Daniel Carney (1944–1987) was a Rhodesian novelist. Three of his novels have been made into films. He was a brother of
Erin Pizzey
Erin Patria Margaret Pizzey (; born 19 February 1939) is an English ex-feminist, Men's rights activist and advocate against domestic violence, and novelist. She is known for having started the first and currently the largest domestic violence s ...
, also a writer.
Biography
Daniel Carney was born in
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
in 1944, a son of a British diplomat. In 1963, he settled in
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...
(soon to be renamed
Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
) and joined the
British South Africa Police
The British South Africa Police (BSAP) was, for most of its existence, the police force of Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in 1980). It was formed as a paramilitary force of mounted infantrymen in 1889 by Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company, from ...
(BSAP), where he served for three and a half years. In 1968, he co-founded the
estate agents
An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged i ...
Fox and Carney in
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
,
Rhodesia
Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...
. He died of cancer in 1987.
After his death, ownership rights of his novels and the films based on them passed to his family. They have consistently withheld permission to reproduce Daniel's novels, and have opposed re-release or sales of the movies based on the novels. In 2005, Tango Entertainment released a 30th anniversary edition of ''
The Wild Geese
''The Wild Geese'' is a 1978 war film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris, and Hardy Krüger. The screenplay concerns a group of mercenaries in Africa. It was the result of a long-held ambit ...
'' (1978). The film had been hampered by the collapse of its American distributor,
Allied Artists. As a result, the film was only partially distributed in the United States, where it was a
box office disappointment
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
, despite being the fourteenth-highest-grossing film, worldwide, of 1978.
Published works
* , set in Rhodesia, was adapted as a 1976 movie titled ''
Whispering Death'', a.k.a. ''Night of the Askaris'', ''Death in the Sun'', and ''Albino''.
* (originally titled ''The Thin White Line''), set in the Congo, was adapted as the film ''
The Wild Geese
''The Wild Geese'' is a 1978 war film directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris, and Hardy Krüger. The screenplay concerns a group of mercenaries in Africa. It was the result of a long-held ambit ...
'' (1978), with a screenplay by
Reginald Rose
Reginald Rose (December 10, 1920 – April 19, 2002) was an American screenwriter. He wrote about controversial social and political issues. His realistic approach was particularly influential in the anthology programs of the 1950s.
Rose w ...
(author of ''
12 Angry Men
''Twelve Angry Men'' is an American courtroom drama written by Reginald Rose concerning the jury of a homicide trial. It was broadcast initially as a television play in 1954. The following year it was adapted for the stage. It was adapted for a ...
'').
* , is set in Rhodesia. Its film rights were optioned by
Euan Lloyd
Euan Lloyd (6 December 1923 – 2 July 2016) was a British film producer.
Biography
He began his career directing short travelogue documentaries, starting with '' April in Portugal'' in 1954 (not released until 1956). He worked in publicity ...
, producer of ''The Wild Geese'' and ''Wild Geese II'', but the project was not filmed.
* , set in Germany and republished as ''The Wild Geese II'' and ''The Return of the Wild Geese'', was adapted as a movie titled ''
Wild Geese II
''Wild Geese II'' is a 1985 British action-thriller film directed by Peter Hunt, based on the 1982 novel '' The Square Circle'' by Daniel Carney, in which a group of mercenaries are hired to spring Rudolf Hess from Spandau Prison in Berlin. The ...
'' (1985).
* is set in
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
.
References
External links
*
Photo of Carney's grave in Zimbabwe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carney, Daniel
1944 births
1987 deaths
Rhodesian novelists
Zimbabwean novelists
Zimbabwean male writers
Male novelists
British South Africa Police officers
20th-century novelists
British emigrants to Rhodesia
Deaths from cancer in Zimbabwe
Writers from Beirut
20th-century male writers
White Rhodesian people
Zimbabwean people of British descent
People from Harare