The organisation's third appearance is in On Her Majesty's Secret Service where Blofeld, hired by an unnamed country or party ( though the Soviet Union is implied ) is executing a plan to ruin British agriculture.

The goal of world domination was only ever stated in You Only Live Twice, and SPECTRE was working not for itself but for an unnamed Asian government whose two representatives Blofeld speaks to during the movie ; perhaps Red China, who earlier backed Goldfinger.

Some of his most memorable film roles include knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal ( the first of his eleven films with Bergman, and the film that includes the iconic scenes in which he plays chess with Death ), Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told, Oktober in The Quiller Memorandum, Father Merrin in The Exorcist, Karl Oskar in The Emigrants, Joubert the assassin in Three Days of the Condor, Ming the Merciless in the 1980 version of Flash Gordon, the villain Blofeld in Never Say Never Again, Frederick in Hannah and Her Sisters, and Lassefar in Pelle the Conqueror, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination.

Its long-term strategy, however, is illustrated by the analogy of the three Siamese fighting fish Blofeld keeps in an aquarium in the film version of From Russia with Love.

The film adaptation of From Russia with Love also features the first on-screen appearance of Blofeld, although he is only identified by name in the closing credits of the film.

The film retells the story of Thunderball and reintroduces both SPECTRE and Blofeld.

Rohmer's work had a strong influence on Ian Fleming, whose James Bond novels and their film adaptations further popularized the image in popular culture, like Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

In the film series Blofeld first appears in From Russia with Love, then in Thunderball.

Equipped with a shiny bald head and a quiet but intense voice to go with his trademark penetrating gaze, he specialised in portraying insane or evil characters, including the violent alcoholic Doc Tydon in Wake in Fright ( 1971 ), the mad Doctor in the Bud Spencer-Terence Hill film Watch Out, We're Mad ( 1974 ), Heinrich Himmler in The Eagle Has Landed ( 1976 ), and the Bond arch-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in You Only Live Twice ( 1967 ), the first film in which the villain's face is clearly seen.

His other movie credits include The Young Savages ( 1961 ), The Greatest Story Ever Told ( 1965 ), Battle of the Bulge ( 1965 ), The Dirty Dozen ( 1967 ), The Scalphunters ( 1968 ), supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service ( 1969 ), Kelly's Heroes ( 1970 ), Pretty Maids All in a Row ( 1971 ), Inside Out ( 1975 ), and Escape to Athena ( 1979 ).

An example of this perception of piranhas in media appears in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice, where a piece of meat is shown being fed to pet piranhas owned by the film's main antagonist, Blofeld, then only a bone is raised from the water.

Even so, the character of Blofeld was present in the previous film, You Only Live Twice, had he and Bond had met: this previous meeting was ignored for the plot of On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Through the same route came Max von Sydow as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, although he still retained his Eon-originated white cat in the film.

* Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp, a pseudonym of the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service and the film of the same name

In the film, Bond's cover at the clinic is blown after he is caught seducing women, but he manages to escape the complex by skiing down the mountain sides despite the attempts of Blofeld and his men to kill him.

No also appeared in the video game GoldenEye: Rogue Agent, despite his death in the book and film, alongside fellow Bond enemies Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Auric Goldfinger, Francisco Scaramanga, and Xenia Onatopp.

At one point the villain of the film was to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld and his organization SPECTRE ; however, this was changed to avoid a possible lawsuit over the rights to this character, which originated from the novel Thunderball.

The extensive use of trick gadgets in Alphonse's hairdressing salon ( used to communicate with the gang's mastermind ) spoofs the secret gadgets used in the James Bond spy films of the Sixties, while the gimmick of having the mastermind conceal his identity throughout the film ( he is never seen on screen ) spoofs the character of Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who was originally only an unseen voice.

* In the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball, Ernst Stavro Blofeld in a disguised voice sends an ultimatum to NATO demanding that they pay SPECTRE a ransom of white flawless diamonds worth £ 100 million to be deposited in the Mergui Archipelago off the coast of Burma.

In the film, Klebb is depicted as a former SMERSH agent who has defected to become a member of SPECTRE ( Blofeld refers to her as " No. 3 ").

He also played the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the cold open of the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, going uncredited due to the controversy over the film rights and characters of Thunderball.

This film was notable for the villain Shakaal ( portrayed by Kulbhushan Kharbanda ) who was inspired by the James Bond villain Blofeld.

Blofeld in You Only Live Twice ( Donald Pleasence ), On Her Majesty ’ s Secret Service ( Telly Savalas ), Diamonds are Forever ( Charles Gray ) and Never Say Never Again ( Max Von Sydow ).

Blofeld ’ s appearance and personality change according to the personifying actor:

; Anthony Dawson — Alpha: Anthony Dawson played two roles in the James Bond films, the first being Professor Dent in Dr. No. He later took on the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in both From Russia with Love and Thunderball, but only Dawson ’ s hands were seen in these films.

The pair marry at the end of the story but Blofeld kills Bond's wife hours after the ceremony.

* John Blofeld: Bodhisattva of Compassion.

Evil from the spy spoof " Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery " has a cat named Mr. Bigglesworth styled after the Persian cat affected by the James Bond villain Blofeld.

Led by evil genius and supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the organisation first formally appeared in the novel Thunderball ( 1961 ) and in the movie Dr. No ( 1962 ).

In Ian Fleming's novels, SPECTRE is a commercial enterprise led by Blofeld.

Blofeld, with a weakened SPECTRE would appear for the final time in You Only Live Twice.

Blofeld notes that one fish is refraining from fighting two others until their fight is concluded.

Furthermore, to heighten the impact of the executions, Blofeld often chooses to focus attention on an innocent member, making it appear his death is imminent, only to suddenly strike down the actual target when that person is off guard.

SPECTRE is headed by the supervillain Ernst Stavro Blofeld who usually appears accompanied by a white Persian cat in the movies, but not in the books.

It is stated in the novel that if something were to happen to Blofeld, Largo would assume command.

Blofeld was the chairman and leader because he founded the organisation, and Largo was elected by the cabinet to be second in command.

In the novel, SPECTRE, headed by Blofeld, attempts to conduct nuclear blackmail against NATO.

In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the second chapter of what is known as the " Blofeld Trilogy ", Blofeld has revived SPECTRE, and Blofeld's final appearance, sans SPECTRE, is in the final novel of the trilogy, You Only Live Twice.

Following Diamonds Are Forever, SPECTRE and Blofeld were retired from the Eon Films series, except for a cameo by Blofeld ( not identified by name, but accompanied by the character's trademark cat ) in For Your Eyes Only.

Although SPECTRE and Blofeld are used in a number of films before and after Thunderball, the issue over the copyright of Thunderball did prevent SPECTRE and Blofeld from becoming the main villains in 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me.

As a punishment, Blofeld electrocuted Borraud and returned half of the ransom money to the girl's father as compensation.