James Clavell (10 October 1921 – 6 September 1994), born
Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell, was an Australian-born British (later naturalized American) novelist, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and
prisoner of war. Clavell is best known for his epic
Asian Saga series of novels and their televised adaptations, along with such films as
The Great Escape (1963) and
To Sir, with Love (1967).