Sir Frederick Gray

James Bond Character


bgcolor=#039
fgcolor=#fff
name=Sir Frederick Gray
portrayed=Geoffrey Keen
gender=Male
affiliation=Ministry of Defence
status=Retired
role=Bond Official/Ally

Sir Frederick Gray is a recurring fictional character in the James Bond films, portrayed by Geoffrey Keen. He appears in "The Spy Who Loved Me", "Moonraker", "For Your Eyes Only", "Octopussy", "A View to a Kill" and "The Living Daylights".

Film biography

Sir Frederick Gray is the Minister for Defence for the British government. He appears alongside Bond's boss M or in his own office. In "The Spy Who Loved Me" he is introduced at the submarine crisis. Bond obviously knows Gray, as they talk informally in private, with Bond calling him 'Freddie'. At the end of the film, Gray, along with General Gogol, M and Q, witness Bond and Anya Amasova under the sheets in an escape pod.

In "Moonraker", Gray is seen walking into a secret laboratory with M and Bond, all wearing gasmasks, but it is revealed embarrassingly to be nothing more than an ornamented office with Hugo Drax waiting inside to chide them. Gray – who after this angrily tells M, "Your man should be taken off the case!" – is again present at the end of the film to witness Bond under the sheets, this time in space with Holly Goodhead.

In "For Your Eyes Only", Gray is seen alongside the Chief of Staff Bill Tanner, trying to find out what happened to the spy ship "St. Georges". Once again, at the end of the film Gray is embarrassed, this time by linking the Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with Max the Parrot instead of 007, whom he accuses of having gone mad.

In "Octopussy", Gray suggests that Bond go with Jim Fanning, the art expert to see the auction of a Fabergé egg. Gray is seen at the end of the film celebrating with General Gogol and M.

In "A View to a Kill", the Minister is seen talking with Bond and M about Max Zorin and microchips. At the end, Gray is once again seen celebrating (though they think Bond may be dead) with M and Gogol in the former's office, this time about 007 preventing Silicon Valley from being destroyed.

In the final film that Gray appears in, "The Living Daylights", he is seen with M, Bond and General Georgi Koskov at the Bladen safe house – this is Koskov's debriefing following his supposed defection. Later, Gray proclaims, "We're the laughing stock of the intelligence community!" when Koskov is apparently kidnapped. Reference is made to his having to explain all this to the PM: "She'll have our guts for garters!"

Frederick Gray is depicted as Minister for Defence in all these films, despite there having been a change of government in the UK (from Labour to Conservative) in 1979, two years after his first appearance.