Terence Young
Encyclopedia
Stewart Terence Herbert Young (20 June 1915 – 7 September 1994) was a British
film director
best known for directing three films in the James Bond
series, Dr. No
(1962
), From Russia with Love
(1963
), and Thunderball
(1965
).
of the Shanghai Municipal Police
, Young was born in Shanghai, China and was public-school
educated. Like the fictional James Bond
, he read oriental history at St Catharine's College
in the University of Cambridge
.
Commissioned in the Irish Guards
, Young was a tank commander during World War II
where he participated in Operation Market Garden
in Arnhem
, Netherlands
.
(1941). In 1946, he was a co-director with Brian Desmond Hurst
of Theirs is the Glory
, which recaptured the fighting around Arnhem bridge. Arnhem, coincidentally, was home to the adolescent Audrey Hepburn
. During the filming of Young's film, Wait Until Dark
, Hepburn and Young would joke that he was shelling his favorite star without even knowing it. Young also directed an account of the Guards Armoured Division They Were Not Divided
.
Young's first sole credit as director (and also Christopher Lee
's film debut) was Corridor of Mirrors (1948), an acclaimed film made in France.
After directing a few English films, Young began directing several films for Irving Allen
and Albert R. Broccoli's
Warwick Films
in the 1950s, including The Red Beret
with Alan Ladd
. Young was also a story editor
at Warwick. This association led to his being offered the directorship of the first two James Bond films.
, dressed in Savile Row
suits, always witty, well-versed in wine, and comfortable at home and abroad. Cotton commented, "As Lois Maxwell
related in one of Connery's many biographies, 'Terence took Sean under his wing. He took him to dinner, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat.' Some of the cast remarked that Connery was simply doing a Terence Young impression, but Young and Connery knew they were on the right track."
During the filming of From Russia with Love
, Young and a photographer nearly drowned when their helicopter crashed into the sea while filming a key sequence. They were rescued by other members of the film crew. Young was back behind the camera thirty minutes after being rescued.
with husband and wife team Richard Johnson
and Kim Novak
, Thunderball and Wait Until Dark
with Audrey Hepburn
.
He made many films in Europe, including The Poppy Is Also a Flower
(1965), Triple Cross
(1967) - a story of Eddie Chapman
starring Christopher Plummer
, Mayerling
(1968), L'Arbre de Noel (US: The Christmas Tree aka When Wolves Cry) starring William Holden (1969), and several films with Charles Bronson
including Red Sun
, Cold Sweat
and The Valachi Papers
. In addition to directing, Young also cowrote the screenplay of Atout coeur à Tokyo pour O.S.S. 117.
According to Young, he was offered and turned down the direction of For Your Eyes Only
and Never Say Never Again
.
Young also replaced the original directors of The Klansman
and The Jigsaw Man. He undertook Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline and Inchon
(1981). Young was also the editor of The Long Days, a six hour Iraqi telenovela
about the life of Saddam Hussein
.
Young also directed Laurence Olivier
in Inchon
(1981) and The Jigsaw Man
(1982). Olivier and Young had been friends since 1943 when Olivier had initially offered the direction of his film Henry V
(1944) to Young, who declined.
His wife was the novelist Dorothea Bennett. He died of a heart attack
at the age of 79 in Cannes
.
United 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...
film 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:...
best known for directing three films in the 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,...
series, Dr. No
Dr. No (film)
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film, starring Sean Connery; it is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather and was directed by Terence Young. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R...
(1962
1962 in film
The year 1962 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May - The Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards are officially founded by the Taiwanese government....
), From Russia with Love
From Russia with Love (film)
From Russia with Love is the second in the James Bond spy film series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1963, the film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the...
(1963
1963 in film
The year 1963 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* June 12 - Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City....
), and 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...
(1965
1965 in film
The year 1965 in film involved some significant events, with The Sound of Music topping the U.S. box office.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
).
Biography
The son of a Police CommissionerPolice commissioner
Commissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...
of the Shanghai Municipal Police
Shanghai Municipal Police
The Shanghai Municipal Police was the police force of the Shanghai Municipal Council which governed the Shanghai International Settlement between 1854 and 1943, when the settlement was retroceded to Chinese control....
, Young was born in Shanghai, China and was public-school
Independent school (UK)
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by...
educated. Like the fictional James Bond
James Bond (character)
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
, he read oriental history at St Catharine's College
St Catharine's College, Cambridge
St. Catharine’s College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473, the college is often referred to informally by the nickname "Catz".-History:...
in the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
Commissioned in the Irish Guards
Irish Guards
The Irish Guards , part of the Guards Division, is a Foot Guards regiment of the British Army.Along with the Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish regiments remaining in the British Army. The Irish Guards recruit in Northern Ireland and the Irish neighbourhoods of major British cities...
