Alistair Stuart MacLean (; 21 April 1922 – 2 February 1987) was a Scottish novelist, who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. His books are estimated to have sold over 150 million copies, making him one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time.
MacLean served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, and his service aboard formed the basis for his debut novel HMS Ulysses. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, most notably The Guns of Navarone (1957) and Ice Station Zebra (1963). In the late 1960s, encouraged by film producer Elliott Kastner, MacLean began to write original screenplays, concurrently with an accompanying novel. The most successful was the first of these, the 1968 film Where Eagles Dare, which was also a bestselling novel. MacLean also published two novels under the pseudonym Ian Stuart.
According to one obituary, MacLean "never lost his love for the sea, his talent for portraying good Brits against bad Germans, or his penchant for high melodrama. Critics deplored his cardboard characters and vapid females, but readers loved his combination of hot macho action, wartime commando sagas, and exotic settings that included Greek Islands and Alaskan oil fields."
Early life MacLean was born on 21 April 1922 in the Shettleston area of Glasgow, the third of four sons of a Church of Scotland minister, but spent much of his childhood and youth in Daviot, south of Inverness. He spoke only Scottish Gaelic before attending school.
In 1941, at the age of 19, MacLean was called up to fight in the Second World War with the Royal Navy, serving with the ranks of ordinary seaman, able seaman, and leading torpedoman. He was first assigned to PS Bournemouth Queen, a converted excursion ship fitted for anti-aircraft guns, on duty off the coasts of England and Scotland. Beginning in 1943, he served on , a Dido-class light cruiser. There, he saw action in 1943 in the Atlantic theatre, on two Arctic convoys and escorting aircraft carrier groups in operations against , and other targets off the Norwegian coast. In 1944, Royalist and he served in the Mediterranean theatre, as part of the invasion of southern France and in helping to sink blockade runners off Crete and bombard Milos in the Aegean. During this time, MacLean may have been injured in a gunnery-practice accident. In 1945, in the Far East theatre, MacLean and Royalist saw action escorting carrier groups in operations against Japanese targets in Burma, Malaya, and Sumatra. (MacLean's late-in-life claims that he was captured by the Japanese after blowing up bridges, and tortured by having his teeth pulled out, have been dismissed by both his son and his biographer as drunken ravings).Webster, Alistair MacLean: A Life, p. 191. After the Japanese surrender, Royalist helped evacuate liberated POWs from Changi Prison in Singapore.
MacLean was discharged from the Royal Navy in 1946. He then studied English at the University of Glasgow, working at the post office and as a street sweeper."Alistair Maclean dies aged 64", The Irish Times, 3 February 1987: 4. He lived with his mother at 26 Carrington Street, St George's Cross, Glasgow while attending the university. He graduated with an MA (Hons.) in 1950, briefly worked as a hospital porter, and then worked as a schoolteacher at Gallowflat School (now Stonelaw High School) in Rutherglen.Chapman, Ian, "Maclean, Alistair Stuart (1922–1987)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, 23 September 2004. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
Early writing career First works While a university student, MacLean began writing short stories for extra income, winning a competition in 1954 with the maritime story "Dileas". He sold stories to the Daily Mirror and The Evening News. The wife of Ian Chapman, editor at the publishing company Collins, had been particularly moved by "Dileas" and the Chapmans arranged to meet with MacLean, suggesting he write a novel.Why Alistair MacLean felt he had failed Author: Ian Chapman Date: Tuesday, 3 February 1987 Publication: Daily Mail (London, UK) Issue: 28181 p 7 MacLean responded three months later with HMS Ulysses, based on his own war experiences and credited insight from his brother Ian, a master mariner.Webster p 66-68
MacLean later described his writing process:
MacLean was paid a large advance of $50,000, which made the headlines. Collins were rewarded when the book sold a quarter of a million copies in hardback in the UK in the first six months of publication. It went on to sell millions more. Film rights were sold to Robert Clark of Associated British for £30,000, though a film was never made.Webster p 73 This money meant MacLean was able to devote himself to writing full-time.
Guns of Navarone His next novel, The Guns of Navarone (1957), was about an attack on the fictitious island of Navarone (based on Milos). The book was very successful, selling over 400,000 copies in its first six months. In 1957, MacLean said, "I'm not a literary person. If someone offered me £100,000 tax free, I'd never write another word."The Bashful Best-seller fires another broadside Author: Marshall Pugh Date: Monday, 21 January 1957 Publication: Daily Mail (London, UK) Issue: 1889 p 4 The film version of The Guns of Navarone (1961) was hugely successful.Steinberg, Cobbett (1980). Film Facts. New York: Facts on File, Inc. p. 24. .
MacLean was unhappy at the tax paid on earnings for his first two novels, so he moved to Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, where he would pay less tax. He planned to write one novel a year. "It's all the market can stand," he said, adding it took him three months to write it.Tanfield's Diary Author: Alistair MacLean Date: Monday, 21 October 1957 Publication: Daily Mail (London, UK) Issue: 19130 p16
MacLean followed it with South by Java Head (1958), based on his experiences in the seas off Southeast Asia in World War Two. Film rights for South by Java Head were sold, but no movie resulted.New Guinness Film to Cost $4 Million The Washington Post and Times-Herald 20 January 1960: B10.
