Whittingham penned the first screenplay for Thunderball which was supposed to be the first Bond film produced by McClory, but his contribution to Bond's legacy has widely been ignored and conveniently forgotten despite evidence that his screenplay formed the basis for the genesis of the screen version of James Bond, which is starkly different from Fleming's original literary character. It also provides insights into the lives of Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham and the role each of these men played in the legacy of James Bond. Here we learn all the details of the Kevin McClory legal battles that have affected the Bond franchise from 1963 all the way up until very recently when EON finally obtained the rights to SPECTRE and the character of Bloefeld. Robert Sellers' book is a must-read for Bond fans and anyone interested in Film / Hollywood history. Luckily for Bond fans and copyright law scholars alike, Tomahawk Press removed the material in question and reprinted. Scarred and embarrassed by this greatest blot on his reputation, Fleming’s heirs successfully kept Sellers’ exposé out of stores by arguing he had reprinted personal correspondences without permission. Nine months after appearing in court, Fleming was dead, the victim of a heart attack. The series of legal actions chronicled in this book ultimately culminate in McClory winning producer credit on the fourth Sean Connery film, and bizarrely, remaking the film in 1983 under the title NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN (which, despite the return of Connery, lost at the box office to “official” series entry OCTOPUSSY). When this project failed to get off the ground, Fleming turned the script into his next Bond novel – without crediting his collaborators. NO, Fleming developed a Bond screenplay called THUNDERBALL with producer Kevin McClory and screenwriter Jack Whittingham.

Before Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman bought the rights to the books and made DR. The blackest eye on the Bond franchise is the 1961 plagiarism suit brought against Fleming.

Thunderball book