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Harry Palmer
Harry Palmer is the anti-hero protagonist of a number of films based on the unnamed main character, a secret agent, in the spy novels written by Len Deighton. Michael Caine played Harry Palmer in three of the four films based on the four published novels featuring this character, ''The Ipcress File'' (1965), ''Funeral in Berlin'' (1966) and ''Billion Dollar Brain'' (1967). Caine also starred as this character in two other films not directly based on Deighton's novels. ''The Times'' called Caine "the epitome of Sixties cool in his first outing as the secret agent Harry Palmer". A trailer for his second role as Palmer described him as possessing "horn rims, cockney wit and an iron fist". The character's thick horn-rimmed glasses, girls, and disregard for authority was cited by Mike Myers as an influence for ''Austin Powers''; Caine would later star in ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'' (2002), with his portrayal of Nigel Powers, father of secret agent Austin Powers, a spoof of Palme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The IPCRESS File
''The IPCRESS File'' is Len Deighton's first spy novel, published in 1962. The story involves Cold War brainwashing, includes scenes in Lebanon and on an atoll for a United States atomic weapon test, as well as information about Joe One, the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb. The story was made into a film in 1965 produced by Harry Saltzman, directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Michael Caine; and a 2022 TV series, starring Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton and Tom Hollander. Plot The novel takes the form of the unnamed protagonist's personal report to the Minister of Defence, thus becoming the 'IPCRESS File' of the title. Events begin soon after the protagonist's transfer from military intelligence to WOOC(P), a small civilian intelligence agency reporting directly to the British Cabinet, where he works under the command of a man named Dalby. An intelligence broker code-named "Jay" is suspected to be behind a series of kidnappings of British VIPs with the intention of selling them ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austin Powers (character)
Sir Austin Danger Powers is a fictional character from the ''Austin Powers'' series of films, and is created and portrayed by Mike Myers. He is the protagonist of '' Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' (1997), ''The Spy Who Shagged Me'' (1999) and ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'' (2002). He is a womanizing, hard partying British spy embodying the Swinging London psyche and hippie culture of the 1960s who, with his nemesis Dr. Evil, was frozen in a cryonics experiment. The series' humor follows his attempts to adjust to the modern world as he continues to try to save it from terrorism. Personality Austin Powers was a character seen as a parody of James Bond, and being influenced by Evelyn Tremble (played by Peter Sellers) in the spoof James Bond 1967 movie '' Casino Royale''. Other notable influences were Harry Palmer (played by Michael Caine who would go on to play Austin's father, Nigel, in Goldmember), especially his thick horn-rimmed glasses, and the flamboyant dress ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bullet To Beijing
''Bullet to Beijing'' is a 1995 made-for-television film that continues the adventures of the fictional spy Harry Palmer, who appeared in the 1960s films ''The Ipcress File'', ''Funeral in Berlin'' and ''Billion Dollar Brain'', based on books by author Len Deighton. Though an alternative title is ''Len Deighton's Bullet to Beijing'', Deighton was not associated with the film. The 1996 sequel ''Midnight in Saint Petersburg'' was filmed back-to-back with this film. Plot Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is forced into early retirement from MI5. He receives a telephone call offering a mysterious job opportunity. Harry flies to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he is met by Nikolai (Jason Connery). They are followed and shot at by Chechens, before Nick (as Harry insists on calling him) and Natasha (Mia Sara) can deliver Harry to his potential employer, Alex ( Michael Gambon). Alex tells Harry that a deadly binary biological weapon called Alorex has been stolen; he wants Harry to find it. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spy Story (film)
''Spy Story'' is a 1976 British espionage film directed by Lindsay Shonteff and starring Michael Petrovitch, Philip Latham and Don Fellows. It is based on the 1974 novel '' Spy Story'' by Len Deighton. Cast * Michael Petrovitch ... Patrick Armstrong * Philip Latham ... Ferdy Foxwell * Don Fellows ... Colonel Schlegel * Michael Gwynn ... Dawlish * Nicholas Parsons ... Ben Toliver * Toby Robins ... Helen Schlegel * Tessa Wyatt Tessa Wyatt (born 23 April 1948) is an English actress best known for her role as Vicky Tripp (née Nicholls) on the ITV sitcom '' Robin's Nest''. Early life Wyatt was born in Woking, Surrey in 1948 and attended Elmhurst Ballet School. She was ... ... Sara Shaw * Derren Nesbitt ... Colonel Stok * Nigel Plaskitt ... Mason * Ciaran Madden ... Marjorie * Bernard Kay ... Commander Wheeler * Paul Maxwell ... Submarine Captain * Andrew Downie ... MacGregor * John Forgeham ... Security Guard * Michael Knowles (actor), Michael Knowle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spy Story (novel)
''Spy Story'' is a 1974 spy novel by Len Deighton, which features minor characters from his earlier novels ''The IPCRESS File'', ''Funeral in Berlin'', ''Horse Under Water'', and ''Billion Dollar Brain''. In common with several of his other early novels, the chapter headings have a "feature". In ''Spy Story'' these take the form of excerpts from the fictional Studies Centre's rules. Protagonist As in the earlier " Unnamed hero" novels, we never learn the protagonist's name, only that he is living under an alias "Pat Armstrong". Armstrong works for the Studies Centre in London, where wargames are played with computer assistance, using the latest intelligence data on Soviet electronic warfare capabilities. We learn in passing that Armstrong is in his late 30s and that he formerly worked for an unnamed intelligence organisation, which may well be the WOOC(P) of the earlier books – Dawlish, the head of WOOC(P) in the earlier novels, appears as a character, where it is revealed t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
An Expensive Place To Die
