James Clavell

Životopis - James Clavell:

James Clavell (10 October 1921[1] – 6 September 1994), born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell, was an Australian-born British (later naturalized American) novelist, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best known for his epic Asian Saga series of novels and their televised adaptations, along with such films as The Great Escape (1963) and To Sir, with Love (1967).
Born in Australia, Clavell was the son of Commander Richard Charles Clavell, a British Royal Navy officer who was stationed in Australia on secondment to the Royal Australian Navy from 1920 to 1922. He was educated at Portsmouth Grammar School. In 1940, aged 19, Clavell joined the Royal Artillery, and was sent to Malaya to fight the Japanese. Wounded by machine gun fire, he was eventually captured and sent to a Japanese prisoner of war camp on Java. Later he was transferred to Changi Prison in Singapore.

Clavell suffered greatly at the hands of his Japanese captors. According to the introduction to Clavell's novel King Rat (1962), over 90% of the prisoners who entered Changi never walked out. Clavell was reportedly saved, along with an entire battalion, by an American prisoner of war who later became the model for "The King" in King Rat. By 1946, Clavell had risen to the rank of captain, but a motorcycle accident ended his military career. He enrolled at the University of Birmingham, where he met April Stride, an actress, whom he married in 1949.

In 1953, Clavell and his wife emigrated to the United States and settled in Hollywood. Clavell scripted the science-fiction horror film The Fly (1958) and wrote a war film, Five Gates to Hell (1959). Clavell was nominated for a Writers Guild Award for the The Great Escape (1963). He also screenwrote, directed, and produced the box office hit, To Sir, With Love (1967), starring Sidney Poitier and based on E. R. Braithwaite's semi-autobiographical 1959 book.

Clavell's daughter Michaela appeared briefly as Penelope Smallbone, Moneypenny's would-be successor, in the James Bond 007 movie Octopussy (1983). The character, however, did not catch on and was dropped after the film.

Clavell's first novel, King Rat (1962), was a semi-fictional account of his prison experiences at Changi. When the book was published it became an immediate best-seller, and three years later it was adapted for film. His next novel, Tai-Pan (1966), was a fictional account of Jardine-Matheson's rise to prominence in Hong Kong, as told via the character who was to become Clavell's heroic archetype, Dirk Struan. Struan's descendants would inhabit almost all of his forthcoming books. Tai-Pan was adapted as a film in 1986.

Clavell's third novel, Shōgun (1975), is set in 17th century Japan and relates the story of an English navigator, based on that of William Adams. When the story was made into a TV series in 1980, produced by Clavell, it became the second highest rated mini-series in history with an audience of over 120 million.[citation needed]

Clavell's fourth novel, Noble House (1981), became a number one best-seller that year and was made into a 1988 miniseries.

Following the success of Noble House, Clavell wrote The Children's Story (1981), Thrump-o-moto (1985), Whirlwind (1986), and Gai-Jin (1993). (Založil/a: Gallienus)