Kevin McClory
Encyclopedia
Kevin O'Donovan McClory (8 June 1926 – 20 November 2006) was an Irish
screenwriter
, producer
, and director
. McClory was best known for the 1983
James Bond
film Never Say Never Again
, which was the result of a long legal battle between McClory and Ian Fleming
(later United Artists
/MGM) over the writing credits and later the film rights to Thunderball.
. His grandmother, Alice McClory, was related to the Brontë
family (Patrick Brontë
's mother was a McClory). McClory's parents, Thomas John O'Donovan McClory (stage name Desmond O'Donovan) and Winifred (née Doran) were actors in Ireland.
ed on 21 February 1943 and he spent 14 days in a lifeboat drifting in the North Atlantic before being rescued off the coast of Ireland.
and location manager
where he worked on The Cockleshell Heroes
for Warwick Films
. He was an assistant to John Huston
on films including The African Queen (1951
) and Moulin Rouge
(1952
). He was an Assistant Director on Huston's version of Moby-Dick
(1956), and Assistant Producer and Assistant Director on Mike Todd
's Around the World in 80 Days
(also 1956). He later wrote, produced and directed the 1957
film The Boy and the Bridge
, with financial assistance from the American
A&P
heiress wife of Ivar Bryce, Josephine Hartford Bryce (sister of Huntington Hartford
).
. In 1958, McClory, Bryce, Fleming and Jack Whittingham
collaborated on a number of drafts for a possible film
or television
series featuring Fleming's secret agent, James Bond
. After The Boy and the Bridge crashed at the box office, Fleming grew cooler on the project with McClory. Without permission, Fleming novelised the draft screenplay as Thunderball, his ninth novel, in 1961, which initially did not credit McClory or Whittingham. The two sued, and the case opened to the High Court
in London
on 20 November 1963.
After nine (9) days, the case was settled. Fleming paid McClory damages of £35,000 and his court costs of £52,000, and future versions of the novel were credited as "based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming" – in that order. Due to the lawsuit, Thunderball was pushed back as the first official Bond film in Harry Saltzman
's and Albert R. Broccoli
's series. Broccoli and Saltzman's production company EON Productions
later made a deal with McClory for Thunderball
to be made into a film in 1965, consequently allowing McClory sole producing credit for the adaptation. McClory additionally retained the rights to remake the film after ten years had elapsed. McClory made an uncredited cameo in the film.
, McClory announced he was to produce an original James Bond film to be titled either Warhead, Warhead 8, or James Bond of the Secret Service, but the project immediately ran into more legal problems with the Broccoli family and was ultimately abandoned (In 2008 McClory's script for Warhead was sold at auction for nearly £50,000.) The project was taken over by American
producer Jack Schwartzman
who, with the backing of Warner Bros.
, was able to get Thunderball remade as Never Say Never Again
in 1983
, with McClory credited as executive producer
. The film starred Sean Connery
as agent 007 in a highly-publicized return to the role after a 12 year absence.
in the lead role. Once again, McClory's hold on the Thunderball film rights came into question and the project was eventually scrapped in 1999 after Sony settled out of court with MGM/UA
, ceding any rights to making a James Bond film. In 2004 Sony acquired 20% of MGM; however, the production and final say over everything involving the film version of James Bond is controlled by EON Productions
, Albert R. Broccoli
's production company and its parent company Danjaq, LLC. Prior to Sony's settlement with MGM in 1999, they filed a lawsuit against MGM claiming McClory was the co-author of the cinematic 007 and was owed fees from Danjaq and MGM for all past films. This lawsuit was thrown out in 2000 on the ground that McClory had waited too long to bring his claims. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
later affirmed this decision in 2001.
. He later married Elizabeth O'Brien, daughter of the racehorse trainer Vincent O'Brien
.
release of Casino Royale
.
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. McClory was best known for the 1983
1983 in film
-Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...
James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously filmed in 1965 as Thunderball...
, which was the result of a long legal battle between McClory and Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
(later United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
/MGM) over the writing credits and later the film rights to Thunderball.
