Alistair Stuart MacLean (Scottish Gaelic: Alasdair MacGill-Eain; 21 April 1922 – 2 February 1987) was a Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, most notably The Guns of Navarone (1957) and Ice Station Zebra (1963). In the late 1960s, encouraged by film producer Elliott Kastner, MacLean began to write original screenplays, concurrently with an accompanying novel. The most successful was the first of these, the 1968 film Where Eagles Dare, which was also a bestselling novel. MacLean also published two novels under the pseudonym Ian Stuart. His books are estimated to have sold over 150 million copies, making him one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time.[1]
Alistair MacLean | |
|---|---|
 MacLean, late in life | |
| Born | 21 April 1922 Shettleston, Glasgow, Scotland |
| Died | 2 February 1987 (aged 64) Munich, West Germany |
| Resting place | Céligny, Switzerland |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Other names | Ian Stuart |
| Education | Daviot local system Inverness Royal Academy Hillhead High School |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
| Occupation(s) | Author, teacher |
| Years active | 1955–1986 |
| Employer(s) | Royal Navy (1941–1946) Gallowflat School (1946–1956) |
| Known for | Thrillers |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (170 cm) |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 3 |
According to one obituary, "he never lost his love for the sea, his talent for portraying good Brits against bad Germans, or his penchant for high melodrama. Critics deplored his cardboard characters and vapid females, but readers loved his combination of hot macho action, wartime commando sagas, and exotic settings that included Greek Islands and Alaskan oil fields."[2]
Early life
editAlistair Stuart Maclean was born on 21 April 1922 in Shettleston, Glasgow, the third of four sons of a Church of Scotland minister,[3] but spent much of his childhood and youth in Daviot, 10 miles (16 km) south of Inverness. He spoke only Scottish Gaelic before attending school.[4][5]
In 1941, at the age of 19, he was called up to fight in the Second World War with the Royal Navy, serving with the ranks of ordinary seaman, able seaman, and leading torpedo operator. He was first assigned to PS Bournemouth Queen, a converted excursion ship fitted for antiaircraft guns, on duty off the coasts of England and Scotland. Beginning in 1943, he served on HMS Royalist, a Dido-class light cruiser. There, he saw action in 1943 in the Atlantic theatre, on two Arctic convoys and escorting aircraft carrier groups in operations against Tirpitz, and other targets off the Norwegian coast. He took part in Convoy PQ 17 on Royalist.[4] In 1944, Royalist and he served in the Mediterranean theatre, as part of the invasion of southern France and in helping to sink blockade runners off Crete and bombard Milos in the Aegean. During this time, MacLean may have been injured in a gunnery-practice accident. In 1945, in the Far East theatre, MacLean and Royalist saw action escorting carrier groups in operations against Japanese targets in Burma, Malaya, and Sumatra. (MacLean's late-in-life claims that he was captured by the Japanese after blowing up bridges, and tortured by having his teeth pulled out, have been dismissed by both his son and his biographer as drunken ravings).[6][7] After the Japanese surrender, Royalist helped evacuate liberated POWs from Changi Prison in Singapore.
MacLean was discharged from the Royal Navy in 1946. He then studied English at the University of Glasgow, working at the post office and as a street sweeper.[8] He lived with his mother at 26 Carrington Street, at St Georges Cross, Glasgow while attending the university.[citation needed] He graduated with an MA (Hons.) in 1950, briefly worked as a hospital porter, and then worked as a schoolteacher at Gallowflat School (now Stonelaw High School) in Rutherglen.[9][10]
Early writing career
editFirst works
editWhilst a university student, MacLean began writing short stories for extra income, winning a competition in 1954 with the maritime story "Dileas". He sold stories to the Daily Mirror and The Evening News. The wife of Ian Chapman, editor at the publishing company Collins, had been particularly moved by "Dileas" and the Chapmans arranged to meet with MacLean, suggesting he write a novel.[11] MacLean responded three months later with HMS Ulysses, based on his own war experiences and credited insight from his brother Ian, a master mariner.[8][12]
MacLean later described his writing process:
I drew a cross square, lines down representing the characters, lines across representing chapters 1–15. Most of the characters died, in fact only one survived the book, but when I came to the end the graph looked somewhat lopsided, there were too many people dying in the first, fifth and tenth chapters so I had to rewrite it, giving an even dying space throughout. I suppose it sounds cold blooded and calculated, but that's the way I did it.[13]
MacLean was paid a large advance of $50,000, which made the headlines. Collins were rewarded when the book sold a quarter of a million copies in hardback in England in the first six months of publication. It went on to sell millions more.[13] Film rights were sold to Robert Clark of Associated British for £30,000, though a film was never made.[14][15] This money meant MacLean was able to devote himself to writing full-time.[9][16]
Guns of Navarone
editHis next novel, The Guns of Navarone (1957), was about an attack on the fictitious island of Navarone (based on Milos). The book was very successful, selling over 400,000 copies in its first six months.[8] In 1957, MacLean said, "I'm not a literary person. If someone offered me £100,000 tax free, I'd never write another word."[17] The film version of The Guns of Navarone (1961) was hugely successful.[18]
MacLean was unhappy at the tax paid on earnings for his first two novels, so he moved to Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, where he would pay less tax. He planned to write one novel a year. "It's all the market can stand," he said, adding it took him three months to write it.[19]
MacLean followed it with South by Java Head (1958), based on his experiences in the seas off Southeast Asia in World War Two. Film rights for South by Java Head were sold, but no movie resulted.[20]
The Last Frontier (1959), was a thriller about the Hungarian uprising of 1956. The Last Frontier was turned into a movie, The Secret Ways (1961), which was not very successful.
His next novels were Night Without End (1959) and Fear Is the Key (1961).
Ian Stuart
editIn the early 1960s, MacLean published two novels under the pseudonym "Ian Stuart" to prove that the popularity of his books was due to their content rather than his name on the cover.[21] These were The Dark Crusader (1961) and The Satan Bug (1962). He also said it was because "I usually write adventure stories, but this is a sort of Secret Service or private eye book. I didn't want to confuse my readers."[22]
The Ian Stuart books sold well, and MacLean made no attempt to change his writing style. He also continued to publish novels under his own name such as The Golden Rendezvous (1962) and Ice Station Zebra (1963).[23]
"I'm not a novelist", he once said. "That's too pretentious a claim. I'm a storyteller, that's all. I'm a professional and a craftsman. I will make that claim for myself."[24] MacLean also claimed he wrote very fast (35 days for a novel) because he disliked writing and the "sooner he finished, the better." He never reread a book after it was finished.[24] His novels were notable for their lack of sex. "I like girls", he said. "I just don't write them well. Everyone knows that men and women make love, laddie – there is no need to show it."[24]
Retirement
editIn 1963, MacLean decided to retire from writing, saying he never enjoyed it and only did it to make money. He decided to become a hotelier and bought the Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor and then bought two more hotels, the Bank House near Worcester and the Bean Bridge at Wellington in Somerset.[25][26][27] MacLean focused on his hotel career for three years. It was not a success, and by 1976, he had sold all three hotels. During this time, a film was made of The Satan Bug.[28]
Return to writing
editScreenwriter
editMacLean returned to writing with When Eight Bells Toll (1966).[29]
Cinema producer Elliot Kastner admired MacLean, and asked him if he would be interested in writing an original screenplay. MacLean agreed to the proposition, and Kastner sent the writer two scripts, one by William Goldman and one by Robert and Jane Howard-Carrington, to familiarize himself with the format. Kastner said he wanted a World War Two story with a group of men on a mission to rescue someone, with a "ticking clock" and some female characters. MacLean agreed to write it for an initial $10,000 with $100,000 to come later. This script was Where Eagles Dare.[30]
In July 1966, Kastner and his producing partner Jerry Gershwin announced they had purchased five screenplays from MacLean: Where Eagles Dare, When Eight Bells Toll, and three other unnamed ones.[31][32] (Kastner made four MacLean movies.) MacLean also wrote a novel for Where Eagles Dare, after the screenplay, which was published in 1967 before the film came out. The book was a bestseller, and the 1968 film version was a huge hit.[33]
"MacLean is a natural storyteller", said Kastner. "He is a master of adventure. All his books are conceived in cinematic terms. They hardly need to be adapted for the screen; when you read them, the screen is in front of your mind."[34] MacLean wrote a sequel to Guns of Navarone, Force 10 from Navarone (1968). A film version was announced in 1967, but did not result for another decade.[35] The same year, an expensive film based on Ice Station Zebra was released.
Producer
editIn 1967, MacLean formed a partnership with Geoffrey Reeve and Lewis Jenkins to make films for MacLean to write and Reeves to direct. They planned to make a sequel to Guns of Navarone, only to discover that Carl Foreman, producer of the original film, had registered the title After Navarone. This led to a falling-out with Foreman, and a delay in the Navarone sequel.[36]
Maclean wrote a thriller about narcotics, Puppet on a Chain (1969), and Caravan to Vaccarès (1970). These books all began as screenplays for Kastner.[37] Maclean said Puppet was "a change of style from the earlier books. If I went on writing the same stuff, I'd be guying myself."[38]
When Puppet on a Chain was made, Maclean said, "I've been connected with it for three years and it's too much for me. All those entrepreneurs and promoters who aren't creative. All that time wasted."[38]
"There is nobody to touch him," said Ian Chapman. "But he is a storyteller, not a film man."[38]
MacLean then wrote Bear Island (1971), the last of his first-person narratives.[citation needed]
MacLean moved to Switzerland in 1970 as a tax exile.[39] That year, he said, "there's Harold Robbins, Agatha Christie, Georges Simenon, and me." He added, "I'm a storyteller, that's all. There's no art in it, no mystique. It's a job like any other. The secret, if there is one, is speed. That's why there's so little sex in my books – it holds up the action." He said he enjoyed the plotting "but the rest is a pain."[38]
In 1970 MacLean, whose hero was Raymond Chandler, said "give me ten years, a few more books, and maybe, maybe I'll be half as good as Chandler."[38]
Kastner produced a film version of When Eight Bells Toll (1971), based on a script by MacLean, and Fear Is the Key (1972), adapted by another writer.[40] Another producer made Puppet on a Chain (1971), directed by Reeves, from a script by MacLean.[41] Neither performed particularly strongly at the box office.[42]
Mary MacLean
editIn 1972, MacLean married his second wife, Mary Georgius.[43] She planned to produce three films based on his books, but the box-office failure of the last three MacLean adaptations put these on hold.[4] One of these proposed films was The Way to Dusty Death, which was to star Jackie Stewart. It ended up being a 1973 novel and a 1995 film.[4]
In 1973, MacLean was looking at moving to Jamaica. He also considered moving to Ireland, but decided to stay in Switzerland.[44]
Geoffrey Reeve directed a film of Caravan to Vaccarès (1974). By 1973, MacLean had sold over 24 million novels.[24] "I am not a writer," he said in 1972. "I am a businessman. My business is writing."[4] MacLean had spent a number of years focusing on screenplays, but disliked it and decided to return to being predominantly a novel writer. "Hollywood destroys writers," he said.[6] He wrote a biography of Captain James Cook, which was published in 1972.[45] He wrote Breakheart Pass (1974),[46] Circus (1975),[47] The Golden Gate (1976),[48] Seawitch (1977),[49] Goodbye California (1979) and Athabasca (1980).
"I read a lot, I travel some," he said in 1975. "But mostly what I don't know, I invent."[50] In 1976, he was living in Los Angeles and said he wanted to write a four-volume serious piece called "The Rembrandt Quarter" based on the painting The Night Watch.[51] These books were never published.
