Clive Exton
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Clive Exton (11 April 1930 – 16 August 2007) was a British television and film screenwriter who wrote scripts for the series '' Poirot,'' ''
Jeeves and Wooster ''Jeeves and Wooster'' is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a Britis ...
,'' and '' Rosemary & Thyme.''Exton Bio
@
IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...
Barker, Dennis
Clive Exton
Obituary – The Guardian Unlimited – Tuesday 21 August 2007Clive Exton
Obituaries –
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
– 20 August 2007Clive Exton
Obituaries –
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
– 22 August 2007


Early career

He was born Clive Jack Montague Brooks in Islington, London, England, the son of a civil service clerk. He spent two years in the
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
, stationed in Germany. Equity, the actors' union, required his change of professional name, as there was already an actor registered under the name Clive Brook. After training at the
Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...
and deciding to act, he borrowed the name Exton from the character "Sir Piers Exton" in the
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
play '' Richard II''. His first television play, ''No Fixed Abode,'' was transmitted by Granada Television in 1959. He then contributed to
Sydney Newman Sydney Cecil Newman (April 1, 1917 – October 30, 1997) was a Canadian film and television producer, who played a pioneering role in British television drama from the late 1950s to the late 1960s. After his return to Canada in 1970, Newman w ...
's ''
Armchair Theatre ''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Canad ...
'' series which included the episodes: "Where I Live", "Hold My Hand, Soldier", "I'll Have You to Remember," and "The Trial of Doctor Fancy," among others; the best of them being directed by
Ted Kotcheff William Theodore Kotcheff (born April 7, 1931) is a Bulgarian-Canadian film and television director, writer and producer, known primarily for his work on British and American television productions such as '' Armchair Theatre'' and '' Law & Or ...
. He later wrote "The Close Prisoner" (also with Kotcheff) for ATV's '' Studio 64'' – a season of plays designed to emphasise the role of the writer in television – and ''Land of My Dreams'', ''The Bone Yard'', '' The Big Eat'', ''Are You Ready For the Music?'' and ''The Rainbirds'' for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. He also wrote ''The Boundary'' (1975), with Tom Stoppard, for the BBC's experimental series ''The Eleventh Hour''. In 1975 and 1976, he adapted four of
Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
’s short stories for episodes of ''
Shades of Greene ''Shades of Greene'' is a British television series based on short stories written by the author Graham Greene. The series began in 1975, with each hour-long episode featuring a dramatisation of one of Greene's stories, many of which dealt with ...
'' presented by Thames Television. Most of this early work is now lost, having been made at a time when programmes recorded on tape were routinely
wiped Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...
and telerecordings discarded. However, Exton also wrote ''Stigma'', the 1977 episode of the BBC's ''
A Ghost Story for Christmas ''A Ghost Story for Christmas'' is a strand of annual British short television films originally broadcast on BBC One between 1971 and 1978, and revived sporadically by the BBC since 2005. With one exception, the original instalments were direc ...
,'' and ITV Playhouse's 1979 adaptation of M. R. James's '' Casting the Runes'', both of which survive. Exton then moved away from the single play and initiated series such as ''Killers'', ''Conceptions of Murder'' and '' The Crezz'', a depiction of
Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...
life in the 1970s. He also contributed, under the pen name M. K. Jeeves, two episodes to the first season of
Terry Nation Terence Joseph Nation (8 August 19309 March 1997) was a British screenwriter and novelist. Especially known for his work in British television science fiction, he created the Daleks and Davros for ''Doctor Who'', as well as the series '' Surviv ...
's '' Survivors'' for the BBC. Exton said that the only feature film he ever wrote that pleased him was ''
10 Rillington Place ''10 Rillington Place'' is a 1971 British crime film. The film stars Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, John Hurt and Pat Heywood and was directed by Richard Fleischer, produced by Leslie Linder and Martin Ransohoff. It was adapted by Clive E ...
, '' with
Sir Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Televisio ...
(1971). Other films include ''
Night Must Fall ''Night Must Fall'' is a play, a psychological thriller, by Emlyn Williams, first performed in 1935. There have been three film adaptations, '' Night Must Fall'' (1937); a 1954 adaptation on the television anthology series ''Ponds Theater'' sta ...
'', '' The House in Nightmare Park'', '' Isadora'' (with Melvyn Bragg and starring Vanessa Redgrave) and ''
Entertaining Mr Sloane ''Entertaining Mr Sloane'' is a three-act play written in 1963 by the English playwright Joe Orton. It was first produced in London at the New Arts Theatre on 6 May 1964 and transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre on 29 June 1964. Plo ...
'' (from the Joe Orton play). He worked without credit on many films, but it is now known that he made major contributions to the scripts of '' Georgy Girl'' and '' The Bounty''.


Later career

A 10-year stay in Hollywood bore little fruit. He co-wrote '' The Awakening'' (1980), an adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel '' The Jewel of Seven Stars'', and the action-adventure '' Red Sonja'' (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1985), and, uncredited, contributed to '' The Bounty'' (with Sir Anthony Hopkins, 1984) before returning to Britain. Returning to England in 1986, Exton found that the television business had radically changed through the rise of the independent producer, such as Brian Eastman, for whom he wrote most of the episodes (20) of Agatha Christie's '' Poirot,'' with David Suchet (1989–2000), all of the episodes (23) of ''
Jeeves and Wooster ''Jeeves and Wooster'' is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a Britis ...
,'' with
Hugh Laurie James Hugh Calum Laurie (; born 11 June 1959) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and musician. He first gained recognition for his work as one half of the comedy double act Fry and Laurie with Stephen Fry. The two men acted together in ...
and
Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...
(1990–1993), and ten episodes of '' Rosemary & Thyme'' (2003–2006). He also dramatised for television works by
Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the s ...
,
Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Geo ...
,
Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading English novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquir ...
, Somerset Maugham, Ruth Rendell,
Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer. He published nearly 500 novels and numerous short works, and was the creator of the fictional detective Jules Maigret. Early life and education ...
and H. G. Wells. He was married twice, first to Patricia Fletcher Ferguson (1951–1957), with whom he had two daughters (Ghislaine Frances Crerar Metcalfe and Sara Charlotte Montague-Brooks), and then from 1957 until his death to Margaret "Mara" Reid, with whom he had three children, two daughters (Antigone Margaret Exton White and Cornelia Plaxy Locatelli) and a son (Saul Alexander). Exton died in London of brain cancer on 16 August 2007. Exton wrote only sporadically for the theatre: * ''Have You Any Dirty Washing, Mother Dear?'' (1970) * ''Twixt'' (1990), ''Dressing Down'' (1995) * '' Barking in Essex'' (2005) '' Barking in Essex'' made its West End début in September 2013 and starred Lee Evans, Sheila Hancock and Keeley Hawes.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Exton, Clive 1930 births 2007 deaths 20th-century English dramatists and playwrights 21st-century British dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English screenwriters 20th-century British Army personnel Deaths from brain cancer in England English male screenwriters English television writers People from Islington (district) Neurological disease deaths in England English male dramatists and playwrights British male television writers Writers from London British expatriates in Germany Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama