Jack Whittingham
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Jack Whittingham (2 August 1910 – 3 July 1972) was a British playwright and screenwriter.


Early life

Whittingham was born in
Heaton, West Yorkshire Heaton is a Ward (politics), ward within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, West Yorkshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census for England and Wales, 2001 census was 16,913, which had increased to 17,121 at the 2011 Cens ...
, England, and educated at
Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...
between 1924 and 1929. He then went up
Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...
to read law. During the early 1930s he was briefly engaged to the Wrigley heiress, Ada Elizabeth Offield. Between 1932 and 1937, Whittingham worked for a number of newspapers and in 1937 joined
Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; ; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)
as a contract screenwriter. During the Second World War, he was based on
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
with an artillery regiment.


Film career

Beginning with the film ''
Q Planes ''Q Planes'' (known as ''Clouds Over Europe'' in the United States) is a 1939 British comedy film, comedy spy film starring Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier and Valerie Hobson. Olivier and Richardson were a decade into their fifty-year friends ...
'' in 1938, Whittingham was a prolific screenwriter. Between 1937 and 1948, he wrote 14 screenplays for companies including
RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...
,
Associated British Picture Corporation Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned appr ...
,
British National The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself (England, Wales, Scotland, and North ...
and
Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in west London, England. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on th ...
.


Ealing Studios

In 1948 he was a contracted screenwriter for
Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in west London, England. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on th ...
. He wrote the original story and screenplay for '' Cage of Gold'' (1950), ''
Pool of London The Pool of London is a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Limehouse. Part of the Tideway of the Thames, the Pool was navigable by tall-masted vessels bringing coastal and later overseas goods—the wharves there were t ...
'' (1951), '' Hunted'' (1952), '' The Divided Heart'' (1954) and the screenplay for '' I Believe in You'' (1954), '' Mandy'' (1952) and '' West of Zanzibar'' (1954).


British Lion

In 1956 he joined
British Lion Films British Lion Films is a film production and distribution company active under several forms since 1919. Originally known as British Lion Film Corporation Ltd, it entered receivership on 1 June 1954. From 29 January 1955 to 1976, the company was k ...
where he wrote ''
The Birthday Present ''The Birthday Present'' is a 1957 British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring Tony Britton and Sylvia Syms. The screenplay was by Jack Whittingham who also produced the film for British Lion Films. Plot Simon Scott, a top toy s ...
'' (1957).


''Thunderball''

Whittingham collaborated with
Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...
and producer
Kevin McClory Kevin O'Donovan McClory (8 June 1924 – 20 November 2006) was an Irish screenwriter, film producer, and film director. McClory was best known for producing the James Bond film '' Thunderball'' and for his legal battles with the character's cre ...
on a screenplay for a
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
film. However, when Fleming developed cold feet about McClory as producer of this first James Bond screenplay, he novelised the work into his ninth official novel, '' Thunderball''; however, the novel only credited Fleming. McClory and Whittingham then sued Fleming, which led to a settlement in 1963 that gave McClory the film rights to the novel. During the lawsuit, Whittingham stepped down as 'co-plaintiff' and stood by McClory as 'principal witness', having previously signed away all his rights "of whatsoever nature" entirely when the screenplay was presumed finished. As a result of the settlement, future versions of the novel were forced to credit, ''based on the screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming'' (in that order). Two adaptations of ''Thunderball'' were subsequently made, the first being ''Thunderball'' in 1965 as part of the series of films from
Eon Productions Eon Productions Limited is a British film production company that primarily produces the ''James Bond'' film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the UK. ''James Bond'' films Eon wa ...
. The second adaptation was the film ''
Never Say Never Again ''Never Say Never Again'' is a 1983 spy film directed by Irvin Kershner. The film is based on the 1961 James Bond novel ''Thunderball (novel), Thunderball'' by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Wh ...
'' in 1983. Further adaptations had been planned at one point or another by McClory, but were scrapped due to lawsuits from
MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...
and
United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...
. In the film ''Thunderball'', credits are somewhat complex. Like a good number of James Bond films, it was promoted as being "Ian Fleming's". The screenplay was credited to
Richard Maibaum Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 – January 4, 1991) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and playwright, best known for his work on the James Bond films. He wrote 13 of the 16 Eon Productions Bond films produced between 1962 and 1989, be ...
and John Hopkins. However, it was also credited as having been "based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham," which also was credited as being "based on the original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Ian Fleming". Whittingham's sole original screenplay credit has been omitted from posters and other promotional materials.


