Richard Maibaum

Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 - January 4, 1991) was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels.

Maibaum was born in New York City, and attended New York University and the University of Iowa before working as an actor and playwright on Broadway.

His first film as screenwriter was in 1937, and after military service in World War II he joined Paramount Pictures as a writer and producer on films such as The Big Clock and The Great Gatsby. Maibaum established a friendship with Alan Ladd 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 Allen and Albert R. Broccoli, who were making action films in UK under their Warwick Films 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. No in 1962 until Licence to Kill in 1989. However, his contributions to Licence to Kill were disrupted by a strike by the Writers Guild of America.

Selected films as screenwriter

• We Went to College (1936)
• They Gave Him a Gun (1937)
• The Lady and the Mob (1939)
• Coast Guard (1939)
• The Amazing Mr. Williams (1939)
• I Wanted Wings (1941)
• Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942)
• O.S.S. (1946)
• The Great Gatsby (1949)
• The Red Beret (1953)
• Hell Below Zero (1954)
• Cockleshell Heroes (1955)
• Bigger Than Life (1956)
• Zarak (1956)
• Ransom! (1956)
• Dr. No (1962)
• From Russia with Love (1963)
• Goldfinger (1964)
• Thunderball (1965)
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) — additional dialogue
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
• Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
• The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
• The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
• For Your Eyes Only (1981)
• Octopussy (1983)
• A View to a Kill (1985)
• The Living Daylights (1987)
• Licence to Kill (1989)
• Ransom (1996) — story

Selected films as producer

• O.S.S. (1946)
• The Big Clock (1948)
• The Sainted Sisters (1948)
• Bride of Vengeance (1949)
• The Great Gatsby (1949)
• Song of Surrender (1949)
• Dear Wife (1949)
• No Man of Her Own (1950)
• Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1950)
• Battle at Bloody Beach (1961)

External links

• Richard Maibaum at the Internet Movie Database