- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDavid John Moore Cornwell
- Height5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
- John le Carré was born in Poole, Dorset in England on 19 October, 1931. He went to Sherborne School and, later, studied German literature for one year at University of Bern. Later, he went to Lincoln College, Oxford and graduated in Modern Languages. From 1956 to 1958, he taught at Eton and from 1959 to 1964, he was a member of the British Foreign Service as second secretary at British Embassy in Bonn, and then, as Politician Consul in Hamburg. His first novel was written in 1961 and, by the time of his death in December 2020, he had published nearly 30. His books took many prizes, and inspired numerous films.- IMDb mini biography by: Flávio S. Armony
- SpousesJane Cornwell(1972 - December 12, 2020) (his death, 1 child)Alison Anne Martin(1954 - 1971) (divorced, 3 children)
- Children
- RelativesSamuel Cornwell(Grandchild)Charlotte Cornwell(Half Sibling)
- Was one of the closest friends of esteemed director Stanley Kubrick.
- Soviet double-agent Kim Philby, who was a big fan, invited him to have dinner at the Kremlin. He rejected Philby's offer, saying he could never sit at the same table with a traitor.
- Being a member of MI6 when he wrote his first novel, "Call for the Dead" (1961) in Hamburg, it necessitated the use of a nom de plume, by which he is now commonly known.
- British double agent and defector Kim Philby blew the cover of many British agents in the Communist bloc after his defection to the Soviet Union, with Le Carre (under his real name of David Cornwell) being one of them.
- Generally credited with creating the word "mole" to refer to a deep-cover intelligence agent.
- [describing how the spies he writes about are different than the "super-hero" secret agent in the James Bond mold] A mostly aging, weary, unromantic lot, prone to distressing stomach ailments and having troubles with their wives.
- Writers are two-home men--they want a place outside and a place within.
- [describing a particularly loathsome character in 'A Delicate Truth'] Jay Crispin was your normal, rootless, amoral, plausible, half-educated, nicely spoken frozen adolescent in a bespoke suit, with an unappeasable craving for money, power and respect, regardless where he got them from.
- There's probably nobody more redundant in the film world than a writer of origin hanging around the set of his movie, as I've learned to my cost. Alec Guinness actually did me the favor of having me shown off the set of the BBC's TV adaptation of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." All I was wanting to do was radiate my admiration, but Alec said my glare was too intense.
- 15 years ago this was a great Country in which to have a heart attack in the street.
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