Peter O'Donnell (11 April 1920 – 3 May 2010) was an English

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

of mysteries and of comic strips, best known as the creator of ''

Modesty Blaise ''Modesty Blaise'' is a British comic strip featuring a fictional character of the same name, created by author Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway in 1963. The strip follows Modesty Blaise, an exceptional young woman with many talents ...

'', an action heroine/undercover trouble-shooter. He was also an award-winning gothic historical romance novelist who wrote under the female

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Madeleine Brent, in 1978, his novel ''Merlin's Keep'' won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the

Romantic Novelists' Association The Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) is the professional body that represents authors of romantic fiction in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1960 by Denise Robins (first president), Barbara Cartland (first vice-president), Vivian Stuar ...

Biography

Born on 11 April 1920 in Lewisham,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, O'Donnell was the son of Bernard O'Donnell, a journalist on the '' Empire News'', and was educated at Catford Central School. He began to write professionally at the age of 16. In 1938 he joined 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 ...

, and during the war served as an NCO in mobile radio detachment (3 Corps) of Royal Corps of Signals in the 8th Army. He saw active service in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

in 1942, after which his unit was moved to Syria, Egypt, the Western Desert, and Italy, and he was with forces that went into Greece in October 1944. After the war, O'Donnell returned to civilian life and began to script comic strips, including an adaptation for the '' Daily Express'' of the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

novel, '' Dr. No''. From 1953 to 1966 he wrote for '' Garth'', and from 1956 to 1962 ''

Romeo Brown ''Romeo Brown'' was a British comic strip published in the ''Daily Mirror'' from 1954 to 1962. It was originally written and illustrated by Alfred Mazure; Mazure was replaced in 1957 by writer Peter O'Donnell and illustrator Jim Holdaway. It fea ...

'' (with

Jim Holdaway Jim Holdaway (1927–1970) was a British illustrator, who contributed art for numerous comic strips. His best known work was on the ''Modesty Blaise'' comics written by Peter O'Donnell. Art career Jim Holdaway was born in 1927 in Barnes Co ...

as an artist). In addition to the comic strips and graphic novels based on ''Modesty Blaise'', O'Donnell published two collections of short stories and twenty novels. He wrote a play that was widely performed in the 1980s, ''Mr. Fothergill's Murder'', and wrote for television and film. He wrote for women's magazines and children's papers early in his career. His most famous creation, ''

'', was first published in 1963 in comic strip form. For the first seven years, the strip was illustrated by Holdaway until his death in 1970.

Enrique Badia Romero Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk ...

then became the artist, and except for a seven-year period (1979–86) he drew the strip until it ended in 2001. In 1965, O'Donnell novelized his screenplay for a motion picture version (the final release of which in 1966 used virtually nothing of O'Donnell's original material), which was published as ''

''. This book was a huge success and O'Donnell would publish a dozen more novels and short story collections until 1996.

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social a ...

said the novels were "endlessly fascinating" and that Blaise and Garvin were "one of the great partnerships in fiction, bearing comparison with that of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson."''The Silver Mistress'', Pan paperback edition, London, 1975. At the request of publisher

Ernest Hecht Ernest Hecht (21 September 1929 – 13 February 2018)Katherine Cowdrey"'Wise and witty' Ernest Hecht dies, aged 88" ''The Bookseller'', 13 February 2018. was a British publisher, producer, and philanthropist. In 1951, he founded Souvenir Press L ...

, he began writing gothic romance and adventure novels under the pen name of Madeleine Brent. The novels are not a series, but feature a variety of strong female protagonists. They are written in first person, take place in the late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, and although every protagonist has connections to England, part of each book is set in various locations around the world—including China, Australia, Afghanistan, and Mexico. In 2001, O'Donnell retired from writing the ''Modesty Blaise'' comic strip (the lead characters having been given a definitive end in the previous ''

Cobra Trap ''Cobra Trap'' is the title of a short story collection by Peter O'Donnell featuring his action/adventure heroine Modesty Blaise. The book was published in 1996, and is the thirteenth, and final book in the ''Modesty Blaise'' series which began i ...

