Terence Young | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Stewart Terence Herbert Young (1915-06-20)20 June 1915 |
| Died | 7 September 1994(1994-09-07) (aged 79) Cannes, France |
| Other names | Shaun Terence Young |
| Alma mater | St Catharine's College, Cambridge |
| Occupations | Film director, screenwriter |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Stewart Terence Herbert Young[1] (20 June 1915 – 7 September 1994) was a British[2][1][3] film director and screenwriter who worked in the United Kingdom, Europe and Hollywood. He is best known for directing threeJames Bond films: the first two films in the series,Dr. No (1962) andFrom Russia with Love (1963), andThunderball (1965). His other films include theAudrey Hepburn thrillersWait Until Dark (1967) andBloodline (1979), the historical dramaMayerling (1968), the infamous Korean War epicInchon (1981), and theCharles Bronson filmsCold Sweat (1970),Red Sun (1971), andThe Valachi Papers (1972).
Young was born in theInternational Settlement, ofShanghai,China, to British parents,[3] His civil registration documents gives his name asStewart Terence Herbert Young,[1] though he also used the nameShaun Terence Young,[4] and is listed as such by theBritish Film Institute'sScreenonline database.
Young’s father was a deputy commissioner of theShanghai Municipal Police. His family moved back to England when he was a child, and he was educated atHarrow School in London. He read history atSt Catharine's College, Cambridge. During the Second World War Young rose to the rank of captain in the British Army, and as intelligence officer of theGuards Armoured Division, Young was wounded inOperation Market Garden in the Netherlands in 1944.[1]
Young wrote film reviews forGranta and worked at Elstree Studios during his summer vacation. He broke into the industry as a screenwriter, earning a credit forBrian Desmond Hurst'sOn the Night of the Fire (1939), which was chosen as Britain's entry for the Cannes Film Festival. He wrote further scripts for Hurst:A Call for Arms (1940) (a short),Dangerous Moonlight (1941), andA Letter from Ulster (1942) (a short).[5]
For other directors Young wroteSecret Mission (1942) (featuring a young James Mason) andOn Approval (1944).
Young went off to war service. In 1946, he returned to assist Hurst again with the script ofTheirs Is the Glory, which told the story of the fighting around Arnhem Bridge. Arnhem, coincidentally, was home to an adolescentAudrey Hepburn. During the later filming of Young's filmWait Until Dark, Hepburn and Young joked that he had been shelling his favourite star without even knowing it.
Young worked atTwo Cities Films on the screenplays for Hurst'sHungry Hill (1947) and David McDonald'sThe Bad Lord Byron (1949). These films were expensive box office failures.[6]
Young's first sole credit as director (and alsoChristopher Lee's film debut) wasCorridor of Mirrors (1948), an acclaimed film made in France starringEric Portman.
He followed it with a musicalOne Night with You (1948), shot in Italy. This was highly unsuccessful at the box office.[6] In England Young was to directPrecious Bane withStewart Granger but that was cancelled and instead he madeWoman Hater (1948), a comedy with the actor. Young wrote and directedThey Were Not Divided (1950), a war movie set in the Battle of Arnhem, in which Young had participated. It was Young's first hit as director.[7]
Young directedValley of Eagles (1951), a spy film on which he was credited on the script, which was partly shot in Sweden. He followed this withThe Tall Headlines (1952).
Young then made the first film forIrving Allen andAlbert R. Broccoli'sWarwick Films,The Red Beret starringAlan Ladd. This movie was a notable success at the British box office and featured many crew who would later be significant on the Bond films - not just Allen, Broccoli and Young but also writer Richard Maibaum, camera operator Ted Moore and stuntman Bob Simmons.[8][9]
Young madeThat Lady (1955) in Spain withOlivia de Havilland, which was the first film of Paul Scofield, although it was not a commercial success.[10] Young worked for Alex Korda onStorm Over the Nile (1955), an essentially shot-for-shot remake of the 1939 filmThe Four Feathers. This was popular at the British box office.[11]
Warwick asked Young back to doSafari (1956), a movie about theMau Mau shot partly on location in Kenya, withVictor Mature and Janet Leigh. For the same company, Young directedZarak (1957), also with Mature andAnita Ekberg. This was a big hit.[12]
MGM hired Young to makeAction of the Tiger (1957) withVan Johnson; a youngSean Connery had a supporting role.No Time to Die (1958), a war story set in North Africa, was Young's fourth film for Warwick, and third with Mature.[13] Young was credited on the screenplay. He directed an episode ofPlayhouse 90 called "Dark as the Night" from a novel byJames Hadley Chase; it was shot in London.
