The first head of MI6 was a man named Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming. He famously signed all his correspondence in the agency with the letter 'C' in green ink. In the Fleming novels M stands for the character's last name, and I think his whole name is Sir Miles Messervy.
'M' is the codeword given to the head of MI-6. In the Fleming novels, 'M's name was finally revealed in 'The Man With The Golden Gun' as Sir Miles Messervy. When Raymond Benson wrote his Bond novels, 'M' was Barbara Mawdsley.
In the final novel of the series, The Man with the Golden Gun, M's full identity is revealed as Vice Admiral Sir Miles Messervy KCMG; Messervy had been appointed Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service after his predecessor had been assassinated at his desk.
In Ian Fleming's novels, M's real name is Vice Admiral Sir Miles Messervy KCMG; the name, hinted at throughout the series, was finally revealed in The Man with the Golden Gun, Fleming's final novel.
The M with the most confusing background is the one played by Judi Dench starting with GoldenEye in 1995 and ending with Skyfall in 2012. Judi Dench's casting was revolutionary in that she was James Bond's first female boss, something that is effectively touched upon on multiple occasions.
Judi Dench | How James Bond's Boss Lives and How She Spends Her Millions
What is M's real name?
Dench's M was never referred to by name on-screen. However, a prop from the final scene of 2012's Skyfall, where M bequeaths some of her possessions to Bond following her death, revealed that her character was given the name "Olivia Mansfield".
Owing to his elite status as a 00 agent, James Bond often interacts with the top brass of MI6, most notably M, the stern head of the organization as a whole, and Q, the humorless head of research and development.
Q (standing for quartermaster), like M, is a job title rather than a name. The use of letters as pseudonyms for senior officers in the British Secret Service was started by its first director, Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming (1859–1923), who signed himself with a C written in green ink.
I think when Bond introduces her to Kincade as “M”, Kincade must've heard this as “Em” which his why he then followed up with Emma. I think the name Olivia turns up in Spectre when Bond is watching the footage stored inside the bulldog ornament, her name is on the outside of the box her personal items were stored in.
What's the quote M reads for Bond's eulogy? "The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time."
Summary. Killing off Judi Dench's M in Skyfall was a bold move to revitalize the 007 franchise after Quantum of Solace's poor reception. Dench's departure was part of a plan to give Bond a new world with a new M, introducing major changes after the problematic previous film.
The first head of MI6 was a man named Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming. He famously signed all his correspondence in the agency with the letter 'C' in green ink. In the Fleming novels M stands for the character's last name, and I think his whole name is Sir Miles Messervy.
Dame Judi Dench, who has held the role of M in seven of the super-charged spy films based on the books by Ian Fleming, is the only woman to ever take on the part.
Fleming himself only mentions five 00 agents in all. According to Moonraker, James Bond is the most senior of three 00 agents; the two others were 008 and 0011. The three men share an office and a secretary named Loelia Ponsonby.
Despite all four versions of the character having a very intimate relationship with Bond, 007 and Moneypenny do not sleep together during any of the James Bond movies.
Silva, thought to be in Hong Kong, was M's son – adopted, possibly, but undeniably her son. (Why adopted? Because otherwise we can make no sense of M's comment to Bond that orphans make the best recruits.
1, Bernard Lee. He played 'M' in 11 films, from Dr. No all the way to Moonraker in 1979. However, before production started on For your eyes only, Bernard Lee passed away, and so, in tribute to him, the character of 'M' was said to be on leave.
Llewelyn, who played Q as Bond's antithesis, academic, serious, perplexed, monkishly rapt in his own technologies, had no percentage of the 16 Bond films he appeared in. He got a daily rate, at first only about £400, and was sometimes on the set for only three or four days.
Holding the record for most Bond films starred in, Roger Moore steps in for an impressive 12-year, 7-film streak as James Bond. Though the quality of the films he starred in greatly varies, Moore became a pill much easier for audiences and fans to swallow.
What does M stand for? M is the head of MI6 and stands for for "Missions" – to identify that the incumbent is the head of the Missions Department. M is not one character, but rather a role that has been held by various characters across the 25 films.
Such change was explicit for M in GoldenEye (1995), with Judi Dench's character referred to as a newcomer, and in Skyfall (2012), as Ralph Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory replaces Dench's character as M; it was explicit for Q in Die Another Day (2002), as John Cleese's character replaces Desmond Llewelyn's Q after ...
The latest actor to be rumored as the next 007 is “Kraven the Hunter” star Taylor-Johnson. According to the Sun, an inside source said "Bond is Aaron's job, should he wish to accept it. The formal offer is on the table and they are waiting to hear back."
