42 Facts About Richard Maibaum

Richard Maibaum was an American screenwriter, film producer, and playwright, best known for his work on the James Bond films.

Richard Maibaum wrote 13 of the 16 Eon Productions Bond films produced between 1962 and 1989, beginning with Dr No and ending with Licence to Kill.

Richard Maibaum graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1931, and in 1932 he received a master's degree, all the while writing plays and acting.

Richard Maibaum was 22 and still at the University of Iowa when his anti-lynching play, The Tree, became a 1932 Broadway production under the direction of the young Robert Rossen, later known for Body and Soul and a life destroyed by the Hollywood blacklist.

Back in New York after graduation, Richard Maibaum spent 1933 as an actor in the Shakespearean Repertory Theater on Broadway.

Richard Maibaum appeared in fifteen different roles in many productions.

In 1933, the year in which Hitler ascended to his dictatorial powers in Germany, Richard Maibaum wrote the first openly anti-Nazi play on Broadway, Birthright, directed by Rossen.

Richard Maibaum then wrote Sweet Mystery of Life a stage comedy which eventually became the film Gold Diggers of 1937.

Richard Maibaum did They Gave Him a Gun which he worked on with Cyril Hume.

Richard Maibaum was one of many writers on Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent.

Richard Maibaum went to Paramount where he worked on I Wanted Wings, a huge hit.

Richard Maibaum did some uncredited work on Hold Back the Dawn.

Richard Maibaum joined the US Army in 1942 and, like many other Hollywood writers and directors, was commissioned as a captain in the Signal Corps, During his four and one-half years in the army, he produced war morale films, assembled and disseminated combat film footage and supervised a documentary history of World War II, whose title, length, whereabouts, and, indeed, purpose, are currently unknown.

Richard Maibaum contributed to the story for the Olsen-Johnson film See My Lawyer.

Richard Maibaum was producer on the John Farrow-directed The Big Clock.

Richard Maibaum produced The Sainted Sisters with Veronica Lake, and Bride of Vengeance for director Mitchell Leisen.

Richard Maibaum wrote and produced The Great Gatsby with Alan Ladd and co-written with Yale-educated Cyril Hume.

John Farrow, original director of the project, quit after a casting dispute with Richard Maibaum and was replaced by Elliott Nugent.

Richard Maibaum wrote and produced Song of Surrender for Leisen.

Richard Maibaum produced Dear Wife, then did two more with Leisen: No Man of Her Own and Captain Carey, USA with Ladd.

When Broccoli signed Ladd on for a three-picture deal for Warwick, Ladd insisted on Richard Maibaum co-writing the screenplays.

Richard Maibaum moved his family to England in order to do this.

Richard Maibaum began writing for the new medium of television, including short teleplays for The Kate Smith Evening Hour, and the critically acclaimed Emmy nominated "Fearful Decision" starring Ralph Bellamy and Sam Levene which he co-wrote with Cyril Hume for The United States Steel Hour.

Richard Maibaum returned to The University of Iowa in 1954 for one semester to teach and supervise the "Footsteps of Freedom" project, a teleplay writing course.

Richard Maibaum co-wrote "Bigger Than Life," with Hume along with its star and producer, the British actor James Mason.

Richard Maibaum did another for Warwick, Zarak, directed by Terence Young and starring Victor Mature.

Richard Maibaum wrote some episodes of Wagon Train and provided the story for Warwick's The Bandit of Zhobe and Killers of Kilimanjaro.

Richard Maibaum produced a pilot for a TV series Maisie, based on the film series, and worked on the script for The Day They Robbed the Bank of England.

Richard Maibaum wrote and produced a war film for 20th Century Fox starring Audie Murphy, Battle at Bloody Beach.

Richard Maibaum then was invited by Albert Broccoli to write the first James Bond movie.

Richard Maibaum was brought on to write the first Bond movie, Dr No, sharing credit with Johanna Harwood and Berkely Mather.

Richard Maibaum worked on Goldfinger, on which Paul Dehn did work.

Richard Maibaum was one of several writers on Thunderball.

You Only Live Twice was the first Bond film on which Richard Maibaum was not credited as a writer, the producers using Roald Dahl.

Albert Broccoli wanted to produce a non-Bond movie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Richard Maibaum did some work on the script.

Richard Maibaum received sole script credit for On Her Majesty's Secret Service, starring George Lazenby.

Richard Maibaum did an early draft of Diamonds Are Forever, then the producers wanted an American writer and hired Tom Mankiewicz to rework it.

Richard Maibaum was brought back to the Bond movies to work on Mankiewicz's draft of The Man with the Golden Gun.

Richard Maibaum was one of the many writers who worked on The Spy Who Loved Me, sharing credit with Christopher Wood.

Richard Maibaum was not used on Moonraker, the producers preferring Wood.

Richard Maibaum continued working on Bond films until the end of his life.

Richard Maibaum died on January 4,1991, at the age of 81, survived by his wife, Sylvia, two sons, Matthew and Paul, and a granddaughter, Shanna Claire.