Richard Maibaum

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard "Dick" Maibaum (* 26. May 1909 in New York City , New York ; † 4 January 1991 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American screenwriter , mainly for his screenplays for numerous James Bond films known is.

Live and act

Richard Maibaum was born in New York City and attended New York University and the University of Iowa before starting to work as an actor and playwright on Broadway . Maibaum soon got the chance to write for the cinema, his debut was the script for the 1936 film We Went to College , written together with Maurice Rapf . Various other jobs followed before Maibaum served in the war and then signed a contract with Paramount Pictures , for which he a. a. wrote the screenplay for The Great Gatsby together with Cyril Hume .

In the early 1950s, Maibaum met the director Terence Young , who later worked as the director of the first James Bond film, Dr. No and two other films in the series became known. Maibaum co-wrote the script for The Red Beret , which marked Young's breakthrough as a director. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli , the later producer of the Bond films.

In 1956, the film Menschenraub was released , for which Maibaum again wrote the script with Cyril Hume and on which the remake produced in 1996 with the German title Kopfgeld (with Mel Gibson in the lead role) is based.

After a few more screenplays for rather moderately successful films, Maibaum began successful work on the James Bond films in 1962.

James Bond

With a few exceptions ( You Only Live Twice , Live and Let Die and Moonraker ), Maibaum was involved as a screenwriter in all Bond films produced by Eon Productions between 1962 and 1989 . Maibaum was the author or co-author of 13 James Bond films.

The figure Beißer (original: Jaws ) comes from Maibaum's pen . Richard Maibaum and the first Bond director Terence Young were the ones who gave Ian Fleming's fictional character and actor Sean Connery the necessary “fine-tuning” for the big screen. It was Maibaum who wrote concise dialogues such as these:

  • James Bond (to be killed by a laser beam): "Do you expect me to talk?"
  • Auric Goldfinger : "No, Mister Bond, I expect you to die!"

Other works

Together with many other Bond veterans - above all its creator Ian Fleming and producer Albert R. Broccoli - Maibaum was involved in the production of the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang . He also co-wrote the script adaptation of the novel The Bank Robbery of the Century by John Brophy with Howard Clewes .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Maypole, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Maypole, dick (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH May 26, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City , New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH 4th January 1991
Place of death Santa Monica , California , United States