Early years
McClory was born in Dublin and suffered from dyslexiaDyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
. His grandmother, Alice McClory, was related to the Brontë
Brontë
The Brontës were a nineteenth-century literary family associated with Haworth in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. The sisters, Charlotte , Emily , and Anne , are well-known as poets and novelists...
family (Patrick Brontë
Patrick Brontë
The Reverend Patrick Brontë was an Irish Anglican curate and writer, who spent most of his adult life in England and was the father of the writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, and of Branwell Brontë, his only son....
's mother was a McClory). McClory's parents, Thomas John O'Donovan McClory (stage name Desmond O'Donovan) and Winifred (née Doran) were actors in Ireland.
World War II
He joined the British Merchant Navy's Norwegian Marines at the age of 16 and was a radio officer by the age of 17 during the Second World War. His ship was torpedoTorpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
ed on 21 February 1943 and he spent 14 days in a lifeboat drifting in the North Atlantic before being rescued off the coast of Ireland.
1950s
McClory started a career as a film boom operatorBoom operator (media)
A Boom operator is an assistant of the production sound mixer. The principal responsibility of the boom operator is microphone placement, sometimes using a "fishpole" with a microphone attached to the end and sometimes, when the situation permits, using a "boom" which is a more intricate and...
and location manager
Location manager
The Location Manager is responsible for the finding and securing locations to be used and coordinating the logistics involved for the production to successfully complete its necessary work...
where he worked on The Cockleshell Heroes
The Cockleshell Heroes
The Cockleshell Heroes is a 1955 film with Trevor Howard, Anthony Newley, David Lodge and José Ferrer, who also directed. Set during the Second World War, it is a fictionalised account of Operation Frankton, the December 1942 raid by canoe-borne British commandos on shipping in Bordeaux Harbour...
for Warwick Films
Warwick Films
Warwick Films was the name of a film company founded by film producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli in London in 1951. The name was taken from the Warwick Hotel in London...
. He was an assistant to John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
on films including The African Queen (1951
1951 in film
The year 1951 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Sweden - May Britt is scouted by Italian film-makers Carlo Ponti and Mario Soldati-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
) and Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge (1952 film)
Moulin Rouge is a 1952 film directed by John Huston, produced by Sir John Woolf and James Woolf of Romulus Films and released by United Artists. The film is set in Paris in the late 19th century, following artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in the city's bohemian sub-culture in and around the...
(1952
1952 in film
The year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
). He was an Assistant Director on Huston's version of Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
(1956), and Assistant Producer and Assistant Director on Mike Todd
Mike Todd
Michael Todd was an American theatre and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of Around the World in Eighty Days, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture...
's Around the World in 80 Days
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956 film)
Around the World in 80 Days is a 1956 adventure film produced by the Michael Todd Company and released by United Artists. It was directed by Michael Anderson. It was produced by Michael Todd, with Kevin McClory and William Cameron Menzies as associate producers. The screenplay was written by James...
(also 1956). He later wrote, produced and directed the 1957
1957 in film
The year 1957 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 21 - The movie Jailhouse Rock, starring Elvis Presley, opens.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue-Awards:...
film The Boy and the Bridge
The Boy and the Bridge
The Boy and the Bridge is a 1959 British drama film directed by Kevin McClory. It featured Ian Maclaine, Liam Redmond, James Hayter, Geoffrey Keen and Arthur Lowe...
, with financial assistance from the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
A&P
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, is a supermarket and liquor store chain in the United States. Its supermarkets, which are under six different banners, are found in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. A&P's liquor stores, known as...
heiress wife of Ivar Bryce, Josephine Hartford Bryce (sister of Huntington Hartford
Huntington Hartford
George Huntington Hartford II was an American businessman, philanthropist, filmmaker, and art collector. The heir to the A&P supermarket fortune, he owned Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and had numerous other business and real estate interests over his lifetime including the Oil Shale Corporation...
).
1960s
Bryce was a close friend of Ian FlemingIan Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
. In 1958, McClory, Bryce, Fleming and Jack Whittingham
Jack Whittingham
Jack Whittingham was a British playwright, film critic, and screenwriter. He was educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford....
collaborated on a number of drafts for a possible film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
or television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series featuring Fleming's secret agent, James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
. After The Boy and the Bridge crashed at the box office, Fleming grew cooler on the project with McClory. Without permission, Fleming novelised the draft screenplay as Thunderball, his ninth novel, in 1961, which initially did not credit McClory or Whittingham. The two sued, and the case opened to the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 20 November 1963.