, Young was a tank commander during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
where he participated in Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time....
in Arnhem
Arnhem
Arnhem is a city and municipality, situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland and located near the river Nederrijn as well as near the St. Jansbeek, which was the source of the city's development. Arnhem has 146,095 residents as one of the...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Film career
Young began his film career as a screenwriter in British films of the 1940s, working, for example, on Dangerous MoonlightDangerous Moonlight
Dangerous Moonlight is a 1941 British film, starring Anton Walbrook, best known for its score written by Richard Addinsell with orchestrations by Roy Douglas, which includes the Warsaw Concerto...
(1941). In 1946, he was a co-director with Brian Desmond Hurst
Brian Desmond Hurst
thumb|right|200px|Portrait by [[Allan Warren]]Brian Desmond Hurst was a Belfast-born film director. Responsible for over 30 movies as director, Hurst was Ireland's most prolific movie director during the 20th century.-Early life:Hurst was born Hans Hurst in Ribble Street, East Belfast"". into a...
of Theirs is the Glory
Theirs is the Glory
Theirs Is the Glory , a Rank production, is a 1946 British film about the British Airborne element of the World War II Operation Market Garden, and specifically the Battle of Arnhem. It was the first film to be made about this battle, and the biggest grossing war movie for nearly a decade...
, which recaptured the fighting around Arnhem bridge. Arnhem, coincidentally, was home to the adolescent Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
. During the filming of Young's film, Wait Until Dark
Wait Until Dark (film)
Wait Until Dark is a suspense-thriller film directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer. It stars Audrey Hepburn as a young blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for some drugs, and Richard Crenna as another criminal, supported by Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, and Efrem...
, Hepburn and Young would joke that he was shelling his favorite star without even knowing it. Young also directed an account of the Guards Armoured Division They Were Not Divided
They Were Not Divided
They Were Not Divided is a 1950 British war film, which depicted the Guards Armoured Division in Second World War Europe. It was written and directed by Terence Young, a former Guards officer who served in the campaigns depicted in the film....
.
Young's first sole credit as director (and also Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
's film debut) was Corridor of Mirrors (1948), an acclaimed film made in France.
After directing a few English films, Young began directing several films for Irving Allen
Irving Allen
Irving Allen was a theatrical and cinematic producer and director. He won an Academy Award in 1948 for producing the short movie Climbing the Matterhorn. In the early 1950s he formed Warwick Films with partner Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and relocated to England to leverage film making against a...
and Albert R. Broccoli's
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...
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...
in the 1950s, including The Red Beret
The Red Beret
The Red Beret is a 1953 British made Technicolor war film starring Alan Ladd, Leo Genn and Susan Stephen. It deals with the Parachute Regiment during the Second World War. It is notable as the first film made by Warwick Films with many of the crew working on various Warwick Films and Albert R....
with Alan Ladd
Alan Ladd
-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh Ladd and Alan Ladd, Sr. He was of English ancestry. His father died when he was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
. Young was also a story editor
Story editor
Story editor is a job title in motion picture and television production, also sometimes called "supervising producer". A story editor is a member of the screenwriting staff who edits stories for screenplays....
at Warwick. This association led to his being offered the directorship of the first two James Bond films.
Bond / Young
"Terence Young WAS James Bond" wrote Robert Cotton. There is little doubt that Young fitted the profile of Bond - the erudite, sophisticated lady killerLady Killer
A lady killer is a man exceptionally attractive to women. The phrase may also refer to:-Films:*The Lady Killer , a 1913 silent short*Lady Killer , a 1933 movie starring James Cagney...
, dressed in Savile Row
Savile Row
Savile Row is a shopping street in Mayfair, central London, famous for its traditional men's bespoke tailoring. The term "bespoke" is understood to have originated in Savile Row when cloth for a suit was said to "be spoken for" by individual customers...
suits, always witty, well-versed in wine, and comfortable at home and abroad. Cotton commented, "As Lois Maxwell
Lois Maxwell
Lois Maxwell was a Canadian actress.Maxwell began her film career in the late 1940s, and won a Golden Globe Award for the New Actress of the Year for her performance in That Hagen Girl...
related in one of Connery's many biographies, 'Terence took Sean under his wing. He took him to dinner, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat.' Some of the cast remarked that Connery was simply doing a Terence Young impression, but Young and Connery knew they were on the right track."
During the filming of From Russia with Love
From Russia with Love (film)
From Russia with Love is the second in the James Bond spy film series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1963, the film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the...
, Young and a photographer nearly drowned when their helicopter crashed into the sea while filming a key sequence. They were rescued by other members of the film crew. Young was back behind the camera thirty minutes after being rescued.
