John Kruse (1921–2004) was an English film and television

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, director and novelist. He is mostly remembered for his work on ITC classic TV series '' The Saint'', as well as several films of the franchise, and as the author of the best-selling novel ''Red Omega''.

Life

John Kruse was born in England and educated at

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) ...

. His father, Jack Frederick Conrad Kruse, was a captain in the Royal Navy and close associate of tycoon

Lord Rothermere Viscount Rothermere, of Hemsted in the county of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the press lord Harold Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth. He had already been created a baronet, of Horsey in t ...

, founder of the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

''. A wealthy couple, Kruse's parents lived between London and the

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, but the

1929 Crash The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929. It started in September and ended late in October, when share prices on the New York Stock Exchange colla ...

greatly damaged their fortune.Jim Wilson, ''Nazi Princess: Hitler, Lord Rothermere and Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe'', The History Press, 2011 During World War II, John served as a liaison officer in India, the Middle East and Italy. After the war, he returned to England to find his home bombed, his parents dead, and no family business. At the age of twenty-six, he began a new career from scratch. He joined Pinewood Film Studios as a clapper boy and, during the next seven years, progressed to become cameraman, at the same time working nights to perfect his writing. His short stories began to appear in magazines in Britain and the United States in the early fifties; some of these stories were later developed into screenplays. ''

Hell Drivers ''Hell Drivers'' (1957) is a British film noir crime drama film directed by Cy Endfield and starring Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins and Patrick McGoohan. The film was produced by the Rank Organisation and Aqua Film Productions. The f ...

'' (1957) was his first credited film, based on his own short story and co-scripted with director Cy Endfield. By 1954 Kruse had switched to full-time scriptwriting, working in over a dozen of films. Starting in the 1960s, he also wrote many hundreds of episodes for British and international TV shows, including ''

The Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes ** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...

'', ''

Shoestring Shoelaces, also called shoestrings (US English) or bootlaces (UK English), are a system commonly used to secure shoes, boots, and other footwear. They typically consist of a pair of strings or cords, one for each shoe, finished off at both ends ...

'', '' Colditz'', '' The Persuaders!'', and most famously '' The Saint'', starring

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 19 ...

. In 1981, Kruse abandoned screenwriting and moved to Almuñécar, in

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, Spain, where he began a new career as a novelist. He published three novels. The first one, ''Red Omega'' (1981), became a best-seller—a

cold war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

spy thriller involving a CIA plot to murder Stalin using a rogue agent from Extremadura who survived the gulags. It was later followed by a sequel, ''Long Live the Dead'', and ''Hour of the Lily'', an epic story of love and war in Russian-occupied Afghanistan. After these three novels, Kruse took up painting. He died in Almuñécar in 2004.

Work

Television credits

* ''ITV Television Playhouse'' * ''Theatre Royal (TV series), Lilli Palmer Theatre'' * ''Assignment Foreign Legion'' * ''Armchair Theatre'' * ''The Adventures of William Tell, William Tell'' * ''Knight Errand Limited'' * ''Interpol Calling'' * ''Adventures in Paradise (TV series), Adventures in Paradise'' * ''

'' * ''Top Secret (TV series), Top Secret'' * ''Zero One (TV series), Zero One'' * ''The Human Jungle (TV series), The Human Jungle'' * ''No Hiding Place'' * ''Undermind (TV series), Undermind'' * ''The Third Man (TV series), The Third Man'' * ''The Man in Room 17'' * '' The Saint'' * ''Strange Report'' * '' Colditz'' * '' The Persuaders!'' * ''The Protectors'' * ''The Zoo Gang'' * ''Return of the Saint'' * ''

'' * ''The Professionals (TV series), The Professionals''

Film credits

* ''

'' (1957) * ''Sea Fury (1958 film), Sea Fury'' (1958) * ''October Moth'' (also director; 1960) * ''Echo of Barbara'' (1961) * ''The Fiction Makers'' (1968) * ''Crossplot (film), Crossplot'' (1969) * ''Vendetta for the Saint'' (1970) * ''Assault (film), Assault'' (1971) * ''Revenge (1971 film), Revenge'' (1971) * ''Mission: Monte Carlo'' (1974) * ''The Saint and the Brave Goose'' (1979)

Novels

* ''Red Omega'' (1981) * ''Long Live the Dead'' * ''Hour of the Lily'' (1984)

References

Sources

*John Kruse, ''Red Omega''. Pocket Books, 1981.
Biography on Amazon

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kruse, John 1921 births 2004 deaths 20th-century English novelists English television writers English male screenwriters People educated at Harrow School English mystery writers English male novelists 20th-century English male writers British male television writers 20th-century English screenwriters