Kevin McClory facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Kevin McClory
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McClory in 1959
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| Born | 8 June 1924 |
| Died | 20 November 2006 (aged 82) St. Columcille's Hospital, Loughlinstown, County Dublin, Ireland
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| Occupation | Screenwriter, film producer, film director |
Kevin O'Donovan McClory (born June 8, 1924 – died November 20, 2006) was an Irish writer, film producer, and director. He was most famous for producing the James Bond movie Thunderball. He was also well-known for his legal disagreements with Ian Fleming, who created the James Bond character. Later, these disagreements involved film companies like United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, and Eon Productions.
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Early Life
Kevin McClory was born in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland, in 1924. His parents, Thomas John O'Donovan McClory and Winifrede (née Doran), were both actors and theatre producers. Kevin had dyslexia, which is a learning difficulty that affects reading.
His family history is quite interesting. Kevin McClory was related to the famous Brontë family. Elinor McClory was the mother of Patrick Prunty, who later changed his name to Bronte. Patrick was the father of the well-known writers Emily, Anne, and Charlotte Brontë.
World War II Experiences
When Kevin McClory was a teenager, he worked as a radio officer in the British Merchant Navy. This was during World War II. He faced dangerous attacks from German U-boats (submarines) on two different trips.
The first attack happened in September 1942. His ship, The Mathilda, was attacked by a U-boat using machine guns. The crew fought back, and the U-boat left.
The second attack was in February 1943. McClory was on a Norwegian tanker called Stigstad. This ship was part of a group of ships called a convoy. Several U-boats attacked the convoy, and his ship sank. McClory and other survivors managed to get into a life raft. They were stuck in very bad weather for two weeks and drifted over 600 miles. Finally, they were rescued near the coast of Ireland. Sadly, two sailors died on the raft, and another died soon after being rescued.
McClory suffered severe frostbite, which is damage to the skin from extreme cold. He also lost his ability to speak for more than a year. When his voice returned, he had a noticeable stammer, which means he sometimes repeated sounds or words. He spent the rest of the war serving in Britain's Royal Navy.
Working in the 1950s
After the war, McClory began working at Shepperton Studios in England. He started as a boom operator, who handles the microphone on a long pole, and a location manager, who finds places to film. He worked on movies like The Cockleshell Heroes.
He also worked as an assistant to famous director John Huston on films such as The African Queen (1951) and Moulin Rouge (1952). McClory was an assistant director for Huston's movie Moby-Dick (1956). He was also an associate producer and second-unit director for Mike Todd's film Around the World in 80 Days (1956).
McClory was friends with famous actress Elizabeth Taylor and producer Mike Todd. Even though they had some disagreements, they remained friends.
In 1957, McClory led a team of 25 men on an adventure to drive around the world. He filmed a documentary about this journey called One Road. He also made commercials for his sponsor, Ford Motor Company. The team finished their trip in 104 days. Later, he wrote, produced, and directed the 1957 film The Boy and the Bridge. He received financial help from Josephine Hartford Bryce and her husband Ivor Bryce, who was a friend of Ian Fleming.
The James Bond Years (1960s)
In 1958, Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, asked McClory to produce the first Bond film. McClory didn't want to use any of Fleming's existing Bond books. Instead, he believed the James Bond character could be made into a great movie.
McClory, Bryce, Fleming, and Jack Whittingham worked together to create ideas and scripts for a Bond film. They settled on a screenplay called Longitude 78 West, which was later renamed Thunderball. They began preparing to make the movie.
In 1961, Ian Fleming wrote a novel based on their shared screenplay, also called Thunderball. At first, he didn't give credit to McClory or Whittingham. Because of this, McClory and Whittingham sued Fleming.
The court case began in London in November 1963. After nine days, they reached an agreement outside of court. Fleming paid McClory money and covered his legal costs. Also, all future versions of the Thunderball novel had to credit McClory and Whittingham. Fleming also gave McClory the worldwide film rights to the Thunderball story.
Later, in 1965, McClory made a deal with Eon Productions, the company that made the other James Bond films. This allowed Thunderball to be made into a movie, with McClory as the producer. By this time, James Bond movies were very popular. The producers of the series, Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, were worried McClory might make a rival Bond film. So, they agreed to let McClory produce Thunderball while they were executive producers. McClory even made a small, uncredited appearance in the film.
In 1968, McClory planned to make a movie about the Irish leader Michael Collins. The film was supposed to star Richard Harris and be filmed in 1969, but it was never made.
Later Bond Projects (1970s–1980s)
In 1976, McClory announced plans to make another film based on Thunderball. It was going to be called Never Say Never Again. This project faced legal challenges from other companies who said it went beyond the original copyright agreement. The project was delayed again.
The film eventually went back to the original story of nuclear terrorism from Thunderball. This helped avoid more lawsuits. In 1983, Fleming's family tried to stop the film in court, but the court allowed Never Say Never Again to go ahead. The court confirmed McClory's right to make James Bond films based on Thunderball and stopped others from suing him again for similar reasons. McClory then licensed his rights to Jack Schwartzman, who produced the film.
In 1988, McClory tried to create an animated TV cartoon called James Bond vs. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. with a Dutch company. However, this project never happened.
In 1989, McClory tried again to use his Warhead script, renaming it Atomic Warfare. He approached actor Pierce Brosnan, who had almost become James Bond before Timothy Dalton got the role. This film was planned to be set mostly in Australia.
Legal Battles Continue (1990s–2000s)
McClory kept trying to make other movies based on Thunderball, including Warhead 2000 A.D. with Sony. MGM and UA sued Sony and McClory to stop the film. MGM and UA later dropped their lawsuit after reaching an agreement with Sony. McClory's rights to the Thunderball story remained.
In 2004, Sony bought 20% of MGM. However, the company Eon Productions (Albert R. Broccoli's company) and its parent company Danjaq, LLC still control the production and final decisions for all James Bond films.
In 1992, McClory had to license his rights to producer Albert S. Ruddy for a planned James Bond television show. But EON Productions stopped it, ending any hopes for a TV show.
Before Sony's agreement with MGM in 1999, Sony sued MGM. They claimed McClory was a co-creator of the movie version of James Bond and was owed money from past films. This lawsuit was dismissed in 2000 because the court said McClory had waited too long to make his claims. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed this decision in 2001.
Resolution (2010s)
On November 15, 2013, MGM and Danjaq LLC announced that they had bought all the rights and interests from McClory's estate. MGM, Danjaq, and McClory's estate released a statement saying they had brought an "amicable conclusion" to the legal and business disagreements that had happened for over 50 years. This meant the long-running legal battles over James Bond were finally over.
Personal Life
Kevin McClory was married two times. He had two sons and two daughters. His first wife was Frederica Ann "Bobo" Sigrist. He later married Elizabeth O'Brien, whose father was the famous racehorse trainer Vincent O'Brien. They lived in a house called Baltyboys House in Blessington, County Wicklow, Ireland.
Death
Kevin McClory passed away on November 20, 2006, at the age of 82. He died at St. Columcille's Hospital in Loughlinstown, a suburb of Dublin. The cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage, which is bleeding in the brain. This happened just four days after the movie Casino Royale was released in Britain.
See also
- Controversy over Thunderball
- The Battle for Bond
