Aug. 12, 1964 - Ian Fleming (pictured in 1960), the creator of James Bond, Agent 007 of the British Secret Service, died early today in a hospital at Canterbury, England, after suffering a heart attack. He was 56 years old.
Fleming was stricken last night at his hotel in Sandwich, where he was spending a golfing vacation with his wife, Anne, and their son, Caspar, who became 12 years old today.
The novelist suffered a coronary thrombosis three years ago. It forced him to curtail his activities and reduce his daily quota of gold-tipped cigarettes, which Bond also smoke incessantly, from 60 to 20.
Fleming wrote 12 books, all but two about Bond, and was working on the 13th when he died. All told, they sold more than 18 million copies, mostly in paperback editions, and were translated into 10 languages.
Two highly profitable films, “Doctor No” and “From Russia With Love,” were made from his novels. A third, “Goldfinger,” was recently completed and is awaiting release. Others are planned.
Fleming said he thought of the Bond novels as entertainment of no special significance. He attributed their popularity to a hunger for larger-than-life heroes that was left unsatisfied by most contemporary fiction.
At the same time, Bond’s adventures slaked a public thirst for information about espionage that had been whetted by such events as the trial of Dr. Klaus Fuchs, the Burgess-McLean case, the U-2 incident, and the growing awareness of the work of the CIA.
President Kennedy and Allen Dulles, while he was the head of the CIA, said that they enjoyed Fleming’s books. In fact, it was probably the President’s praise in 1961 that was largely responsible for their enormous popularity here. In Britain, Prince Philip led the cheering section.
Fleming was often accused of making Bond a thinly disguised projection of himself. In their love of fast cars, golf, gambling, and gourmet cooking, in their skill with firearms and cards, the two men were indeed similar, but Fleming once said: “Apart from the fact that he wears the same clothes that I wear, he and I really have little in common. I do rather envy him his blondes and his efficiency, but I can’t say I much like the chap.”
Besides his widow and his son, Fleming is survived by two brothers, Peter, the explorer and writer, and Richard, a banker.
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