 A number of actors were asked to play Blofield before  Donald Pleasence (qv), but all has stage or TV commitments which  made them unable on accept the role. Producer Harry Saltzman (qv),  who had an eccentric choice for actors to play villains, had  originally hired the fabled Czech actor Jan Werich (qv) to play  Blofeld. Werich was the personification of sophisticated  intellectual humor in Czech theater and film, and was known as the  "Wise Clown". Casting a clown as a demonic villain backfired during  production: It was felt that Werich looked too much like Father  Christmas to be menacing and he was released after a weeks  shooting.