Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 - January 4, 1991) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film producerA film producer or movie producer is someone who creates the scenes and conditions for making movies. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors...
,
playwrightA playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works are usually written to be performed in front of a live audience by actors...
and
screenwriterScreenwriters or scenarists or scriptwriters are people in a film crew who write/create the screenplays from which films and television programs are made....
best known for his adaptations of
Ian Fleming'sIan Lancaster Fleming was a British author and journalist. Fleming is best remembered for creating the character of James Bond and chronicling Bond's adventures in twelve novels and nine short stories...
James BondJames Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr...
novels.
Maibaum was born in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, and attended
New York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian, research university in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and the
University of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public research university located in Iowa City, Iowa. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
before working as an actor and playwright on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
.
His first film as screenwriter was in 1937, and after military service in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he joined
Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is a Worldwide American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is the world's oldest existing American film studio; it is also the last...
as a writer and producer on films such as
The Big ClockThe Big Clock is a film noir thriller directed by John Farrow, based on the novel of the same name by Kenneth Fearing. The black-and-white film is set in New York City and stars Ray Milland and Maureen O'Sullivan...
and
The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is a 1949 film made by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Elliott Nugent and produced by Richard Maibaum, from a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume based on the novel of the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the play by Owen Davis. The music score was by Robert...
.
Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 - January 4, 1991) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film producerA film producer or movie producer is someone who creates the scenes and conditions for making movies. The producer initiates, co-ordinates, supervises and controls matters such as fund-raising, hiring key personnel and arranging for distributors...
,
playwrightA playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works are usually written to be performed in front of a live audience by actors...
and
screenwriterScreenwriters or scenarists or scriptwriters are people in a film crew who write/create the screenplays from which films and television programs are made....
best known for his adaptations of
Ian Fleming'sIan Lancaster Fleming was a British author and journalist. Fleming is best remembered for creating the character of James Bond and chronicling Bond's adventures in twelve novels and nine short stories...
James BondJames Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr...
novels.
Maibaum was born in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, and attended
New York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian, research university in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and the
University of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public research university located in Iowa City, Iowa. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
before working as an actor and playwright on
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
.
His first film as screenwriter was in 1937, and after military service in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he joined
Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is a Worldwide American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is the world's oldest existing American film studio; it is also the last...
as a writer and producer on films such as
The Big ClockThe Big Clock is a film noir thriller directed by John Farrow, based on the novel of the same name by Kenneth Fearing. The black-and-white film is set in New York City and stars Ray Milland and Maureen O'Sullivan...
and
The Great GatsbyThe Great Gatsby is a 1949 film made by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Elliott Nugent and produced by Richard Maibaum, from a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume based on the novel of the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the play by Owen Davis. The music score was by Robert...
. Maibaum established a friendship with
Alan LaddAlan Walbridge Ladd was an American film actor.-Early life:Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas to an American father and an English-American mother . His father died when the boy was four, and his mother relocated to Oklahoma City, where she married Jim Beavers, a housepainter...
and in addition to writing several screenplays for Ladd, Maibaum acted as a script supervisor for Ladd. In the 1950s he became the favoured screenwriter for
Irwin AllenIrwin Allen was a television and film producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of television series.- Biography :...
and
Albert R. BroccoliAlbert Romolo Broccoli, CBE , nicknamed "Cubby", was an Academy Award-winning American film producer, who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career, most of them in the United Kingdom, and often filmed at Pinewood Studios...
, who were making action films in UK under their
Warwick FilmsWarwick Films was the name of a film company founded by film producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli in London in 1951. The name was taken from the Warwick Hotel in London...
banner. When Broccoli signed Ladd on for a three picture deal for Warwick, Ladd insisted on Maibaum co-writing the screenplays. His working relationship with Broccoli would extend into the phenomenally successful James Bond series, with Maibaum contributing to the screenplays of all but three of the films from
Dr. NoDr. No , starring Sean Connery, is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather. The film was directed by Terence Young, and produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R...
in 1962 until
Licence to KillLicence to Kill is the sixteenth official entry in the James Bond series, and the first one not based on an Ian Fleming novel. While enjoying a largely positive critical reception, it was controversial since it was the first James Bond film to be given a PG-13 rating, being noted as significantly...
in 1989. However, his contributions to
Licence to Kill were disrupted by a strike by the
Writers Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers around New York City....
.
Selected films as screenwriter
- We Went to College (1936)
- They Gave Him a Gun (1937)
- The Lady and the Mob (1939)
- Coast Guard
A coast guard or coastguard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea. However the term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries.-Role:...
(1939)
- The Amazing Mr. Williams (1939)
- I Wanted Wings
I Wanted Wings is a 1941 American drama film directed by Mitchell Leisen and starring Ray Milland and William Holden. Production began in the summer of 1940 at Randolph Field near San Antonio, Texas. The United States Army Air Corps provided 1160 airplanes, 1050 cadets, 450 officers and instructors...
