Jack Wade is a fictional character in Pierce Brosnan's first two James Bond films. Wade is 007's CIA contact, taking over the role of Felix Leiter after the events in the 1989 film Licence to Kill. Wade is played by Joe Don Baker.
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Joe Don Baker plays Wade very close to the Ugly American stereotype, acting as a memorable and effective foil to the ultra-suave Bond. This should not imply that Wade is any less effective than his predecessor, Felix Leiter. So far Wade has been just as helpful - and just as willing to bend the rules - as Bond's original contact was.
The character of Wade is similar to that of CIA agent Darius Jedburgh, played by Baker in the 1985 BBC Television serial Edge of Darkness. This serial was directed by Martin Campbell, who also cast Baker as Wade in GoldenEye.
In GoldenEye, Bond meets Wade by using a stereotypical passphrase, "In London April's a spring month", but Wade makes a wisecrack instead of what he's supposed to say. One of the funnier quirks of Wade's character was the nicknames he would give to Bond, including "Jimmy" and "Jimbo". He also has a tattoo of a rose from his first marriage that says "Muffy".
Baker had previously played a villain, "General" Brad Whitaker, in the first Timothy Dalton Bond film, The Living Daylights. This casting dovetails that of Charles Gray, who played Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Diamonds Are Forever, having previously played Bond's contact, Henderson, in You Only Live Twice. Another similar occurrence was actor Robert Brown being cast in the role of M in Octopussy, when Brown had previously played Admiral Hargreaves in The Spy Who Loved Me.
Jack Wade was not present in The World Is Not Enough or Die Another Day, the two most recent James Bond films. In Die Another Day, however, there were two NSA agents Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson (played by Halle Berry), and Damian Falco (played by Michael Madsen).
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Last updated: 05-15-2005 22:22:49
