James Bond may be an international man of mystery, but one of the bigger mysteries of the popular franchise is if M is based on a real person. M is the anchor throughout the 007 series as the Chief of the British intelligence agency MI6, assigns Bond his missions. Rumors have circulated for decades about who the character in the Ian Fleming James Bond books and subsequent films has been based on. The simple answer is that M is most likely a culmination of several people the author knew who were authority figures in British intelligence.