In 1977, it was announced MacLean, then worth £5 million, would divorce Mary, who said the author was impossible to live with.[52]
In 1978, MacLean said he "just can't understand" why people bought his novels. "It's not as if I write that well: I do feel my English isn't very good. In fact, I'd rather write in Gaelic or Spanish than English."[6]
He said his stories tended to pit "character against character as a kind of intellectual chess game" and that he found writing "boring" and "lonely", but "I guess it all boils down to that rather awful philosophy of take the money and run."[6] "I am just a journeyman," he said. "I blunder along from one book to the next always hopeful that one day I will write something really good."[6]
Films were still being made out of his novels, including Breakheart Pass (1975) (from Kastner), Golden Rendezvous (1977), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), and Bear Island (1979), but none did very well.
In 1976, MacLean's second wife Mary formed a company with producer Peter Snell, Aleelle Productions, which aimed to make movies based on MacLean novels, including Golden Gate, Bear Island, The Way to Dusty Death, and Captain Cook. This company still owned these film rights after MacLean divorced Mary in 1977, but the rights soon passed to Snell.[53]
MacLean decided to focus on American television, writing a novella titled Air Force One is Down, which was turned down by the American television network NBC (it would be produced in 2012). He then pitched six new ideas to networks, each with a 25– to 30-page synopsis to see which was commercially viable before The Hostage Tower was approved by CBS, and aired on American television in 1980.[42]
Later career
editHis later works include River of Death (1981) (filmed in 1989), Partisans (1982), Floodgate (1983), and San Andreas (1984). Often, these novels were worked on by ghost writers specializing in drama, with MacLean providing only the plots and characters.[54] His last novel was Santorini (1986), which was published after his death.[55] His estate left behind several outlines. One of them was filmed as Death Train (1993).[56] His later books were not as well received as the earlier publications, and in an attempt to keep his stories in keeping with the time, he sometimes lapsed into unduly improbable plots.[citation needed]
Death
editMacLean died of heart failure[57] at the age of 64 in Munich on 2 February 1987; his last years were affected by alcoholism.[58] According to one obituary, "A master of nail-chewing suspense, MacLean met an appropriately mysterious death; when he died in the Bavarian capital after a brief illness, no one, including the British Embassy, knew what he was doing there."[2][59][58] He is buried in the cemetery in Céligny, Switzerland, near to the grave of his friend Richard Burton.
Personal life
editHe was married twice and had three sons (one adopted) by his first wife, Gisela. He married for a second time in 1972; that marriage ended in divorce in 1977.[60] His niece Shona MacLean (also published under S.G. Maclean) is a writer and historical novelist.[61]
MacLean was awarded a doctor of letters by the University of Glasgow in 1983.[10]
Critical appraisal
editWriter Algis Budrys described MacLean's writing style as - "hit 'em with everything but the kitchen sink, then give 'em the sink, and when they raise their heads, drop the plumber on 'em".[62] Screenwriter Derek Kolstad, who wrote the John Wick film series, cited MacLean and Stephen King as among his primary influences.[63]
List of works
editNovels
edit| Year | Title | Notes | Highest position reached |
Number of weeks on list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | HMS Ulysses | #8 | 17 | |
| 1957 | The Guns of Navarone | #12 | 3 | |
| 1958 | South by Java Head | — | — | |
| 1959 | The Last Frontier | in the US The Secret Ways | — | — |
| 1959 | Night Without End | #13 | 2 | |
| 1961 | Fear Is the Key | — | — | |
| 1961 | The Dark Crusader | in the US The Black Shrike (as Ian Stuart) | — | — |
