Oddjob
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- This article is about the James Bond henchman. For the graphic novel, see Oddjob (graphic novel).
Template:James Bond Character Oddjob is a henchman to the villain Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film and novel, Goldfinger. In the film he was played by the Japanese American actor Harold Sakata.
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Biography
Oddjob was silent and never said a word throughout the entire novel and film, although he is able to communicate via grunts and sign language. He is skilled in martial arts, specifically karate. His trademark weapon is a steel-brimmed bowler hat which he throws with deadly effect. In both the film and the novel, he is responsible for the death of Tilly Masterson, whom he decapitates by throwing his hat while she attempts to escape on foot.
The film
Oddjob is extremely strong, demonstrating his strength in a number of scenes, including one where he crushes a golf ball with his bare hand and was later struck with a thrown gold brick and barely flinched. He was outmanouevered when Bond threw his hat into some metal bars in the Fort Knox vault. When Oddjob reached to retrieve his hat, Bond used a severed live electrical cable to electrify the bars, causing a deadly current to run from the bars to the hat to Oddjob, killing him.
The novel
Oddjob, so named by Goldfinger, is Korean-born, and, much like in the film, he is extremely strong, proven in one sequence where he breaks the railing of a staircase with his hand and the mantle of a fireplace with his foot. He is a ruthless killer, but also acts as Goldinger's personal guard and manservant. He has a taste for cats as food, apparently acquired in Korea when food was in short supply. He has a cleft palate and thus cannot speak reasonably intelligible English, although he appears to understand it. He is killed when Bond shatters the window next to his seat on an airplane, which depressurises the plane and sucks Oddjob out of the window. (This fate is transferred to Auric Goldfinger in the film version).
Trivia
- In the film Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Oddjob is parodied by a character called Random Task, who throws his shoe as a weapon.