Later work
Young never made any films as popular as his mid sixties work that included The Amorous Adventures of Moll FlandersMoll Flanders
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders is a novel written by Daniel Defoe in 1722, after his work as a journalist and pamphleteer. By 1722, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, with the success of Robinson Crusoe in 1719...
with husband and wife team Richard Johnson
Richard Johnson (actor)
Richard Johnson is an English actor, writer and producer, who starred in several British films of the 1960s and has also had a distinguished stage career. He most recently appeared in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.-Life and career:...
and Kim Novak
Kim Novak
Kim Novak is an American film and television actress. She began her career with her roles in Pushover and Phffft! but achieved greater prominence in the 1955 film Picnic...
, Thunderball and Wait Until Dark
Wait Until Dark (film)
Wait Until Dark is a suspense-thriller film directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer. It stars Audrey Hepburn as a young blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for some drugs, and Richard Crenna as another criminal, supported by Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, and Efrem...
with Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
.
He made many films in Europe, including The Poppy Is Also a Flower
The Poppy Is Also a Flower
The Poppy Is Also a Flower is an ABC made-for-television spy and anti-drug film. The film was directed by Terence Young and stars Senta Berger, Stephen Boyd, Trevor Howard, Rita Hayworth, Angie Dickinson, Yul Brynner, and Marcello Mastroianni...
(1965), Triple Cross
Triple Cross
Triple Cross may refer to:*Triple Cross , a 1966 British film directed by Terence Young*The Triple Cross, a 1992 Japanese film directed by Kinji Fukasaku* The triple cross, a Papal cross* XXX...
(1967) - a story of Eddie Chapman
Eddie Chapman
Edward Arnold "Eddie" Chapman was an English pre-war criminal and wartime spy. During the Second World War he offered his services to Nazi Germany as a spy and a traitor whilst intending all along to become a British double agent. His British Secret Service handlers code named him 'ZIGZAG' in...
starring Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
, Mayerling
Mayerling (1968 film)
Mayerling is a 1968 romantic tragedy film starring Omar Sharif, Catherine Deneuve, James Mason, Ava Gardner, Geneviève Page, James Robertson Justice and Andréa Parisy. It was written and directed by Terence Young...
(1968), L'Arbre de Noel (US: The Christmas Tree aka When Wolves Cry) starring William Holden (1969), and several films with Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
including Red Sun
Red Sun
Red Sun is a Western film, one of few with an international cast. It stars U.S.-born actor Charles Bronson, Japanese actor Toshirō Mifune, French actor Alain Delon and Swiss actress Ursula Andress. It was filmed in Spain by the British director Terence Young. It was released in Europe in 1971 and...
, Cold Sweat
Cold Sweat (1970 film)
Cold Sweat is a 1970 film starring Charles Bronson, directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1959 novel Ride the Nightmare by Richard Matheson.-Plot:Joe Martin, an American, rents boats in the South of France...
and The Valachi Papers
The Valachi Papers (1972 film)
The Valachi Papers is a 1972 crime movie starring Charles Bronson, Lino Ventura and directed by Terence Young.Adapted from the book The Valachi Papers by Peter Maas, it tells the true story of Joseph Valachi, who was the first Mafia informant in the early 1960s...
. In addition to directing, Young also cowrote the screenplay of Atout coeur à Tokyo pour O.S.S. 117.
According to Young, he was offered and turned down the direction of For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
and 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...
.
Young also replaced the original directors of The Klansman
The Klansman
The Klansman is a 1974 American motion picture drama based on the book of the same name by William Bradford Huie. It was directed by Terence Young and starred Lee Marvin, Richard Burton, O.J. Simpson,Lola Falana and Linda Evans.-Plot:...
and The Jigsaw Man. He undertook Sidney Sheldon's Bloodline and Inchon
Inchon (film)
Inchon is a 1982 war film about the Battle of Inchon, considered to be the turning point of the Korean War. The film was directed by Terence Young and financed by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon. It stars Laurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur, who led the United States surprise...
(1981). Young was also the editor of The Long Days, a six hour Iraqi telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
about the life of Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
.
Young also directed Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
in Inchon
Inchon (film)
Inchon is a 1982 war film about the Battle of Inchon, considered to be the turning point of the Korean War. The film was directed by Terence Young and financed by Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon. It stars Laurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur, who led the United States surprise...
(1981) and The Jigsaw Man
The Jigsaw Man (film)
The Jigsaw Man British espionage film starring Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier and Robert Powell. Directed by Terence Young, it was based on a novel by Dorothea Bennett and the screenplay was by Jo Eisinger.-Plot:...
(1982). Olivier and Young had been friends since 1943 when Olivier had initially offered the direction of his film Henry V
Henry V (1944 film)
Henry V is a 1944 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name. The on-screen title is The Cronicle History of King Henry the Fift with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France . It stars Laurence Olivier, who also directed. The play was adapted for the screen by Olivier, Dallas...
(1944) to Young, who declined.
His wife was the novelist Dorothea Bennett. He died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at the age of 79 in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
.