Post-''Thunderball''

In his late fifties, Whittigham decided to take up sailing. He went to the Boat Show at Olympia and bought a boat; six books on how to sail, and spent a couple of weekends on his old friend Tom Farmiloe's boat before setting off for France! In July 1965, his daughter, Sylvan, launched his new boat, "Domani", a 38-foot Atlantic Ketch, and, later that year Whittingham and his wife, Margo, his son Jonathan and one other crew member Christopher Smith. left the UK and set sail for Malta where they had built a villa overlooking the harbour at Marsaxlokk. During the six week voyage, they endured mechanical problems and a hurricane-force storm during the crossing of the Bay of Biscay. The ship's company were forced to heave to under bare poles for three days which fortunately pushed the vessel North East back out into the Atlantic rather than towards the coastline. They put into Gibraltar for repairs where Christopher left the boat to return to England. Maltese authorities were concerned when the arrival of the boat was overdue and search parties made attempts to locate them. He finally limped into Valletta harbour, and, whilst retired and living in Malta, worked on screenplays about the lives of Ian Fleming (''
The Life of Ian Fleming ''The Life of Ian Fleming'' is a biography of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond and author of the children's book ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang''. The biography was written by John Pearson, Fleming's assistant at the London ''Sunday Times,'' ...
'') and
Oleg Penkovsky Oleg Vladimirovich Penkovsky (; 23 April 1919 – 16 May 1963), codenamed Hero (by the CIA) and Yoga (by MI6) was a Soviet military intelligence (GRU) colonel during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Penkovsky informed the United States and the U ...
.


Personal life

In 1942 he married Margot Isobel Gough and they had a daughter, Suilven (Sylvan) born 2 December 1943, and boy, Jonathan, born 5 June 1946. Sylvan became a singer and photographer. References Sylvan Mason: Family Information
Sylvanmason.com


Death

Whittingham died of a heart attack in
Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...
, Malta, on 3 July 1972.


Selected filmography

*''
Q Planes ''Q Planes'' (known as ''Clouds Over Europe'' in the United States) is a 1939 British comedy film, comedy spy film starring Ralph Richardson, Laurence Olivier and Valerie Hobson. Olivier and Richardson were a decade into their fifty-year friends ...
'' (1939) *''
Escape to Danger ''Escape to Danger'' is a 1943 British thriller film directed by Lance Comfort and Victor Hanbury and starring Eric Portman, Ann Dvorak and Karel Stepanek. Plot During the Second World War a British schoolteacher working in Denmark is caug ...
'' (1943) *''
Welcome, Mr. Washington ''Welcome, Mr. Washington'' is a 1944 British drama film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Barbara Mullen, Donald Stewart (actor), Donald Stewart and Peggy Cummins. It was written by Jack Whittingham based on a story by Noel Streatfeild, ...
'' (1944) * '' Twilight Hour'' (1945) *'' Waltz Time'' (1945) *'' Kiss the Bride Goodbye'' (1945) *'' The Laughing Lady'' (1946) *'' The Lisbon Story'' (1946) *'' Green Fingers'' (1947) *''
Counterblast ''Counterblast'' (also known as ''Devil's Plot'') is a 1948 British thriller film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Robert Beatty, Mervyn Johns and Nova Pilbeam. It was written by Guy Morgan and Jack Whittingham, and made by British Na ...
'' (1948) *''
The Dancing Years ''The Dancing Years'' is a musical with book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall, set in Vienna, from 1911 until 1938. It follows a Jewish composer and his love for two women of different social classes, with an ending set ...
'' (1950) *'' Cage of Gold'' (1950) *''
Pool of London The Pool of London is a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Limehouse. Part of the Tideway of the Thames, the Pool was navigable by tall-masted vessels bringing coastal and later overseas goods—the wharves there were t ...
'' (1951) *'' Mandy'' (1952) *'' Hunted'' (1952) *'' West of Zanzibar'' (1954) *'' The Divided Heart'' (1954) *'' I Believe in You'' (1954) *''
The Birthday Present ''The Birthday Present'' is a 1957 British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring Tony Britton and Sylvia Syms. The screenplay was by Jack Whittingham who also produced the film for British Lion Films. Plot Simon Scott, a top toy s ...
'' (1957) *'' Thunderball'' (1965) *''
Never Say Never Again ''Never Say Never Again'' is a 1983 spy film directed by Irvin Kershner. The film is based on the 1961 James Bond novel ''Thunderball (novel), Thunderball'' by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original story by Kevin McClory, Jack Wh ...
'' (1983) - used Whittingham's original treatment


Television scripts

*
Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again ...
(1964)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittingham, Jack British male screenwriters 1910 births 1972 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School James Bond 20th-century British screenwriters