Clive Exton

Clive Exton was a British screenwriter who brought a literary wit to his work. After a brief career as an actor, Exton turned to screenwriting for television, taking part in the move towards greater realism that came to British TV in the early 1960s. He wrote television plays for a program called Armchair Theater, often working with director Ted Kotcheff. Acclaimed British director Basil Deardon directed Exton's first feature film, a social drama about class struggle entitled "A Place to Go," in '63. Other successes followed, including the '68 Isadora Duncan biopic, "Isadora," starring Vanessa Redgrave, the '71 serial killer drama "10 Rillington Place" (starring Richard Attenborough), as well as an uncredited script re-write of the '67 hit "Georgy Girl." Exton spent a decade in Hollywood in the '80s but worked on unsuccessful low-brow works like "The Awakening," the '80 mummy movie, and "Red Sonja," the '85 sword and sandal film. He returned to England in the late '80s and found a welcome market for his sophisticated style. In '89, he wrote the first episode of the "Agatha Christie's Poirot" TV series, starring David Suchet, and continued on to write 20 episodes of the popular series between '89 and '00. He also wrote all the episodes of the acclaimed comedy "Jeeves and Wooster" between '90 and '93. He was writing for the mystery series "Rosemary & Thyme" when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Exton died of the disease in '07.