| 1962 | The Golden Rendezvous | #13 | 8 | |
| 1962 | The Satan Bug | as Ian Stuart | #16 | 1 |
| 1962 | All About Lawrence of Arabia | Non-fiction | ||
| 1963 | Ice Station Zebra | #10 | 1 | |
| 1966 | When Eight Bells Toll | Also wrote screenplay. | — | — |
| 1967 | Where Eagles Dare | Wrote screenplay and novelization simultaneously | - | - |
| 1968 | Force 10 From Navarone | #4 | 18 | |
| 1969 | Puppet on a Chain | Also wrote screenplay | #5 | 17 |
| 1970 | Caravan to Vaccarès | #6 | 12 | |
| 1971 | Bear Island | #5 | 14 | |
| 1972 | Alistair MacLean Introduces Scotland | Non-fiction, edited by Alastair Dunnett | ||
| 1972 | Captain Cook | Non-fiction | ||
| 1973 | The Way to Dusty Death | — | — | |
| 1974 | Breakheart Pass | — | — | |
| 1975 | Circus | #5 | 12 | |
| 1976 | The Golden Gate | #8 | 2 | |
| 1977 | Seawitch | #15 | 1 | |
| 1978 | Goodbye California | #10 | 9 | |
| 1980 | Athabasca | #3[64] | — | |
| 1981 | River of Death | — | — | |
| 1982 | Partisans | #15 | 1 | |
| 1983 | Floodgate | #12 | 3 | |
| 1984 | San Andreas | — | — | |
| 1985 | The Lonely Sea | Collection of short stories (2 stories added in 2009) | — | — |
| 1986 | Santorini | #13 | 2 |
Source for The New York Times Best Seller list: "Adult New York Times Best Seller Listings". Hawes Publications. Retrieved 30 August 2014. Figures are for the Adult Hardcover Fiction lists, 1956 through 1987: highest position reached and total number of weeks on list. A "—" indicates it did not make the list. Note that the Times list consisted of a Top 10 from 1963 through 1976, but a Top 15 or 16 before and after; thus, books during that middle period may have had longer stays relative to the others.
| Year | Title | Author, using MacLean's notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Hostage Tower | John Denis |
| 1981 | Air Force One is Down | John Denis |
| 1989 | Death Train | Alastair MacNeill |
| 1989 | Night Watch | Alastair MacNeill |
| 1990 | Red Alert | Alastair MacNeill |
| 1991 | Time of the Assassins | Alastair MacNeill |
| 1992 | Dead Halt | Alastair MacNeill |
| 1993 | Code Breaker | Alastair MacNeill |
| 1995 | Rendezvous | Alastair MacNeill |
| 1997 | Prime Target | Hugh Miller |
| 1998 | Borrowed Time | Hugh Miller |
Golden Girl series by other authors
edit| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Golden Girl | by Simon Gandolfi |
| 1993 | Golden Web | by Simon Gandolfi |
| 1994 | Golden Vengeance | by Simon Gandolfi |
Films with screenplay contribution
edit| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Where Eagles Dare | book author/screenplay |
| 1970 | Puppet on a Chain | book author/screenplay |
| 1971 | When Eight Bells Toll | book author/screenplay |
| 1975 | Breakheart Pass | book author/screenplay |
| 2012 | Air Force One Is Down (2012 television miniseries) | story |
Other films
edit| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | The Secret Ways | book author |
| 1961 | The Guns of Navarone | book author |
| 1965 | The Satan Bug | book author |
| 1968 | Ice Station Zebra | book author |
| 1972 | Fear Is the Key | book author |
| 1974 | Caravan to Vaccares | book author |
| 1977 | Golden Rendezvous | book author |
| 1978 | Force 10 from Navarone | book author |
| 1979 | Bear Island | book author |
| 1980 | The Hostage Tower | story |
| 1989 | River of Death | book author |
| 1993 | Death Train | story |
| 1995 | The Way to Dusty Death | book author |
| 1995 | Night Watch | story |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Head, Dominic (26 January 2006). The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge University Press. p. 431. ISBN 9780521831796.
- ^ a b Alistair MacLean Mysterious death for writer Cannon, Margaret. The Globe and Mail 3 February 1987: C.5.
- ^ "Rev. Alistair MacLean". Family Search. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
- ^ a b c d e War Is Hell, but It Pays Off for MacLean: War Pays Off for MacLean War Pays Off for MacLean War is Hell, but It Pays Off for Alistair Johnstone, Jain. Los Angeles Times 17 December 1972: p1.