Young madeSerious Charge (1959), which wasCliff Richard's film debut.[14] Then he didToo Hot to Handle (1960) withJayne Mansfield. Young went to Europe to makeBlack Tights (1961) in France, a ballet film, withMaurice Chevalier andDuel of Champions (1961), asword-and-sandal film shot in Italy and Yugoslavia with Alan Ladd.[15]
Albert Broccoli and Irving Allen had split as a producing team, and Broccoli went into partnership withHarry Saltzman to make a series of films based on the James Bond novels. Broccoli used many of the crew he had worked with during his time at Warwick for the first Bond movies, including Young as director, onDr. No (1962).[9] According to Bond historian, Steve Jay Rubin, "Tall, well-dressed and exquisitely mannered, Terence Young had all the panache of Ian Fleming’s James Bond. He was also an avid reader of the novels and was in favour of retaining as much of Fleming’s writing for the film version ofDr. No as possible."[16]
Young made several key contributions to the film including recruitingSean Connery to portray Bond. ActressLois Maxwell, who portrayedMiss Moneypenny, later said that "Terence took Sean under his wing. He took him to dinner, to his tailor, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat."[17]
The movie was a huge box office success and was quickly followed byFrom Russia with Love (1963), an even bigger hit. During the filming, Young and a photographer nearly drowned when their helicopter crashed into the sea while filming a key sequence. They were rescued by other members of the film crew. Young was back behind the camera 30 minutes after being rescued.[18]
Young was deluged with offers. He started preproduction onGoldfinger but wanted a percentage of the profits and the producers refused. Young quit the film, being replaced by Guy Hamilton. Instead he madeThe Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965).[19] This film was a co-production with Young's Winchester Productions and starred Kim Novak (at one stage it was going to star Connery's then-wifeDiane Cilento).[20][21]
Young returned forThunderball (1965), the fourth Bond movie. This turned out to be Young's last Bond. According to Young, he was offered and turned down the direction of Bond filmsFor Your Eyes Only andNever Say Never Again.
FollowingThunderball, most of Young's work was in continental Europe, mainly Italy and France. Young directed part of the 1965 espionageportmanteau filmThe Dirty Game starringBourvil andHenry Fonda. He provided the story for a spy film starring Frederick Stafford,Atout cœur à Tokyo pour OSS 117 (1966), and directed the all-starThe Poppy Is Also a Flower (1966), from a story by Ian Fleming.[22]
Young followed this withTriple Cross (1966), a war spy story starring Christopher Plummer and Yul Brynner.
