Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale)
![](../../images/stills/mr_8_280.jpg) |
|
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.
![](../../images/stills/moonraker_s_09_500.jpg)
"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.
![](../../images/stills/moonraker_s_10_280.jpg) |
|
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.
![](../../images/stills/moonraker_s_23_500.jpg)
"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.