Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale)

Datastream Actor: Michael Lonsdale Character: Hugo Drax Movie: Moonraker Date of Birth: 24 May 1931 Height: 6' 1" (1.85m) Distinguishing Feature: Perfection obsession Status: Terminated Appearance: Tall average figure with blue eyes, clean cut black hair and well manicured beard. Organisations & Alliances: The Drax Corporation, Jaws, Chang Profile Debonair and charming, but with a sinister hostile edge, Drax revels in the lap of luxury and constantly seeks out the very finest in life. His estate stretches for miles across California and what he doesn't own he simply doesn't want. He enjoys the high life, the arts, 18th Century French architecture and classical music and often plays his grand piano. Behind the mast of highbrow sophistication is a short temper and a ruthless lust for perfection.

If any of his employees do not hold true to the highest standard of work they are instantly and brutally disposed of. Hugo Drax is a control freak and a ruthless businessman who will stop and nothing till his his life's goal is achieved. Even the conquest of space is not sufficient reward for Drax's megalomaniac tendencies - Drax wishes to control the fate of the entire human race.

“Allow me to introduce you to the airlock chamber. Observe, Mr Bond, your route from this world to the next. And the treacherous Dr Goodhead; your desire to become America's first woman in space will shortly be fulfilled.”

Scheme
Obsessed with the domination of the globe and indeed outer space, Drax selects a small army of the "finest" humans on earth. Being the head of huge company that manufactures space shuttles and other space exploration equipment, he uses his resources to build a huge space station to temporarily house the model humans of his master race. In a sick and twisted plot, Drax' scientists have developed a biological weapon that to be deployed from space, to wipe out human civilization, while his master race was lives and breeds on the space station. Drax expects 100% loyalty from the selected few and truly sees himself as a God - holding the fate of the human race in his hands.

"You have arrived at a propitious moment, considered to be your country's one indisputable contribution to Western Civilization: Afternoon tea. May I press you to a cucumber sandwich?"

I've Been Expecting You
James Bond is tasked with the investigation of the missing Moonraker shuttle - on loan from the US Space Administration and the Drax Corporation. Over afternoon tea, Hugo Drax assumes that Bond has come to apologise in person and a wisp of disdain crosses his calm persona when he finds Bond is tasked with a formal investigation. By the world, he is seen as a great businessman, a philanthropist and a genius. To Bond, he is a madman whose over-inflated ego now threatens the world.

Headquarters
Hugo Drax has all that money can buy - lavish cars, helicopters and even a private French Chateau, imported stone by stone from France. The Californian climate suited Drax and there he made his home and his production centre for the Moonraker space programme. With outposts from Venice to Rio, Drax can relocate to the various operation centers in order to carry out aspects of his manic plan. His plan to annihilate the inhabitants of Earth in favour of his own "super-race" is made possible by his space station based headquarters.

Gadgets & Vehicles In charge of 10 Moonraker space shuttles - the first of their kind in the world - Drax elects to fly to his space station in Moonraker 5, armed with a deadly laser. The space station itself is fortified against any attack and cloaked against radar. The authorities have no clue of its existence. "At least I shall have the pleasure of putting you out of my misery."

Dress Code
Formal and proper, Drax's dress sense reflects his taste for fine food, lavish architecture and formal civilisation. Mostly cut in black, with white trim, Drax's suits are impeccably tailored to his physique.

Goodbye, Mr Bond
With Drax's space station being blasted to bits by US Space Marines, Bond comes face to face with this manic villain for the last time. It is 007 who holds the ace up his sleeve and shoots a deadly dart from Q's latest contraption into Drax - before assisting him into the wrong side of his own airlock.

Biography
Michael Lonsdale (born Alfred de Turris) was born to an English father and French mother, in 1931 - Paris, France. He is renowned for being perfectly bilingual in both English and French and wins many a role with this skill. In the 1950's Lonsdale began winning roles in various French television and film productions. His career blossomed during the 1970's with a rush of French films, making a name for himself in the industry.

"Look after Mr. Bond... see that some harm comes to him."

It was in 1979 that Lonsdale came to Hollywood attention after performing in two Hollywood productions - J. Lee Thompson's war film, "The Passage" and the 11th James Bond production, "Moonraker" as the arch villain, Drax. With the success and popularity of "Moonraker" Lonsdale won roles in a variety of Hollywood productions including "Chariots of Fire", "Enigma", "Name of the Rose" and more recently Robert De Niro's "Ronin" and Steven Spielberg's "Munich". Despite the Hollywood break, Michael Lonsdale remains in high demand for many French productions as well as maintaining his Hollywood spotlight.