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M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond...

M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. M has been portrayed by Dame Judi Dench since 1995. Ian Fleming based much of M's character on Admiral John Godfrey, Fleming's superior in British Naval Intelligence during World War II. After Fleming's death, Godfrey complained "He turned me into that unsavoury character, M." Other possible influences include Claude Dansey (known as "Colonel Z") and Maxwell Knight. Fleming biographer John Pearson also hypothesised Fleming's characterisation of M reflects memories of his mother. The third Bond novel, Moonraker, establishes M's personal initials as "M**** M*********". M's first name is also revealed in Moonraker when a character calls him Miles. In The Man with the Golden Gun M's true identity is revealed as Admiral Sir Miles Messervy; this may be where the M comes from, but does not explain the films because there has been more than one M (although the director of the real-life MI6 is known as "C", nominally for "chief" but actually the result of the first director, Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, signing his documents with the last initial of his name, in green ink). In the