Soft-spoken gay assassin employed by Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray) in Diamonds Are Forever, portrayed by veteran character actor Bruce Glover. Wint’s partner is fellow assassin Mr. Kidd (Putter Smith). Together they give 007 (Sean Connery) plenty of trouble.
Wint and Kidd’s first priority is to infiltrate a diamond smuggling operation that stretches from South Africa to the United States. The diamonds will be used by Blofeld to create a huge laser satellite capable of blackmailing the entire planet. Disposing of one agent after another, Wint and Kidd first meet Bond—posing as smuggler Peter Franks—at the Las Vegas mortuary of Morton Slumber (David Bauer), where they knock him out and place him in the crematorium. In one of the most terrifying and desperate situations of the series, 007 is about to be burned to death, when he’s saved by diamond smugglers Slumber and Shady Tree (Leonard Barr), who are upset over Bond’s phony diamond cache.
After killing a duplicate of Blofeld in the penthouse of Willard Whyte (Jimmy Dean), 007 is overcome by sleeping gas and thrown into the back of Wint’s car. Wint also manages to drop his aftershave lotion in the process, which is smashed under 007’s body. Thus, when the assassins stuff the unconscious Bond into a concrete pipe that is being placed in an underground flood control line, 007 smells like, in his own words, “a tart’s handkerchief.” The smell of Mr. Wint’s aftershave is an important clue in the film’s final scene, when Wint and Kidd try to assassinate Bond one last time. Posing as waiters on a luxury ocean liner, the pair have planted a bomb inside Bond’s “surprise” dessert. A suspicious 007 first smells Wint’s very familiar aftershave, then trips up the “waiter” with a comment about the wine selection, which Wint fails to comprehend. A fight ensues, and both Kidd and Wint are disposed of—the latter with the bomb attached to his torso.
The idea of a pair of gay assassins was a tad spicy in 1971, when Diamonds Are Forever was released. In actuality, the personal aspect of Wint and Kidd’s relationship was touched upon only slightly, and in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. The scene in which they walk off into the South African desert holding hands was one of the film’s biggest laughs (a scene that ABC edited out when the film debuted on on American network television). The campy portrayal of Wint and Kidd’s relationship is echoed in Charles Gray’s effeminate take on Blofeld—and the scene in which the archvillain escapes from the Whyte House by dressing in drag.
