Robert Sellers has written a magnificent book about “Thunderball” producer, “Kevin McClory,” that is both intriguing and enormously entertaining. This discription also describes McClory,himself, the Irishman obsessed with bringing his own version of 007 to the big screen (circa 1959). That McClory was both “adventurer and visionary” cannot be denied within the James Bond universe, and his contribution to the 007 mythos, along with that of screenwriter, “Jack Whittingham,” should not be denied. Both men were instrumental in creating “the wisecracking, glamourous 007″ that was so beautifully personified in the performances of Sean Connery and the first scripts of writer, Richard Maibaum, created for producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli in both “Dr. No” and “From Russia, With Love.” Elements created by McClory and Whittingham, namely Spectre, the criminal organization that steals a Vulcan Jet with two A-bombs aboard, the villain Ernst Stavros Blofeld, and the 10 screen treatments and screenplay of “Latitude 78 West,” (all plagiarised by Ian Fleming in his novel, “Thunderball,” 1961) led McClory, who was faithfully supported by Whittingham, to sue the famous Bond author in one of London’s most carefully watched copyright infringement cases. McClory won the full screen rights to “Thunderball,” including the use of James Bond and all supporting characters from that story, while Fleming retained all the literary rights. The rest is “sensational Bond history,” of the kind that keeps both fans and lawyers, of all shapes and nationalities, on the edge of their seats.
Robert Sellers is clearly a large “Thunderball” fan, just as I am, and his book is ‘catnip’ for us afficionados interested in the ‘comings-and-goings’ in the legend of that “most legendary Bond producer of them all,” that Irish wunderkind, “Kevin O’Donovan McClory,” who did everything in his power to hold onto his Bonded turf, within the 007 universe that still fascinates all of us.
On my third reading of Mr. Sellers’ “Battle for Bond,” I became more than aware that ‘Jack Whittingham,’ the author of those first James Bond treatments for McClory was the real hero of the story. If this had been a fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mr. Whittingham—a great screenwriter, by anyone’s standards, would have been “Nick Carraway” to McClory’s “Jay Gatsby.” If this had been a novel, instead of a straight forward nonfiction account, I could easily hear Mr. Whittingham describing his first involvement with Kevin McClory and narrating the story that would hitherto unfold….Also, like Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” the McClory-Whittingham story is a “twentieth century romance,” except that Kevin McClory is not “mooning for that beautiful girl—Daisy Buchanan—”who filled his every dream.” McClory, like Gatsby, bought his mansion beside the waters (Gatsby in Great Neck and McClory in Nassau) but the sought-after image of McClory’s dream was something ‘greater and more mystifying…’ His obsession was with a ‘success that even Gatsby, a rich bootlegger,’ could only dream about in some far away kind of mindset. McClory wanted to own a “sort of Hollywood immortality,” the kind usually beststowed on such luminaries as “John Huston,” his close friend. Or, “Mike Todd,” the producer of “Around the World in 80 Days,” also his friend and mentor. That he succeeded as fabulously as he did, had more to do with good fortune, enormous personal drive, and the ability to literally “charm the birds out of the Irish trees,” when it came to dealing with people. McClory had “loyal friends and bitter enemies,” in almost equal proportion, by the time his Bond journey ended in 2007, with his death in a nursing home in Ireland.
But, in between, especially after the release of 1965′s “Thunderball,” starring Sean Connery as 007, McClory’s life—like that of Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald’s novel—would change forever.
Robert Sellers’ book is carefully and diligently researched, with many of the important papers concerning the “Thunderball” case provided to him by “Sylvan Whittingham Mason,” Jack Whittingham’s daughter, who went on to become a successful song writer—Sylvan co-wrote Tom Jones’s hit, “Delilah,” which today is considered a classic—and photographer.
The fact that there was bitterness between the Whittingham family and Kevin McClory cannot be covered over. “We never hated Kevin,” Sylvan states in the book, but Jack Whittingham and later his children, did have reason and just cause to feel some beligerence toward the producer. McClory had hired Jack Whittingham as a “work-for-hire” in the writing of the famous “10 Bond treatments and ‘Thunderball’ screenplay, and did not help the author “pay-off his court costs,” even after the success of “Thunderball” at the box office, making it the highest grossing James Bond film of all time.
McClory, of course, had his own problems. He was divorced by his first wife, the aviation heiress, ‘Bobo Siegrist,’ who also was the mother of his children. And, his second marriage to Elizabeth O’Briend did not fare any better. McClory was all alone when in 1977 he went up against Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli and sued him for using Spectre and Blofeld in his script for the Roger Moore thriller, “The Spy Who Loved Me.” Broccoli quickly removed the offending elements from his story and produced the picture, the best in the Roger Moore era.
McClory also asserted his “limited James Bond rights in ‘Thunderball,’ after a 10 year lay-off period–part of his contract with Eon-Bond producers, Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli—when he started creating a new James Bond story, originally entitled, “James Bond of the Secret Service,” (later changed to “Warhead,” after a suit by Cubby Broccoli stating that ‘James Bond of the Secret Service’ was too close to the title of his motion picture, ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’). McClory requested and received the services of both writer, Len Deighton,’ author of ‘The Ipcress File,’ and James Bond, himself, Sean Connery, who was eager to direct the film.
