Clive Exton
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Clive Exton | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 April 1930 Islington, London, England |
| Died | 16 August 2007 (aged 77) London, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Royal Central School of Speech and Drama |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
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 and Rosemary & Thyme.[1][2][3][4][5]
Early career
He was born Clive Jack Montague Brooks in
His first television play, No Fixed Abode, was transmitted by
He later wrote "The Close Prisoner" (also with Kotcheff) for
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 life in the 1970s. He also contributed, under the pen name M. K. Jeeves, two episodes to the first season of Terry Nation's Survivors for the BBC.[1]
Exton said that the only feature film he ever wrote that pleased him was 10 Rillington Place, with Sir Richard Attenborough (1971). Other films include Night Must Fall, The House in Nightmare Park, Isadora (with Melvyn Bragg and starring Vanessa Redgrave) and Entertaining Mr Sloane (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.[3]
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.[citation needed]
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, with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry (1990–1993), and ten episodes of Rosemary & Thyme (2003–2006).[8]
He also dramatised for television works by
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
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
- ^ a b c d e Exton Bio @ IMDb
- ^ a b c d Barker, Dennis. Clive Exton Obituary – The Guardian Unlimited – Tuesday 21 August 2007
- ^ a b c d e "Clive Exton". The Independent. 18 August 2007. Archived from the original on 24 October 2009. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
- ^ a b c Clive Exton[dead link] Obituaries – The Daily Telegraph – 20 August 2007
- ^ a b c Clive Exton Obituaries – The Times – 22 August 2007
- ^ Greene, Graham (1975). Shades of Greene. London: The Bodley Head & William Heinemann.
- ^ Casting the Runes, Network, 27 August 2007, retrieved 14 December 2021
- ^ Barker, Dennis (21 August 2007). "Obituary: Clive Exton". The Guardian. London.
External links
- Clive Exton at IMDb
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