Harry Palmer

Harry Palmer
Michael Caine as Harry Palmer in Funeral in Berlin
First appearance	Book: The IPCRESS File (1962) Film: The Ipcress File (1965)
Last appearance	Book: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy (1976) Film: Midnight in Saint Petersburg (1996)
Created by	Len Deighton
Portrayed by	Michael Caine

Harry Palmer is the protagonist of a number of films based on the unnamed main character from the spy novels written by Len Deighton. Michael Caine played Harry Palmer in three of the four films based on the four published novels featuring this character. Caine also starred this character in two other films not directly based on Deighton's novels.

When developing the movie, The Ipcress File, based on Len Deighton's novel of the same name, the production team needed a name for the previously anonymous secret agent protagonist, they chose "Harry Palmer", because they wanted a dull, unglamorous name to distance him from Ian Fleming's James Bond, the stereotypical flamboyant, swashbuckling spy. In his memoirs, Michael Caine says producer Harry Saltzman thought up the surname "Palmer", and Caine innocently remarked that "Harry" was a dull name, not realising his gaffe until seeing Saltzman's stare. In a Len Feldman interview, Caine recalled "I made a rather bad social blunder, because, he said, 'What's the dullest name you can think of ?', and I said, 'Harry', and he said, 'Thanks very much.' And then he said, 'What's a dull surname ?', and the most boring boy in our school was called: 'Palmer', 'Tommy Palmer'. So, he said, 'All right, we'll call him Harry Palmer.'"

This coincidentally meshed with the protagonist in the books being referred to as "Harry" by another character, although he clearly states this is not his real name. However, the ambiguity this creates between the two versions, while coincidental, is in keeping with the nature of the character and Deighton's theme of agents losing sight of their original lives. It is never made clear if the book protagonist had ever used the name and forgotten his old alias (or former life), or if the film protagonist is using an assumed name to distance himself from his former illegal activities. Either, or both, are possible.

Len Deighton introduced the lead character in The IPCRESS File, his first novel, published in November 1962. In that first-person novel, the secret agent is anonymous, although at one point he is greeted by someone saying "Hello, Harry"; he later says, "Now my name isn't Harry, but in this business it's hard to remember whether it ever had been." Deighton's spy is described as working class, living in a back street flat and seedy hotels, and shopping in supermarkets. He wears glasses, is hindered by bureaucracy, and craves a pay raise.