''An Expensive Place to Die'' is a 1967 novel by Len Deighton. It is set initially in Paris and takes its title from an Oscar Wilde quotation about the said city. ("Dying in Paris is a terribly expensive business for a foreigner.") The action concerns the shady dealing and possible expensive pimping of one Monsieur Datt against a background of espionage. This is the fifth novel in the "unnamed hero" series, but unlike the previous ones, it includes chapters and sections in the third person.Author's introduction to the HarperCollins edition, London, 2012 Plot The unnamed protagonist, a British intelligence officer, is told to leak to the Chinese information about the effectiveness of nuclear weapons, to bolster their deterrent effect. M Datt, posing as a psychologist, believes he is working for the Chinese by accumulating compromising film of the sexual activities of various influential people. The Chinese have no interest in the films and the narrator does a deal with the Frenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billion-Dollar Brain
''Billion-Dollar Brain'' is a 1966 Cold War spy novel by Len Deighton. It was the fourth to feature an unnamed secret agent working for the British WOOC(P) intelligence agency. It follows ''The IPCRESS File'' (1962), ''Horse Under Water'' (1963), and ''Funeral in Berlin'' (1964). As in most of Deighton's novels, the plot of ''Billion Dollar Brain'' (1967) is intricate, with many dead ends. Plot The unnamed protagonist is ordered to Helsinki by Dawlish, his boss, to suppress a newspaper article, potentially embarrassing to the U.K. government, about to be published by a Finnish journalist. He finds the journalist murdered and coincidentally meets a young woman who attempts to recruit him into the British Intelligence. This woman, Signe Laine, is both romantically connected to and working for the protagonist's old American friend Harvey Newbegin (who also appeared in ''Funeral in Berlin''). Newbegin in turn attempts to recruit him into a private intelligence outfit, whose netwo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funeral In Berlin
''Funeral in Berlin'' is a 1964 spy novel by Len Deighton set between Saturday 5 October and Sunday 10 November 1963. It was the third of Deighton's novels about an unnamed British agent. It was preceded by ''The IPCRESS File'' (1962) and ''Horse Under Water'' (1963), and followed by ''Billion-Dollar Brain'' (1966). Plot The protagonist, who is unnamed, travels to Berlin to arrange the defection of a Soviet scientist named Semitsa, this being brokered by Johnny Vulkan of the Berlin intelligence community.Baker, Brian (2006) ''Masculinity in Fiction and Film: Representing Men in Popular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse Under Water
''Horse Under Water'' (1963, , ) is the second of four Len Deighton spy novels featuring an unnamed British agent protagonist (named Harry Palmer in the film adaptions). It was preceded by ''The IPCRESS File'' and followed by ''Funeral in Berlin''. Background The novel is set in 1960, mostly in a small fishing village in Portugal, during the António de Oliveira Salazar dictatorship. It retains the style of ''The IPCRESS File'' — multiple plots twists, Gauloises cigarettes, the grime- and soot-stained British winter. In common with several of Deighton's other early novels, the chapter headings have a running theme. In ''Horse Under Water'' these are crossword puzzle clues, reflecting the protagonist's habit of endlessly writing and replacing words in crossword puzzles. The first edition of ''Horse Under Water'' published by Jonathan Cape was shorter than the later Penguin edition, which included a detailed description of the anonymous British agent's diving course and also i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ipcress File (TV Series)
''The Ipcress File'' is a British cold war spy thriller television series loosely based on the 1962 novel The IPCRESS File by Len Deighton. Written by John Hodge and directed by James Watkins, it stars Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton and Tom Hollander. It was first broadcast at 9pm from Sunday 6 March to 10 April 2022 on ITV. The entire series was available for streaming, with commercials, on ITV Hub after episode 1 was broadcast. Within a week the full series was also available, commercial-free, on BritBox in the UK. Premise In 1963, spy chief Major Dalby gives small-time crook and black-marketeer Corporal Harry Palmer a way out of Colchester Military Prison by offering him a job as an intelligence officer in his small but influential Whitehall security unit, WOOC(P). The unit's investigation into a missing British nuclear scientist expands into a case of international espionage which is documented in the contents of the eponymous "IPCRESS File". WOOC(P) is a (fictional) civilian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Saltzman
Herschel Saltzman (; – ), known as Harry Saltzman, was a Canadian theatre and film producer. He is best remembered for co-producing the first nine of the ''James Bond'' film series with Albert R. Broccoli. He lived most of his life in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. Early life Saltzman was born in a hospital in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, the son of Jewish immigrants Abraham Saltzman and Dora Horstein. Raised in Saint John, New Brunswick for the first seven years of his life. His father, a horticulturalist, immigrated to the US in 1905 from Kozienice, Poland (then the Russian Empire), marrying Dora in 1909. The couple moved to Canada in 1910 where their four oldest children (Minnie, Florence, Harry and Isadore) were born, before moving the family to Cleveland, Ohio where their youngest son, David, was born. Harry ran away from home at the age of 15. Saltzman was 30 when he learned where he had actually been born. Career At about age 17, Saltzman joined a circus and trave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have written authorised Bond novels or novelisations: Kingsley Amis, Christopher Wood, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Sebastian Faulks, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd, and Anthony Horowitz. The latest novel is ''With a Mind to Kill'' by Anthony Horowitz, published in May 2022. Additionally Charlie Higson wrote a series on a young James Bond, and Kate Westbrook wrote three novels based on the diaries of a recurring series character, Moneypenny. The character—also known by the code number 007 (pronounced "double-oh-seven")—has also been adapted for television, radio, comic strip, video games and film. The films are one of the longest continually running film series and have grossed over US$7.04 billion in total at the box office ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