'' short story collection) and was also said to have retired from full-time writing (in 2002, he gave Romero permission to adapt one of his short stories, "The Dark Angels", to a comic initially published in Scandinavian anthology magazine ''Agent X9'' and later reprinted by '' Comics Revue'' magazine in the US). From 2004 to 2009 he wrote the introductions for a series of ''Modesty Blaise'' comic strip reprint volumes published by

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and c ...

; beginning in 2010, just prior to O'Donnell's death, another writer had begun composing these introductions. He was also interviewed for a special feature included on the DVD release of the 2004 film '' My Name Is Modesty'', which was based on his creation. O'Donnell's wish was that no one else write any future Modesty Blaise stories, but whether this was ever formalized is unknown. With the exception of "The Dark Angels" adaptation and the ''My Name is Modesty'' film, no further new productions related to the character have been released as of 2015. In 2007, working with young women students at Bullers Wood and Newstead Wood schools, he established an official website, Modesty Blaise, Ltd.

Death

According to his obituary in the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', O'Donnell had been suffering from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

in his later years. He died at age 90 in Brighton, Sussex. Peter is buried in the same grave with his wife, Constance, at Lawn Memorial Cemetery, Warren Road, Woodingdean, Brighton, Sussex.

Bibliography

As Peter O'Donnell

Modesty Blaise book series

# ''

'' (1965) # '' Sabre-Tooth'' (1966) # '' I, Lucifer'' (1967) # '' A Taste for Death'' (1969) # '' The Impossible Virgin'' (1971) # '' Pieces of Modesty'' (1972) (short stories) # '' The Silver Mistress'' (1973) # '' Last Day in Limbo'' (1976) # '' Dragon's Claw'' (1978) # ''

The Xanadu Talisman ''The Xanadu Talisman'' is the title of an action-adventure/spy novel by Peter O'Donnell that was first published in 1981, featuring the character Modesty Blaise. This was the tenth book to feature the character. It was first published in the Un ...

'' (1981) # '' The Night of Morningstar'' (1982) # '' Dead Man's Handle'' (1985) # ''

'' (1996) (short stories) O'Donnell also wrote romance books and television ('' Take a Pair of Private Eyes'') and movie (''Revenge of She'') scripts. ''Mr. Fothergill's Murder'' first opened on 25 October 1982 at the Duke of York theatre, London, and was published by the English Theatre Guild. Among other places, it was performed at

The English Theatre of Hamburg The English Theatre of Hamburg is a professional theatre in Hamburg, Germany where performances are held in the English language. This private theatre was founded in 1976 by two Americans. It is the oldest professional English language theatre in ...

in the 1987–88 season.

Madeleine Brent

* ''Tregaron's Daughter'' (1971) * ''Moonraker's Bride'' (1973) * ''Kirkby's Changeling'' (1975) (also as ''Stranger at Wildings'') * ''Merlin's Keep'' (1977) * ''The Capricorn Stone'' (1979) * ''The Long Masquerade'' (1981) * ''A Heritage of Shadows'' (1983) * ''Stormswift'' (1984) * ''Golden Urchin'' (1986)

References

Sources

The Complete ''Modesty Blaise'' dossier

The Modesty Blaise Book Site
* *Kristy Valenti's three-part article on Peter O'Donnell
Part onePart Two
an
Part Three
at comiXology * Peter O'Donnell's 2001 interview with Publishers Weekl

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, Peter 1920 births 2010 deaths British comics writers Deaths from Parkinson's disease Neurological disease deaths in England People from Lewisham Royal Corps of Signals soldiers British Army personnel of World War II English people of Irish descent English romantic fiction writers RoNA Award winners 20th-century English novelists 20th-century pseudonymous writers