Three Blind Mice

The Three Blind Mice

The Three Blind Mice are trio of professional assassins working for the sinister Dr. Julius No in the 1962 film, Dr. No. They pretend to be blind to avoid suspicion and deflect attention from their true motives.

Portrayed by Eric Coverley, Charles Edghill, and Henry Lopez, their chilling presence lingers throughout the movie. With the iconic song that accompanies them on the film’s soundtrack, these deceptive killers have become known as ‘The Three Blind Mice’.

The Three Blind Mice in the Novel

In the novel, The Three Blind Mice are sent to the Queen’s Club where John Strangways is. He doesn’t suspect anything and leaves during a card game to contact Regent’s Park over the radio transmitter.

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Fooled by their ruse, Strangways deposits some coins into their tin cups, feeling sympathy for their apparent disability. The assassins thank him and then brutally shoot him in the back, shoulders, and pelvis.

They place his body in a car and later kill his secretary, Mary Trueblood. To cover their tracks, they burn the Dr. No documents gathered by Strangways and place his body in a coffin.

three blind mice

After James Bond kills Dr. No and finds Honey Rider, he hears the assassins approaching him through the main tunnel. Suspecting they were responsible for Strangways’ murder, Bond feels compelled to kill them in self-defense.

As the blind gangster trio close in, Bond takes them out with precision, mirroring the manner in which they killed Strangways.

The Three Blind Mice in the Film

In the film adaptation, when Professor Dent informs Dr. No about John Strangways’ discovery of radioactive rocks from Crab Key, the Three Blind Mice are ordered to kill both Strangways and his secretary, Mary Trueblood.

Pretending to be blind, they approach Strangways’ location, where he politely gives them a quarter. As soon as he opens his door, they shoot him dead. After disposing of the body, they target Strangways’ secretary, removing the files about Crab Key and Dr. No.

The Three Blind Mice are also sent to kill James Bond after Mr. Jones’ failed attempt. They wait for him at his hotel but are thwarted by the arrival of a car. Bond quips, “I think they were on their way to a funeral.”

Later, when femme fatale, Miss Taro lures Bond to her house as a trap, the Three Blind Mice attempt to kill him in a dramatic car chase, but in his Sunbeam Alpine, Bond outsmarts them and runs them over a cliff.