- ^ Drysdale, Neil (27 December 2021). "Alistair MacLean: Meet the Gaelic-speaking Highlander whose Arctic heroics fuelled his books".
Arriving in a MacLean tartan kilt to begin school at Daviot Primary School, near Inverness, Alistair didn't have a word of English in his vocabulary.
- ^ a b c d e Mystery of success: Alistair MacLean wants to be great Dangaard, Colin. Chicago Tribune 11 September 1978: b1.
- ^ Webster, Alistair MacLean: A Life, p. 191.
- ^ a b c "Alistair Maclean dies aged 64", The Irish Times, 3 February 1987: 4.
- ^ a b "Novelist Alistair MacLean Dies at 64". AP News. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ a b Chapman, Ian, "Maclean, Alistair Stuart (1922–1987)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, 23 September 2004. Retrieved 2 December 2021. (subscription required)
- ^ Why Alistair MacLean felt he had failed Author: Ian Chapman Date: Tuesday, 3 February 1987 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 28181 p 7
- ^ Webster p 66-68
- ^ a b Johnstone, Jain (17 December 1972). "War Is Hell, but It Pays Off for MacLean". Los Angeles Times. p. 1.
- ^ Webster p 73
- ^ Wales, Roland (3 March 2017). Movie Countdown: 52 – 46. Pen and Sword Books / WordPress. ISBN 978-1-47386-069-8. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ "Alistair MacLean: An enduring writer of thrillers". The Week. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
- ^ The Bashful Best-seller fires another broadside Author: Marshall Pugh Date: Monday, 21 January 1957 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 1889 p 4
- ^ Steinberg, Cobbett (1980). Film Facts. New York: Facts on File, Inc. p. 24. ISBN 0-87196-313-2.
- ^ Tanfield's Diary Author: Alistair MacLean Date: Monday, 21 October 1957 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 19130 p16
- ^ New Guinness Film to Cost $4 Million The Washington Post and Times-Herald 20 January 1960: B10.
- ^ Webster p 112-117
- ^ The Navarone author fools the critics Author: Paul Tanfield Date: Monday, 22 January 1962 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 20448 p4
- ^ Webster p 118-120
- ^ a b c d Best-Selling Author Alistair MacLean Dies The Washington Post 3 February 1987: b04.
- ^ Webster p 121-122
- ^ Johnstone, Iain (10 May 1978). "The Man with the Golden Typewriter". The Australian Women's Weekly. p. 65. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
- ^ "His 22 Best-Selling Thrillers Have Brought Alistair MacLean Fame, Fortune and a Lonely Life". People. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
- ^ Webster p 124-127
- ^ Cromie, Alice (25 September 1966). "Crime on My Hands". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. p. n4.
- ^ Webster p 129-130
- ^ Gene Kelly to Do 'Married' Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times, 30 July 1966: 18.
- ^ Aba, Marika (21 July 1968) "The Burtons... 'Just Another Working Couple'". Los Angeles Times c18.
- ^ "Where Eagles Dare". TCM.
- ^ ALISTAIR MacLEAN DIES; BOOKS SOLD IN MILLIONS: [Obituary] McDOWELL, EDWIN. New York Times 3 February 1987: B.7.
- ^ Second 'Navarone' Film Set Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 13 April 1967: d19.
- ^ Webster p 141-143
- ^ The Man who Knows where the Action Is. Alistair MacLean and Godfrey Smith. The Sunday Times (London, England), Sunday, 18 January 1970; pg. 37[S]; Issue 7651. (1523 words)
- ^ a b c d e Name: Alistair MacLean. Occupation: Storyteller (not novelist). Destiny: To make a million. Present job (unhappily for him): Making the film of the book. His book Author: Barry Norman Date: Monday, 27 April 1970 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 23009 p 7
- ^ MacLean p 158
- ^ Webster p 139-140
- ^ Webster p 155-156
- ^ a b Alistair MacLean's Eiffel Tower Drama By DAVID LEWIN. New York Times 11 May 1980: D37.