After nine (9) days, the case was settled. Fleming paid McClory damages of £35,000 and his court costs of £52,000, and future versions of the novel were credited as "based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming" – in that order. Due to the lawsuit, Thunderball was pushed back as the first official Bond film in Harry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman was a Canadian theatre and film producer best known for his mega-gamble which resulted in his co-producing the James Bond film series with Albert R...
's and Albert R. Broccoli
Albert R. Broccoli
Albert Romolo Broccoli, CBE , nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer, who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career, most of them in the United Kingdom, and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and EON Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the...
's series. Broccoli and Saltzman's production company EON Productions
EON Productions
Eon Productions is a film production company known for producing the James Bond film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom...
later made a deal with McClory for Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
to be made into a film in 1965, consequently allowing McClory sole producing credit for the adaptation. McClory additionally retained the rights to remake the film after ten years had elapsed. McClory made an uncredited cameo in the film.
1970s and 1980s
In 19761976 in film
The year 1976 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*March 22 - Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars science fiction film...
, McClory announced he was to produce an original James Bond film to be titled either Warhead, Warhead 8, or James Bond of the Secret Service, but the project immediately ran into more legal problems with the Broccoli family and was ultimately abandoned (In 2008 McClory's script for Warhead was sold at auction for nearly £50,000.) The project was taken over by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
producer Jack Schwartzman
Jack Schwartzman
Jack Schwartzman was an American producer and husband of actress Talia Shire. Among the films he produced was the 1983 unofficial James Bond film Never Say Never Again, starring Sean Connery, and the 1986 cult favorite Rad, starring Bill Allen.Schwartzman was born Jacob Schwartzman in New York...
who, with the backing of Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, was able to get Thunderball remade as Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again
Never Say Never Again is a 1983 spy film based on the James Bond novel Thunderball, which was previously filmed in 1965 as Thunderball...
in 1983
1983 in film
-Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...
, with McClory credited as executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
. The film starred Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
as agent 007 in a highly-publicized return to the role after a 12 year absence.
1990s and 2000s
McClory subsequently continued to try to make other adaptations of Thunderball, including Warhead 2000 A.D. which was to be made by Sony with Timothy DaltonTimothy Dalton
Timothy Peter Dalton ) is a Welsh actor of film and television. He is known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill , as well as Rhett Butler in the television miniseries Scarlett , an original sequel to Gone with the Wind...
in the lead role. Once again, McClory's hold on the Thunderball film rights came into question and the project was eventually scrapped in 1999 after Sony settled out of court with MGM/UA
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
, ceding any rights to making a James Bond film. In 2004 Sony acquired 20% of MGM; however, the production and final say over everything involving the film version of James Bond is controlled by EON Productions
EON Productions
Eon Productions is a film production company known for producing the James Bond film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom...
, Albert R. Broccoli
Albert R. Broccoli
Albert Romolo Broccoli, CBE , nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer, who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career, most of them in the United Kingdom, and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and EON Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the...
's production company and its parent company Danjaq, LLC. Prior to Sony's settlement with MGM in 1999, they filed a lawsuit against MGM claiming McClory was the co-author of the cinematic 007 and was owed fees from Danjaq and MGM for all past films. This lawsuit was thrown out in 2000 on the ground that McClory had waited too long to bring his claims. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
later affirmed this decision in 2001.
Personal life
McClory was married twice. He was survived by two sons and two daughters. His first wife was Frederica Ann "Bobo" Sigrist, daughter of Fred SigristReid and Sigrist
Reid and Sigrist was a British engineering company based at Desford, Leicestershire, England. They were an instrument manufacturer in the interwar era, specialising in aircraft applications mainly producing aircraft parts and instruments but later became a Camera manufacturer...
. He later married Elizabeth O'Brien, daughter of the racehorse trainer Vincent O'Brien
Vincent O'Brien
Dr. Michael Vincent O'Brien was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history, according to a worldwide vote hosted by the Racing Post newspaper...
.
Death
He died on 20 November 2006, aged 80, four days after the BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
release of Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
.
See also
- The controversy over Thunderball
- The Battle for BondThe Battle for BondThe Battle for Bond , by Robert Sellers, is a cinema history book of how the literary James Bond metamorphosed to the cinema James Bond...