James Clavell, born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell, was an Australian-born British (later naturalised American) writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. He is best known as the author of his Asian Saga novels, a number of which have been adapted into television series. Clavell's writing career also includes screenplays for such films as The Fly (1958), based on the short story by George Langelaan, and The Great Escape (1963), based on the personal account of Paul Brickhill. In addition to writing, he directed the popular 1967 film To Sir, with Love, for which he also wrote the script.