He madeThe Rover (1967) with Anthony Quinn which was a huge box office flop.[23] Young had a hit withWait Until Dark withAudrey Hepburn. In a 1967 interview he said his three best films wereBlack Tights,From Russia with Love andThey Were Not Divided.[10]Wait Until Dark was very popular.[24]
Young directed and co-wroteMayerling (1968) withOmar Sharif andThe Christmas Tree (1969) withWilliam Holden.[25]
Young made three films starringCharles Bronson. The first was the thrillerCold Sweat (1970). Then came the offbeat WesternRed Sun (1972) co starringUrsula Andress fromDr No,Alain Delon andToshiro Mifune; this was popular internationally.[26] Their last collaboration was thebiographical mob dramaThe Valachi Papers (1972), another hit.[27]
Young madeWar Goddess (1973), then was hired to directThe Klansman (1974) with Richard Burton and Lee Marvin. The latter was based on a script by Samuel Fuller who was meant to direct, but Young was hired at the insistence of the film's European investors, who also arranged for the script to be rewritten. Young arranged for the casting of Luciana Paluzzi, who had been inThunderball.[28] Fuller later met Young on a film festival jury, and wrote in his memoirs:
Terence swore he'd never meant to squeeze me out of the picture. He'd never even read my original script and couldn't have cared less about America's social problems. His manager had pushed him to accept the job purely for the paycheck. Terence had big expenses to keep up on his estate on the Cote d'Azur and an expensive French girlfriend. He knew he'd made a lousy picture. How could I begrudge such an honest guy who freely admitted his greed.[29]
Young went to work onJackpot with the same actor, producer and writer asThe Klansman. However the film was never finished due to financial issues.[30]
Young directed Hepburn again inBloodline (1979) from a novel by Sidney Sheldon, replacing John Frankenheimer.[31]
He went to Korea to makeInchon (1981) about theBattle of Inchon withLaurence Olivier. Olivier and Young had been friends since 1943 when Olivier had initially offered the direction of his filmHenry V (1944) to Young, who declined.[32] At the3rd Golden Raspberry Awards in 1983, he won theRazzie Award for Worst Director forInchon.[33]
Later on Young madeThe Jigsaw Man (1983) withMichael Caine and Olivier. Filming was difficult as it ran out of money and had to stop until more finance could be secured.
Young's last film as director wasRun for Your Life (1988) with David Carradine.[34] Young contributed to the screenplay for the Hong Kong filmFoxbat (1977), which led to him being credited as co-director in some regions. Young was the editor ofThe Long Days (Al-ayyam al-tawila) (1980), a six-hour Iraqitelenovela about the life ofSaddam Hussein, which also led to him being credited as co-director in some regions.[35]
Screenonline wrote "Young remained a chameleon working without a definable identity within the confines of mainstream commercial production and the uninspired quality of much of his output suggests a director who wasn't really trying; but after his lucrative encounters with Mr Bond perhaps he didn't need to."[36]
In 1968 Andrew Sarris wrote Young "did the best of the Bonds,Wait Until Dark, and the curiously memorable, baroque, and unoriginalCorridor of Mirrors. He seems at home with the sweet lyricism of death, but his overall career is staggeringly undistinguished. Nonetheless, he seems to have come into his own, at least commercially."[37]
Young married the novelistDorothea "Dosia" Bennett in 1942. Bennett had been married to a Norwegian man by the name of Nissen, with whom she had had a daughter, but had had her marriage to him dissolved by the Norwegian government-in-exile in London in June 1942 and married Young five days later. Nissen later sued for divorce from Bennett alleging that the dissolution by the Norwegian government-in-exile had been invalid, and citing Young as the respondent. Nissen's suit was upheld at first instance in March 1955 before being over-turned on appeal later the same year, with the original dissolution being found valid.[38][39][40][41]
He had a son and two daughters with Bennett, their son being born in March 1943. Juliet Nissen, Bennett's daughter by her previous marriage, was raised as Young's step-daughter.[42] Bennett and Young's youngest child was a three-week-old girl they adopted in 1966 when their first two children were already adults.[43][41][44] Young died of aheart attack inCannes, France at the age of 79.[45]
In 2022, Jamaican actressMarguerite LeWars claimed that Young sexually assaulted her in 1962.[46] According to an interview with LeWars, the incident occurred while the two were in alimousine on their way to awrap party forDr. No. Young repeatedly propositioned LeWars and, when she refused, groped her. After LeWars rejected his advances, Young threatened to cut her scenes out ofDr. No. Two months later, Young telephoned LeWars at her home inKingston and propositioned her again, asking her to fly out to London todub her lines. When she refused, he again threatened to cut her from the film. LeWars stated this was the real reason for her voice having been dubbed over by another actress.[46]
He came home to be educated, and read history at St Catharine's College(Subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required.)
British director
"Terence Young, British film director ... Terence Young was born in China of British parents. He grew up partly there and partly in this country...
This time, Mr. Young is directing a film derived from a novel written by Dorothea Bennett, his wife.