(1941)
- Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942)
- O.S.S.
O.S.S. is a 1946 war film starring Alan Ladd and Geraldine Fitzgerald as American spies dropped behind German lines in World War II....
(1946)
- The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a 1949 film made by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Elliott Nugent and produced by Richard Maibaum, from a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume based on the novel of the same title by F. Scott Fitzgerald and the play by Owen Davis. The music score was by Robert...
(1949)
- The Red Beret
The Red Beret is a 1953 British made war film concerning the Parachute Regiment. It is notable as the first film made by Warwick Films with many of the crew working on various Warwick Films and Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Productions.-Plot summary:...
(1953)
- Hell Below Zero (1954)
- Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
- Bigger Than Life
Bigger Than Life is an American film made in 1956 directed by Nicholas Ray and starring James Mason, who also co-wrote and produced the film, about a school teacher and family man whose life spins out of control upon becoming addicted to cortisone. The film co-stars Barbara Rush as his wife and...
(1956)
- Zarak
Zarak is a 1956 film based on the novel by A.J. Bevan.Set in northern India, , the film starred Victor Mature, Michael Wilding, Anita Ekberg, and featured Patrick McGoohan in a supporting role. Often classified as a minor piece of "escapism", this 99-minute film nevertheless boasted a surprising...
(1956)
- Ransom!
Ransom! is a 1956 crime drama examining the reactions of parents, police, and the public to a kidnapping. Written by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume, the film was based on a popular episode of "The United States Steel Hour" titled "Fearful Decision," which aired in 1954...
(1956)
- Dr. No
Dr. No , starring Sean Connery, is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather. The film was directed by Terence Young, and produced by Harry Saltzman and Albert R...
(1962)
- From Russia with Love
From Russia with Love is the second spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Ian...
(1963)
- Goldfinger
Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title character. The film was...
(1964)
- Thunderball
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series after Dr. No , From Russia with Love and Goldfinger , and the fourth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original...
(1965)
- Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a 1968 feature film with a script by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes, and songs by the Sherman Brothers, based on Ian Fleming's book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car. It starred Dick Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts and Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious. The film was...
(1968) — additional dialogue
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the sixth spy film in the James Bond series, based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, and the only one to star George Lazenby as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
(1969)
- Diamonds Are Forever
Diamonds Are Forever is the seventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the sixth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film is based on Ian Fleming's 1956 novel of the same name, and is the second of four James Bond films directed by Guy Hamilton...
(1971)
- The Man with the Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun is the ninth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. An adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel of same name, the film has Bond sent after the Solex Agitator — a device which can harness the power of the sun...
(1974)
- The Spy Who Loved Me
The Spy Who Loved Me is the tenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum...
(1977)
- For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The screenplay takes its characters from and combines the plots of two short stories from Ian Fleming's collection For Your Eyes Only: the title story and ...
(1981)
- Octopussy
Octopussy is the thirteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from Ian Fleming's 1966 short story "Octopussy". However, the film's story is original and the short story is narrated as a flashback by...
(1983)
- A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill is the fourteenth spy film of the James Bond series, and the seventh and last to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from Ian Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill", the film is the third Bond film after The Spy Who Loved Me...
(1985)
- The Living Daylights
The Living Daylights is the fifteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
(1987)
- Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill is the sixteenth official entry in the James Bond series, and the first one not based on an Ian Fleming novel. While enjoying a largely positive critical reception, it was controversial since it was the first James Bond film to be given a PG-13 rating, being noted as significantly...
(1989)
- Ransom (1996) — story
Selected films as producer
- O.S.S.
O.S.S. is a 1946 war film starring Alan Ladd and Geraldine Fitzgerald as American spies dropped behind German lines in World War II....
(1946)
- The Big Clock
The Big Clock is a film noir thriller directed by John Farrow, based on the novel of the same name by Kenneth Fearing. The black-and-white film is set in New York City and stars Ray Milland and Maureen O'Sullivan...
(1948)
- The Sainted Sisters (1948)
- Bride of Vengeance (1949)
- The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a novel by the American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. First published on April 10, 1925, it is set on Long Island's North Shore and in New York City during the summer of 1922 and is a critique of the American Dream....
(1949)
- Song of Surrender (1949)
- Dear Wife (1949)
- No Man of Her Own
No Man of Her Own is a 1950 film starring Barbara Stanwyck. It was the second she made with director Mitchell Leisen. It was based on a Cornell Woolrich novel, I Married a Dead Man....
(1950)
- Captain Carey, U.S.A.
Captain Carey, U.S.A. is a 1950 drama film starring Alan Ladd, Wanda Hendrix, and Francis Lederer. An American returns to post-World War II Italy to bring a traitor to justice.The film was based on the novel No Surrender by Martha Albrand....
(1950)
- Battle at Bloody Beach (1961)