Adorable Story #47: Kevin McClory

The Dubliner who transformed James Bond into the suave spy of the silver screen

“It’s just that I’d rather die of drink than of thirst.”

— James Bond, Thunderball

The Irish film producer Kevin McClory cruises through Nassau Harbor with his wife, Bobo Sigrist, and their children, during what Slim Aarons categorized as “a Sunday drive with a twist,” 1967 — Photo © by Slim Aarons / Getty Images

Kevin McClory was an Irish screenwriter, producer, and director, who carved out a unique place in cinematic history with his contributions to the James Bond movie franchise.

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Origins

McClory was born in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, in 1924, to noted actor Thomas John O'Donovan McClory (stage name Desmond O'Donovan) and Winifrede (née Doran), a writer, teacher and actress.

He suffered from dyslexia from his early childhood.

McClory’s was a descendant of the literary Brontë family through his paternal ancestor Alice (Eleanor) McClory: Alice McClory was the mother of Patrick Prunty (the eldest of 10 children) who changed his name to Brontë (“Thunder” in Greek) when he emigrated from Ireland to England in 1802. Patrick was the father of Emily, Anne, Charlotte, and Branwell Brontë.

WW2

As a young radio transmitter with the British Merchant Navy, Kevin McClory had two scary showdowns with German submarines during WW2.

The first time, on September 20, 1942, he was on a ship called The Mathilda when a Nazi U-Boat popped up and started shooting at them. The crew shot back, and the U-Boat decided to disappear without further confrontation.

Then, on February 21, 1943, while aboard the Norwegian tanker Stigstad, a whole fleet of submariners attacked them. Their tanker was quickly sank, but McClory and others managed to escape and survived on a life raft. They were stuck on the Northern Sea for two tough weeks, drifting 700 miles before finally being rescued near Ireland.

Sadly, two of his shipmates didn’t make it on the raft, and another passed away right after they were rescued. McClory suffered a really bad frostbite and was unable to talk for a whole year. When he did start talking again, he had a pronounced nervous stammer which remained with him for the rest of his life.

He returned to active duty for the rest of the war with the Royal Navy.

Early Career

McClory started his film career as a technician at Shepperton Studios, where he worked as an assistant to John Huston — another larger-than-life Irishman — on films including The African Queen (1951) and Moulin Rouge (1952).

He was then associate producer on Mike Todd’s massive success Around The World in 80 Days (1956) — which we previously mentioned in the Adorable Story #26).

At the time, McClory was also romantically involved with actress Elizabeth Taylor. Although he and Elizabeth Taylor reportedly had plans to marry, she eventually left him for her future husband Mike Todd. Todd and McClory fell out over Elizabeth Taylor, yet they managed to complete the final cut of the film side by side.

The trio would eventually reconcile, and they remained friends until Todd’s untimely death in 1958.

McClory then went on to write and direct the 1957 film The Boy and the Bridge.

While in the Bahamas writing The Boy and the Bridge, McClory met the wealthy Englishman Ivar Bryce, who formed Xanadu Productions with McClory to finance his first solo production.

Bryce was a very close friend of the James Bond author Ian Fleming, and it wasn’t long before, at Bryce’s suggestion, McClory read several of Fleming’s novels with a view to filming one of them.

James Bond

The young and enthusiastic Irishman realised that these books had great potential, and, particularly, a great earning potential.

However, McClory thought very much in visual terms, a collateral residue from his childhood dyslexia, and believed that he, Fleming and Bryce should collaborate on an original, more “cinematic” screenplay.

To this triumvirate, he introduced Jack Whittingham — then ranked among the top 10 screenwriters in the UK — whose work had been received with great critical and public acclaim in movies including Mandy (1952) and The Divided Heart (1954).

McClory and Jack Whittingham began working with Ian Fleming on an original script with the working title Thunderball, which was supposed to be the first Bond film.

Kevin McClory in the Bahamas working on Thunderball — Photo © Philip Harrington / Getty Images

Fleming welcomed McClory’s involvement, writing:

“there is no one who I would prefer to produce James Bond for the screen.”