Biographic - Sunday December 4, 2011 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Just as James Bond creator Ian Fleming was a former officer in British naval intelligence, John Lee Carre- the other great master of spy fiction worked in British intelligence during the cold war, born David Cornwell in 1931, he adopted his pseudonym because officers in the british secret service were not allowed to publish under their own names. The success of his third novel, 1963s "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" allowed him to leave M16, and write full time. The novel was adapted for the screen in 1965, and the movie earned an Oscar nomination for leading man Richard Burton. The late '60s saw two further adaptations of Le Carre spy novels- James Mason starred in "The Deadly Affair" an adaptation of "Call For The Dead" and Anthony Hopkins starred in "The Looking Glass War." 1979 saw Alec Guinness portray M16 officer George Smiley in the BBC miniseries "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" a huge success, it was followed three years later by "Smiley's People" both series enjoyed a fervent following in the U.S. on PBS and both garnered Emmy nominations. In sharp contrast to the action-packed moral certainly of Ian Fleming spy stories, the La Carre tales are complex psychological thrillers, set in murky worlds of political intrigue and moral ambiguity. Interestingly, two former James Bonds have gone on to star in adaptations of Le Carre novels, Sean Connery in 1990s "The Russia House" and in 2001, Pierce Brosnan starred opposite Geoffrey Rush in "The Tailor of Panama." Ralph Fiennes took the lead in the 2005 adaptation of "The Constant Gardener" a movie on which Le Carre took an executive producer credit. Having made a brief cameo in 1984's adaptation of his novel "The Little Drummer Girl" which starred Diane Keaton, John Le Carre makes an appearance in the 2011 Big screen adaptation of "Tinker Tailor, Soldier and Spy a movie already generating Oscar buzz for Gary Oldman's interpretation of George Smiley.

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