one of the all time iconic moments of the Bond film but certainly a brutal way to die.
Della Churchill Leiter
David Hedison was brought back as Felix Leiter in Licence to Kill, where he was wed to Della Churchill (played by Priscilla Barnes). It was a fabulous wedding, with Bond and Leiter parachuting in and a festive afterparty followed at their home.
But the goons of the recently arrested Franz Sanchez broke into the house that evening and captured Felix. Bond later found the haunting sight of Della murdered in her wedding dress. In addition, he found the barely alive Felix who had been partially fed to a shark. For these and other reasons, Licence to Kill is considered the darkest and most violent Bond film.
Saunders
Saunders was a MI6 agent stationed in central Europe. He was very by the book and chastised Bond for going against mission orders. And yet, there was something so likeable about him. Thomas Wheatley gave a nuanced performance in what was one of only a few feature films he ever did.
Saunders was given the catch phrase "This is highly irregular," which he says several times throughout The Living Daylights. He is crushed by a sliding glass door by assassin Necros and it's one that really stings.
Vijay
Vijay Amritraj was a real life Indian tennis star in the 1970s and '80s. He was given his first ever film role in 1983's Roger Moore Bond picture Octopussy as an MI6 operative stationed in India, also named Vijay. The film even slipped a reference to this when he used a tennis racket to fight an attacker and Bond asks him what he learned playing tennis against villain Kamal Kahn, to which he answers "well, my backhand's improved."
He brought a terrifically likable quality to the film. In his first scene of the film, he makes with Bond by playing the familiar James Bond theme on a flute, the only time the song is used diagetically in the series. Sadly he is also killed off as his gut-wrenching death came at the hands of a yo-yo saw flinging henchman.
Vesper Lynn
The first ever Bond girl in novel that started it all in 1953, Vesper finally made it to the film franchise with 2006's tremendous chemistry with first time Bond Daniel Craig. Even from her first scene, she challenges Bond and sets up an unforgettable character arc through the film.
The two later fall in love and Bond decides to return from the service. Little did he know that Vesper was a blackmailed double agent controlled by SPECTRE. After she betrays Bond, she allows herself to drown. The entire sequence is unforgettable and emotionally impactful, and it's something Bond never got over.
Tracy Bond
Bond rescued the troubled and unruly Tracy from drowning in the opening scene of 1969's On Her Majesties Secret Service. Her father, Marc-Ange Draco, who was head of the Unione Corse crime syndicate, suggests Bond marry her in return for information about Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Tracy forces her father to give Bond the information, but the two soon develop a genuine romance during a montage set to Louie Armstrong's "We Have All The Time In The World." She helps Bond escape from Blofeld's agents in Switzerland, after which Bond and Draco return to save her. She marries Bond at the end of the film but is gunned down by Blofeld in one of James Bond's all-time heartbreaking moments.
Felix Leiter
Felix is Bond's most trusted ally, having appeared in nearly a dozen films and been portrayed by many different actors. After a long absence, he returned to the series in 2006's Casino Royale. He was portrayed by award-winning actor Jeffrey Wright and is arguably the best Felix ever.
He would return in Quantum of Solace and No Time to Die. In the latter of these, he and fellow CIA agent Logan Ash recruit Bond for a snatch-and-grab mission in Cuba. After Bond delivers the target, Ash is revealed to be a SPECTRE agent and shoots Leiter. Trapped in the flooding ship, Felix succumbs to his injury and drifts off into the deep. His death may just be the most painful moment in the entire franchise and was even more effective that Bond's own death in the same film.
