Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 - October 1, 2013) was an American writer best known for his technically detailed stories about espionage and military conflicts that occurred during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels were bestsellers, more than 100 million copies of his books were printed. His name was also used in film scripts written by Hollywood screenwriters, non-fiction history books, and video games.
Clancy's literary career began in 1984 when he sold The Hunt for Red October for $ 5,000. His works: “The Hunt for Red October” (1984th), “Games of the Patriots” (1987th), “Clear and Real Danger” (1989th) and “The Sum of All Fears” (1991th) - were turned into commercially successful films. The most famous character in the books of Tom Clancy, Jack Ryan, was played in order by such outstanding actors as Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, Chris Pine and John Krasinski. His other famous character, John Clark, was portrayed by actors Willem Dafoe and Leo Schreiber. Tom Clancy's works have also inspired games like Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and Splinter Cell.
The famous writer died on October 1, 2013. Since his death, his series about Jack Ryan has been continued using a number of authors named Clancy. Tom Clancy’s book Rainbow Six was once very popular in Russia. A number of Russian publicists and politicians of a patriotic orientation consider this author a Russophobe.
early years
Tom Clancy was born on April 12, 1947 at the Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in the Northwood area in northeast Baltimore. He was the second of three children of Clancy Sr. who worked in the United States Postal Service, and Katherine Clancy, who worked in the credit department of a local store. His mother worked with her earnings to send her son to a private Roman Catholic high school founded by the Jesuit Religious Order (Society of Jesus), Loyola High School in Towson, Maryland, a suburban county of Baltimore. After graduation, he entered the Loyola Jesuit College (now Loyola University of Maryland) in Baltimore, graduating in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in English literature.
Studying at the University
At the University of Loyola, he was president of a chess club. He joined the training corps of army officers, but had no right to serve because of his myopia, because of which he wore thick glasses. After graduation, Tom Clancy worked for an insurance company in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1973, he joined the O. F. Bowen Agency, a small insurance agency based in Owing, Maryland, his wife’s grandfather. In 1980, Clancy bought an insurance agency from his wife’s grandmother for passive income in order to write novels in her free time. While working at an insurance agency, he wrote his debut novel, The Hunt for Red October (1984).
Carier start
Clancy's literary career began in 1982 when he began writing The Hunt for Red October, which he sold for publication at the Naval Institute Press in 1984 for $ 5,000. The publisher was impressed with the work. Deborah Grosvenor, editor of the Naval Institute, who read the book, later said she convinced the publisher: “I think this is a potential bestseller, and if we don’t take this thing, someone else will take it.” She believed that Clancy had "an innate ability to tell stories, and his characters had very witty dialogs." The publisher asked Clancy to shorten many technical details, which totaled about 100 pages.
Clancy, who hoped to sell 5,000 copies, eventually sold more than 45,000. After publication, the book received praise from President Ronald Reagan, who called the work "the best in recent times," thereby increasing sales to 300,000 hardbacks and 2 million copies. in a paperback, making it a national bestseller. The book was praised for its technical accuracy, thanks to which Clancy became the darling of several senior US Army commanders. Similar praises were later awarded to Tom Clancy's book Rainbow 6.
Absolute success
Films based on Tom Clancy’s books have been very successful in movie theaters around the world.
The Red Storm (1986), a celebrated epic in the surroundings of the Cold War, was co-authored with another military writer, Larry Bond. The book was published by Putnam Publishing House and sold nearly 1 million copies in its first year. Tom Clancy became the cornerstone of Putnam's publishing list.
By 1988, Clancy had earned $ 1.3 million for The Hunt for Red October and signed a $ 3 million contract for the next three books. By 1997, Penguin Putnam Inc. (part of Pearson Education) reportedly paid the writer as much as $ 50 million for rights to two new books and another $ 25 million for a four-year deal to sell books and produce other products related to Clancy's name. The Op-Center universe, invented by the writer, laid the foundation for a series of books written by Jeff Rowin, who entered into an agreement with Clancy for $ 22 million, resulting in a total value of their deal with the publisher was $ 97 million.
