Len Deighton, creator of Harry Palmer, one of the world's most famous spy characters, has died aged 97. The British writer sold millions of books and was translated into 20 languages over a career spanning half a century.
Len Deighton, the prolific British writer, best known for "The Ipcress File" and other stylish, gritty spy thrillers, has died.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
He was 97.
According to his literary agent Tim Bates, Deighton, "passed away peacefully on Sunday". No cause of death has been given.
"Len was a Titan," Bates said. "He was not only one of the greatest spy and thriller writers of the 20th century but also one of our greatest writers in any genre."
His first novel, "The Ipcress File" introduced the world to his depiction of espionage as a grubby, error-strewn business. It was a stark contrast to the glamour of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels and the charm of John Le Carré's rogue's gallery of gentlemen.
Deighton's working-class hero 'Harry Palmer' was anonymous in the first book and his sequels "Horse Under Water", "Funeral in Berlin" and "Billon-Dollar Brain."
But the thick-bespectacled character was specifically named for the enormously successful 1965 film adaptation of the book with the character played by Michael Caine. A role which helped propel both he and the writer to stardom.
Caine went on to feature in the film versions of "Funeral in Berlin" and "Billion-Dollar Brain" and later praised writers like Deighton for giving him his big breaks.
"They started writing for working-class people, and it made all the difference," he said in 2017.
Spies, soldiers and fine foods
Before moving full-time into literature, Deighton served in the Royal Air Force as part of Britain’s then-mandatory national service.
He also studied art and worked as a waiter, pastry chef and flight attendant before having success as a book and magazine illustrator. His designs included the first U.K. edition of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” in 1958.
“Berlin Game,” published in 1983, was the first of 10 novels featuring the smart, cynical MI6 officer Bernard Samson. Along with “Mexico Set” and “London Match” it was adapted into the 1988 TV series “Game, Set and Match.”
Deighton set several novels around World War II, including “Bomber” (1970), which depicted the conflict in the air war from both British and German viewpoints, and “SS-GB” (1978), an alternative-history novel set in a Nazi-occupied Britain. It was made into a TV series in 2017.
Another passion was food. Deighton was food correspondent for The Observer newspaper in the 1960s and penned several cookbooks aimed at men — a then-novel idea — including “Len Deighton’s Action Cook Book” (1965), with recipes illustrated like comic strips.
