Johanna M. Harwood (born 1930) is an Irish screenwriter. She was born and raised in County Wicklow in the Irish countryside. She co-wrote two

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 ...

films, and went uncredited for adaptation work on a third.

Life and career

Harwood entered the film industry in 1949. Fluent in the French language, she trained at

Institut des hautes études cinématographiques L'Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (IDHEC; the "Institute for Advanced Cinematographic Studies") is a French film school, founded during World War II under the leadership of Marcel L'Herbier who was its president from 1944 to 1969. ...

("I.D.H.E.C") in Paris, France. According to the ''Irish Digest'', Harwood also studied filmmaking in England, then returned to Dublin to work in the Irish film industry. She became a continuity supervisor on films during the early to mid-1950s including ''Everybody's Business'' (a.k.a. ''Gno Gach Einne'');Credited as Siobhan Harwood. '' Return to Glennascaul'' (shot in Ireland), starring Orson Welles;The film misspells her name as "Johanna Horward". ''The Flying Eye''; '' Knave of Hearts'' (shot in London and France); and Orson Welles's '' Mr. Arkadin''.The film misspells her name as "Johanna Horward". She also did assistant continuity on the Albert R. Broccoli productions '' The Red Beret'' and '' Hell Below Zero''. In an interview with ''Irish Digest'' magazine, Harwood claims that the shortage of Irish film work reluctantly forced her to move to London where she worked for a

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. This at least gave her sufficient time to write. Among the publications she contributed to during the late 1950s and early 1960s was '' Punch''. At some point the agency closed its London office and

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 Den ...

took over. Harwood stayed on as his secretary and eventually his

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in the late 1950s. She eventually persuaded him to let her write a film script. Saltzman phoned her one night with an idea for a

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...

film and asked her to develop it into an outline. Writing as "J. M. Harwood", she wrote a spoof 1959 James Bond short story called '' Some Are Born Great''. Between 1960 and 1961 Harwood and Saltzman adapted the play ''The Marriage Game'' - originally by Mel Tolkin and Lucille Kallen - a comedy about "six girls in search of husbands." The play opened at the Kings Theatre, Southsea, on 25 September 1961. According to ''Plays and Players'', the comedy was scheduled to visit Liverpool, Eastbourne and Brighton "before coming into the West End." Anthony Sharp directed with sets by Disley Jones.' Broccoli and Saltzman subsequently hired

Terry Southern Terry Southern (May 1, 1924 – October 29, 1995) was an American novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style. Part of the Paris postwar literary movement in the 1950s and a companion to ...

to write the script which was never filmed. According to the 1960 British Film and Television Yearbook, she wrote two unfilmed screenplays for Harry Saltzman's Woodfall Film Productions: ''City of Spades'' based on the 1957

Colin MacInnes Colin MacInnes (20 August 1914 – 22 April 1976) was an English novelist and journalist. Early life MacInnes was born in London, the son of singer James Campbell McInnes and novelist Angela Mackail, who was the granddaughter of the Pre-Rap ...

novel to have been directed initially by

Tony Richardson Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones''. Early ...

Gavin Lambert Gavin Lambert (23 July 1924 – 17 July 2005) was a British-born screenwriter, novelist and biographer who lived for part of his life in Hollywood. His writing was mainly fiction and nonfiction about the film industry. Personal life Lam ...

re-wrote the script. then by Peter Yates;

Barry Reckord Barrington John Reckord (19 November 1926 – 20 December 2011), known as Barry Reckord, was a Jamaican playwright, one of the earliest Caribbean writers to make a contribution to theatre in Britain. His brother was the actor and director Lloyd ...

did a new re-write. and ''Articles of War''; of this script Harry Saltzman said that it "is a war story with a tremendously different twist. I don't think that there has ''ever'' been a war story like this. It has no message and it isn't a documentary - it's pure entertainment." Saltzman subsequently had her work on the first two James Bond films '' Dr. No'' and '' From Russia with Love'', and the non-Bond Saltzman co-production ''

Call Me Bwana ''Call Me Bwana'' is a 1963 British Technicolor farce film starring Bob Hope and Anita Ekberg and directed by Gordon Douglas. Largely set in Africa, it was the only film made by Eon Productions not about the fictional MI6 agent James Bond un ...

''. Bond co-producer Albert R. Broccoli had originally hired

Richard Maibaum Richard Maibaum (May 26, 1909 – January 4, 1991) was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his screenplay adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels. Among his works are the first anti-lynching play on Bro ...

and his friend Wolf Mankowitz to write the ''Dr. No'' screenplay. An initial draft of the screenplay was rejected because the scriptwriters had made the villain, Dr. No, a monkey. Mankowitz left the movie, and Maibaum then undertook a second version, more closely in line with the novel. Mankowitz eventually had his name removed from the credits after viewing early rushes, as he feared it would be a disaster.Inside Dr. No Documentary (DVD). Dr. No (Ultimate Edition, 2006): MGM Home Entertainment. 1999. Johanna Harwood and thriller writer Berkely Mather then worked on Maibaum's script. The film's director Terence Young described Harwood as a script doctor who helped put elements more in tune with a British character.Audio commentary (DVD). Dr. No (Ultimate Edition, 2006): MGM Home Entertainment. 1999. Richard Maibaum felt "put out" that Harwood got an adaptation credit on ''From Russia with Love'' for which he thought she did not deserve. Maibaum conceded that she worked "some with the director, Terence Young, and made several good suggestions." He claimed her adaptation credit was due "studio politics." Harwood stated in an interview in a ''Cinema Retro'' special on the making of the film that she had been a screenwriter of several of Harry Saltzman's projects, and noted both her screenplays for ''Dr. No'' and her screenplay for ''From Russia with Love'' had followed Fleming's novels closely. Harwood also made uncredited contributions to the screenplay of Saltzman's ''

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 ...

'' (1965).p. 79 Kremer, Daniel ''Sidney J. Furie: Life and Films'' University Press of Kentucky, 9 Oct 2015

Other work

Harwood told the ''Irish Digest'' magazine in 1966 that she hoped to direct a film soon. "That's really what I want more than anything." Harwood co-wrote the French film '' Ne jouez pas avec les Martiens'' (1967). She also translated into English three novels by French author Nicole Vidal: ''The Goddess Queen'' (1961), ''Nefertiti'' (1965) and ''Ring of Jade'' (1969). Harwood spent the next 20 years working for the ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

'' in Paris condensing French novels. Harwood was married to the French film director René Clément whom she met on the set of '' Knave of Hearts'' (a.k.a. ''Monsieur Ripois''). In 2007 she created the Fondation René Clement to commemorate her husband who died in 1996.

Filmography

As writer only

* '' Dr. No'' (1962) * ''

'' (1963) * '' From Russia with Love'' (1963) * '' Ne jouez pas avec les Martiens'' (1967)

As herself

* ''Orson Welles in the Land of Don Quixote'' (2000)

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

Notes

References

External links

*
''Some Are Born Great'' story

"Spy Games: Recalling DR. NO"
Official

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...

blog {{DEFAULTSORT:Harwood, Johanna Irish screenwriters 1930 births Living people Irish women screenwriters People from County Wicklow 20th-century Irish writers 20th-century Irish women writers