The script—which many consider the ‘greatest unfilmed James Bond story’—with 007 fighting it out with Spectre henchmen and electronic sharks in the sewers of New York, and facing off with Blofeld at the Statue of Liberty and aboard his submarine—was kept from being filmed by the many injunctions and lawsuits brought forth over the years by producer, Broccoli, with the assistance of MGM/United Artists and the Ian Fleming heirs. At one point in 1977, Paramount came close to financing a $32,000,000 production of “Warhead,” with Connery as the star, but backed-out, after legal problems concerning copyright infringement from MGM/UA and Danjaq, the holding company created by Albert R. Broccoli.
This still did not stop Kevin McClory from pursuing his dream. In 1982, he and producer, Jack Schwartzman had produced one of the most successful James Bond films, also starring Sean Connery, “Never Say Never Again,” a remake of “Thunderball.” It was a ‘TaliaFilm’ production (named for Schwartzman’s wife, the actress, ‘Talia Shire) and was released through Warner Brothers, which put up most of the financing. The film was an instant success everywhere, and once again, ‘Jack Whittingham,’ McClory’s first screenwriter was given a credit, though there was never any monetary compensation from the profits to the author’s family. Jack Swartzman was listed as Producer, with McClory as Executive Producer. Both men shared the “Presenter’ credits.
By 1998, McClory was peddling “Warhead” to Gareth Wiggins, an old friend, and John Calley, the former President of United Artists, who had shepherded Pierce Brosnan’s debut as James Bond in “GoldenEye, at Sony Pictures. Calley had become President and CEO of Sony Pictures in Culver City ( ironically, at the old MGM studios) and soon Sony was announcing its intentions of “starting a new James Bond 007 franchise based upon the intellectual properties of Mr. Kevin McClory.”
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, United Artists (co-owners of the ‘Official James Bond’ series with the Broccoli family) and Danjaq sued Sony Pictures and Kevin McClory’s ‘Spectre and Associates, Inc.,’ and went after John Calley for “misappropriation of company secrets,” which derived from his days as President of United Artists and access to information regarding the film rights of the “Official James Bond series.”
MGM/UA and Danjaq hired high-profile copyright attorney, Pierce O’Donnell and the “war for James Bond” began. After months in court, the verdict was passed down by Judge Rafeedie in “favor of MGM/UA and Danjaq.” Sony withdrew all its legal intentions of starting a rival James Bond franchise, leaving McClory alone to fight his own battles.
McClory took-up the challenge. At the same time, his sister-n-law, the wife of his brother, Desmond, died and McClory left the U.S. for Ireland to attend her funeral. He missed days in court, which greatly dis-satisfied the preciding judge, while Michael G. Wilson, the President of Danjaq and producer of the “Official Bond series” testified on behalf of his company, and his family’s interests in James Bond.
The case was dismissed on “laches,” meaning McClory had ”waited too long to present his case,” as co-creator of the cinematic James Bond, with an eye to getting a large slice of the Eon pie in terms of monetary participation in past and current profits. Attorney Pierce O’Donnell stated to the press: “McClory’s is now out of the Bond business.”
Kevin McClory never ‘signed-off’ on his rights to make his James Bond film, while allegedly making plans to start a production in Australia or New Zealand. In deteriorating health—he had gone through exploratory surgery—his hopes were soon dashed of ever making a third James Bond film from the intellectual properties in his possession.
Just as Jay Gatsby had been shot dead in his swimming pool by the mechanic Wilson, who erroneously believed Gatsby had run-over and killed his wife Myrtle, Kevin McClory’s ambitions for “Warhead,” were shot dead by the testimonies of Michael Wilson in a Los Angeles court room. Like Jay Gatsby, “it was too late.” Like Jay Gatsby, “Kevin O’Donovan McClory could not recapture the past.” The greenlight on Gatsby’s dock blinked on, but McClory’s in Nassau closed-off forever.
Robert Sellers is a great writer, and I admire this book and his efforts to tell us the story of two intriguing men: Kevin O’Donovan McClory, a man who wanted to be remembered for his place in the history of the screen’s greatest legend, “James Bond 007,” while pursuing ’wealth, romance and adventure,’ in a Gatsby-like quest for success. And, just as important, “Jack Whittingham,” the forgotten Bond screenwriter, who created the Bond-movie formula that made for 007′s initial and continued success. “Jack Whittingham,” from this moment forward “will not be forgotten again.”
Mr. Sellers in his straight-forward approach to his subjects, has given us a book of enormous importance. I recommend it to everyone interested in the world of 007.
(Ronald Payne, August 7, 2009)
Editor of this blogs note:
“THE BATTLE FOR BOND”
by ROBERT SELLERS
may be purchased from Tomahawk Press Bruce Sachs @ www.tomahawkpress.com
Brenda Wise, Consulting Agent
bawiseconsulting