Further career
In 1993, Clancy joined an investor group that included Peter Angelos, who bought the Baltimore Ivolgie edition from Eli Jacobs. In 1998, the writer reached an agreement to purchase the Minnesota Vikings, but he eventually had to abandon the transaction for financial reasons.
The first Net Force series novel of the same name was adapted as a 1999 television movie starring Scott Bakula and Joanna Guin. The first movie from the Op-Center series (Tom Clancy's Op-Center, published in 1995) was released to coincide with the NBC mini-series of the same name. Although these mini-series have not been continued, the series of books was completed, but they diverged greatly with the first mini-series, right down to the names of the main characters.
Clancy has written several non-fiction books about the various branches of the US Armed Forces. He also “branded” several books and video games with his own name, although they were written by other authors. Typically, these books and games were nothing more than the spinoffs of Clancy's work.
In The Teeth of the Tiger (2003), Clancy introduced the son of Jack Ryan and his two nephews as the main characters. These characters were present in the last four novels: Dead or Alive (2010th), Blocked (2011th), Threatening Vector (2012th) and Team Authority (2013th).
Passion for space
In 2008, French video game maker Ubisoft acquired the name Clancy for an undisclosed amount of money. It was subsequently used as a brand on the covers of video games and related products such as films and books. Based on his interest in private space travel and his $ 1 million investment in the Rotary Rocket, Clancy was invited to participate in the 2007 Apollo Orphans documentary in 2007.
Political Views
A supporter of conservative and republican views, Clancy devoted individual books to American conservative politicians, primarily Ronald Reagan. A week after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, in the O'Reilly Facts program, Clancy suggested that left-wing politicians in the United States were partially responsible for this because of their attacks on the Central Intelligence Agency.
On September 11, 2001, Clancy was interviewed by Judy Woodruff, a CNN reporter. During the interview, he claimed that "Islam does not allow suicide." The writer also criticized media attacks on the United States intelligence community. Tom Clancy soon appeared on PBS Charlie Rose to discuss the aftermath of the day with Richard Holbrook, a New York Times journalist, as well as Judith Miller and Senator John Edwards. Clancy was interviewed on these shows because there was a script in his book Debt of Honor (1994) in which a disgruntled Japanese airline pilot crashes his Boeing 747 into the US Capitol during a speech by the president at a joint congressional meeting, killing the president and most congressmen.
Personal life
Clancy's first wife, Wanda Thomas King, was a nurse, and later became an ophthalmologist. They got married in 1969, they had four children. The couple broke up briefly in 1995 and finally divorced in December 1996.
On June 26, 1999, Clancy married independent journalist Alexandra Marie Llewellyn, whom he met in 1997. Llewellyn is the daughter of Joanna Bruce Llewellyn and Colin Powell, a friend of the Clancy family. They remained together until the death of the writer in October 2013. They had one daughter.
All his conscious life was a Catholic.
Personal condition
Clancy's 80-acre estate, once a summer camp, is located in Calvert County, Maryland. Its attic offers panoramic views of the Chesapeake Bay. The stone mansion, which costs $ 2 million, has 24 rooms and is equipped with a shooting range in the basement. The writer also owns the World War II M4 Sherman, a Christmas present from his first wife.
Clancy also acquired a 17,000-square-foot condominium at Ritz-Carlton, in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, for $ 16 million. Clancy and his wife combined four rooms to make an apartment.
Death
Tom died of an unknown illness on October 1, 2013 at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, near his home in Baltimore. The Chicago Tribune quotes the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Stephen Hunter: “When he published The Hunt for the Red October, he revised and expanded the already existing literary genre, and as a result, many people were able to write and publish works that it was previously impossible to even imagine. "
Clancy's death day was a kind of national mourning. Many politicians, journalists, and novelists attended the writer's funeral. The best books of Tom Clancy entered the golden fund of the classics of American literature.