The Last Frontier (1959), was a thriller about the Hungarian uprising of 1956. The Last Frontier was turned into a movie, The Secret Ways (1961), which was not very successful.
His next novels were Night Without End (1959) and Fear Is the Key (1961).
Ian Stuart In the early 1960s, MacLean published two novels under the pseudonym "Ian Stuart" to prove that the popularity of his books was due to their content rather than his name on the cover.Webster p 112-117 These were The Dark Crusader (1961) and The Satan Bug (1962). He also said it was because "I usually write adventure stories, but this is a sort of Secret Service or private eye book. I didn't want to confuse my readers."The Navarone author fools the critics Author: Paul Tanfield Date: Monday, 22 January 1962 Publication: Daily Mail (London, UK) Issue: 20448 p4
The Ian Stuart books sold well, and MacLean made no attempt to change his writing style. He also continued to publish novels under his own name such as The Golden Rendezvous (1962) and Ice Station Zebra (1963).Webster p 118-120
"I'm not a novelist," he once said. "That's too pretentious a claim. I'm a storyteller, that's all. I'm a professional and a craftsman. I will make that claim for myself." MacLean also claimed he wrote very fast (35 days for a novel) because he disliked writing and the "sooner he finished, the better." He never reread a book after it was finished. His novels were notable for their lack of sex. "I like girls", he said. "I just don't write them well. Everyone knows that men and women make love, laddie – there is no need to show it."
Retirement In 1963, MacLean decided to retire from writing, saying he never enjoyed it and only did it to make money. He decided to become a hotelier and bought the Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor and then bought two more hotels, the Bank House near Worcester and the Beam Bridge at Wellington in Somerset.Webster p 121-122 MacLean focused on his hotel career for three years. It was not a success, and by 1976, he had sold all three hotels. During this time, a film was made of The Satan Bug.Webster p 124-127
Return to writing Screenwriter MacLean returned to writing with When Eight Bells Toll (1966).
Cinema producer Elliot Kastner admired MacLean, and asked him if he would be interested in writing an original screenplay. MacLean agreed to the proposition, and Kastner sent the writer two scripts, one by William Goldman and one by Robert and Jane Howard-Carrington, to familiarize himself with the format. Kastner said he wanted a World War Two story with a group of men on a mission to rescue someone, with a "ticking clock" and some female characters. MacLean agreed to write it for an initial $10,000 with $100,000 to come later. This script was Where Eagles Dare.Webster p 129-130
In July 1966, Kastner and his producing partner Jerry Gershwin announced they had purchased five screenplays from MacLean: Where Eagles Dare, When Eight Bells Toll, and three other unnamed ones.Gene Kelly to Do 'Married' Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times, 30 July 1966: 18.Aba, Marika (21 July 1968) "The Burtons... 'Just Another Working Couple'". Los Angeles Times c18. (Kastner made four MacLean movies.) MacLean also wrote a novel for Where Eagles Dare, after the screenplay, which was published in 1967 before the film came out. The book was a bestseller, and the 1968 film version was a huge hit.
"MacLean is a natural storyteller", said Kastner. "He is a master of adventure. All his books are conceived in cinematic terms. They hardly need to be adapted for the screen; when you read them, the screen is in front of your mind."ALISTAIR MacLEAN DIES; BOOKS SOLD IN MILLIONS: [Obituary] McDOWELL, EDWIN. New York Times 3 February 1987: B.7. MacLean wrote a sequel to Guns of Navarone, Force 10 from Navarone (1968). A film version was announced in 1967, but did not result for another decade.Second 'Navarone' Film Set Martin, Betty. Los Angeles Times 13 April 1967: d19. The same year, an expensive film based on Ice Station Zebra was released.
Producer In 1967, MacLean formed a partnership with Geoffrey Reeve and Lewis Jenkins to make films for MacLean to write and Reeves to direct. They planned to make a sequel to Guns of Navarone, only to discover that Carl Foreman, producer of the original film, had registered the title After Navarone. This led to a falling-out with Foreman, and a delay in the Navarone sequel.Webster p 141-143
Maclean wrote a thriller about narcotics, Puppet on a Chain (1969), and Caravan to Vaccarès (1970). These books all began as screenplays for Kastner.The Man who Knows where the Action Is. Alistair MacLean and Godfrey Smith. The Sunday Times (London, England), Sunday, 18 January 1970; pg. 37[S]; Issue 7651. (1523 words) Maclean said Puppet was "a change of style from the earlier books. If I went on writing the same stuff, I'd be guying myself."
When Puppet on a Chain was made, Maclean said, "I've been connected with it for three years and it's too much for me. All those entrepreneurs and promoters who aren't creative. All that time wasted."Name: Alistair MacLean. Occupation: Storyteller (not novelist). Destiny: To make a million. Present job (unhappily for him): Making the film of the book. His book Author: Barry Norman Date: Monday, 27 April 1970 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 23009 p 7
"There is nobody to touch him," said Ian Chapman. "But he is a storyteller, not a film man."
MacLean then wrote Bear Island (1971), the last of his first-person narratives.