Le Chiffre (French: "the number" or "the cipher") was the fictional paymaster of the Soviet counterintellience agency, SMERSH. He is the primary antagonist in Ian Fleming's 1953 James Bond novel Casino Royale. He is the first villain 007 encounters as well as the first agent of SMERSH he meets. Le Chiffre is a Soviet agent and the paymaster for a French communist trade union, the Syndicat des Ouvriers d'Alsace. He's portrayed as a ruthless and skilled gambler, but also a man on the brink of financial ruin. He's described as having a "big fluid body" and a "formidable and dangerous" presence. He's also known for his use of a Benzedrine inhaler and his odd appetites, including a penchant for flagellation. Three actors have portrayed the character Le Chiffre in official adaptations of Ian Fleming's "Casino Royale." They are Peter Lorre (1954), Orson Welles (1967), and Mads Mikkelsen (2006).