Frau Hoffner is a fictional agent of SMERSH. The character appears in the James Bond spoof film Casino Royale and was portrayed by actress Anna Quayle.
Biography[]
Frau Hoffner and Polo at International Mothers' Help
Frau Hoffner has been running International Mothers' Help, for some years. It is a school for spies, based in East Berlin, that is a SMERSH cover operation. Frau Hoffner runs International Mothers' Help, and has Polo as her assistant. Her lair is made of geometrically confusing shapes, and she continually speaks in riddles. Both Polo and Frau Hoffner were strongly attracted to Mata Hari, and keep a portrait of her up on the wall.
Following up a clue from Agent Mimi, Sir James Bond persuades his estranged daughter Mata Bond to travel to East Berlin to infiltrate International Mothers' Help. She is helped by Carlton Towers who drives her there.
Mata uncovers a plan Frau Hoffner and SMERSH have concocted to sell compromising photographs of military leaders from the US, USSR, China and Great Britain at an "art auction", another scheme Le Chiffre hopes to use to raise money: Mata destroys the photos. Le Chiffre's only remaining option is to raise the money by playing baccarat.
Mata Bond slams a door on her, which makes her land on a dead German whose pistol shoots her.
Behind the Scenes[]
To be added
Trivia[]
- The style of the East Berlin scenes are a parody of German expressionist cinema of the 1920s and 30s.
- Frau Hoffner has some resemblance to Eon characters such as Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya). She also has a predecessor in Dr. Crow in the British spoof Carry on Spying which includes the character speaking in similar riddles. Later, Austin Powers would pick up on this trope, with the German Frau Farbissima.
- Her name is similar to Hugh Hefner, who had founded Playboy Magazine a decade earlier and also had a stable of seductive lady "agents". Hefner himself would appear in a later non-Fleming short story.