Terence Young (director)

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For the Canadian politician, see Terence Young (politician)

Terence Young in the 1960s

Stewart Terence Herbert Young (June 20, 1915 – September 7, 1994) was a British film director, born in Shanghai, China, was public-school educated, and read Oriental History at St Catharine's College in the University of Cambridge (like the fictional James Bond - see below). He was probably best known for directing three films, including the first, in the James Bond series: Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), and Thunderball (1965).

As a tank commander during World War II, Young participated in the battle at Arnhem, Netherlands. In 1946, he was one of the directors of the film Theirs is the Glory, which recaptured the fighting around Arnhem bridge, (Arnhem was home to the adolescent Audrey Hepburn). During the filming of Wait Until Dark, Hepburn and Young would joke that he was shelling his favorite star without even knowing it.

Young began as a screenwriter in British films of the 1940s and 1950s, before directing several films for Irving Allen (not disaster film mogul Irwin Allen) and Albert R. Broccoli's Warwick Films in the 1950s, including The Red Beret with Alan Ladd; this association lead to his being offered the directorship of the first two James Bond films.

"Terence Young WAS James Bond" wrote Robert Cotton. There is little doubt Young fit the profile of Bond - the erudite, sophisticated lady killer, dressed in Savile Row suits, always witty, well-versed in wine, and comfortable at home and abroad. Cotton commented, "As Lois Maxwell related in one of Connery's many biographies, 'Terence took Sean under his wing. He took him to dinner, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat.' Some of the cast remarked that Connery was simply doing a Terence Young impression, but Young and Connery knew they were on the right track." During the filming of From Russia with Love, Young and a photographer nearly drowned when their helicopter crashed into the sea while filming a key sequence. They were rescued by other members of the film crew. Ever the tough guy, Young was back behind the camera thirty minutes after being rescued.

Later, non-Bond-related, movies of Young include Mayerling (1968) and Inchon (1981).

Young died of a heart attack at the age of 79 in Cannes on the Côte d'Azur in France.