- ^ A new chapter in the MacLean travel story... Author: Paul Callan Date: Wednesday, 13 June 1973 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 23965
- ^ An £80,000 surprise... for the king of suspense Author: Paul Callan Date: Thursday, 19 April 1973 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 23920 p 19
- ^ THE BOOK REPORT: Capt. Cook's Great Voyages Told in Sketches With Text Kirsch, Robert. Los Angeles Times 28 September 1972: e7.
- ^ BREAKHEART PASS by Alistair MacLean. Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ CIRCUS by Alistair MacLean. Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ THE GOLDEN GATE by Alistair MacLean. Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ SEAWITCH by Alistair MacLean. Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ CRITIC AT LARGE: The Scot's Got Lots of Plots Champlin, Charles. Los Angeles Times 27 February 1975: f1.
- ^ Meeting MacLean, the mystery man Author: Sally Ogle Davis Date: Saturday, 17 January 1976 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 24767 p 7
- ^ Why my husband and I have parted—by Mrs Alistair MacLean Author: Nigel Dempster Date: Wednesday, 19 January 1977 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 25078 p 13
- ^ Dempster, Nigel (19 January 1977). "Why my husband and I have parted—by Mrs Alistair MacLean". p. 13.
- ^ Haunted by ghost writers Hamilton, Ian. The Observer (1901–2003); London (UK) [London (UK)]19 Mar 1995: 88.
- ^ The Final Adventure of Alistair MacLean: SANTORINI By Alistair MacLean Doubleday. 245 pp. $16.95 By Heywood Hale Broun. The Washington Post 12 April 1987: BW7.
- ^ The New Adventures of Pierce Brosnan: ACTOR IS BACK ON TRACK WITH USA NETWORK'S 'DEATH TRAIN' SUSAN KING TIMES STAFF WRITER. Los Angeles Times 11 April 1993: J15.
- ^ "Novelist Alistair MacLean Dies at 64". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 4 March 2023.
- ^ a b Norman, Barry (2003). And Why Not?: Memoirs of a Film Lover. NY: Simon and Schuster. pp. 211–14. ISBN 978-0684020884. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ McDOWELL, EDWIN. "ALISTAIR MacLEAN DIES; BOOKS SOLD IN MILLIONS." New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) ed.3 Feb 1987.
- ^ MARRIAGES Variety; Los Angeles Vol. 268, Iss. 11, (25 Oct 1972): 71.
- ^ "Scots crime writer Shona MacLean 'killed off' to appeal to men". www.scotsman.com. 22 April 2012.
- ^ Budrys, Algis (April 1966). "Galaxy Bookshelf". Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 67–75.
- ^ "An interview with Derek Kolstad, screenwriter of John Wick". Flickering Myth. 24 October 2014.
- ^ "PAPERBACK BEST SELLERS; MASS MARKET." New York Times, Late Edition (East Coast) ed.25 Apr 1982.
Bibliography
edit- Petri Liukkonen. "Alistair MacLean". Books and Writers.
- J. Kingston Pierce (1 October 2013). "Fit to Thrill: Alistair MacLean Deserves to Be Read Again". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- Edwin McDowell (3 February 1987). "Alastair MacLean Dies; Books Sold in Millions". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- "Bestselling British Author Alistair MacLean Dead at 64". Ocala Star-Banner. 3 February 1987. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
- Lee, Robert A. Alistair MacLean: The Key is Fear. Borgo Press, 1976. ISBN 0-89370-203-X.
- Webster, Jack. Alistair MacLean: A Life. Chapmans Publishers, 1991. ISBN 1-85592-519-2. (Alternative title: Alistair MacLean: A Biography of a Master Storyteller.)
- "Maclean, Alistair". Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Liam Rodger and Joan Bakewell. London: Chambers Harrap, 2011.