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10-02-2013, 03:53 PM
Best-selling US author Tom Clancy, known to millions for his Jack Ryan series of novels, has died aged 66, his publisher has confirmed.
Clancy wrote a string of best-selling spy and military thrillers.
Several of his books featuring CIA analyst Ryan were adapted into successful films, including The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games.
The former insurance broker died in a Baltimore hospital near his Maryland home, according to reports.
The Hunt for Red October (1984) was Clancy's first published novel and sold more than five million copies.
President Ronald Reagan helped to fuel the success of the book when he called it a "perfect yarn".
The novel was made into a successful film in 1990, starring Alec Baldwin as Ryan and Sir Sean Connery as Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius.
Harrison Ford went on to play Ryan in film versions of Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, while Ben Affleck played him in 2002 release The Sum of All Fears.
Jack Ryan: Shadow One, a new film to feature the character directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh, is set for release this December.
Clancy usually wrote a book a year, making him one of the wealthiest authors in the world.
In 2002 he was ranked at 10 in Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100 list with estimated earnings of $47.8m.
As well as a successful writer, Clancy also became closely associated with the world of video gaming.
In the 1990s he founded Red Storm Entertainment, later bought by Ubisoft, which developed games based on Clancy's ideas.
Blockbuster video game titles bearing his name included Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six.
'Hard work'
In a 2007 interview with US TV network AMC, Clancy attributed his success as a novelist to dogged persistence and deep research.
"You learn to write the same way you learn to play golf," he said. "You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right.
"A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isn't divinely inspired - it's hard work."
Clancy said most of the research for his books involved talking to the types of people he wanted to write about.
For Red October, he interviewed former submariners who were working at a nuclear power plant near his home.
When his publisher had his finished manuscript checked by two submarine officers, they only found a few mistakes.
"I don't write about super-heroes," he told Verbosity magazine. "I want my protagonists to be recognisably human, with real human concerns.
"Some of my characters are based on real people. One's even based on me."
Clancy was known for his technically detailed espionage and military science storylines. One, written in 1994, told of a crazed Japan Airlines pilot who flies into the Capitol building in Washington.
In a 2003 interview, CNN presenter Wolf Blitzer suggested his precise accounts of the US military techniques were giving away secrets to terrorists.
"I never got any fan mail from Osama bin Laden, and I don't really know how many books I sold in Afghanistan," the author replied.
"You have to talk to the marketing people about that. But I'm not really concerned about it."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24372224
Clancy wrote a string of best-selling spy and military thrillers.
Several of his books featuring CIA analyst Ryan were adapted into successful films, including The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games.
The former insurance broker died in a Baltimore hospital near his Maryland home, according to reports.
The Hunt for Red October (1984) was Clancy's first published novel and sold more than five million copies.
President Ronald Reagan helped to fuel the success of the book when he called it a "perfect yarn".
The novel was made into a successful film in 1990, starring Alec Baldwin as Ryan and Sir Sean Connery as Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius.
Harrison Ford went on to play Ryan in film versions of Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, while Ben Affleck played him in 2002 release The Sum of All Fears.
Jack Ryan: Shadow One, a new film to feature the character directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh, is set for release this December.
Clancy usually wrote a book a year, making him one of the wealthiest authors in the world.
In 2002 he was ranked at 10 in Forbes magazine's Celebrity 100 list with estimated earnings of $47.8m.
As well as a successful writer, Clancy also became closely associated with the world of video gaming.
In the 1990s he founded Red Storm Entertainment, later bought by Ubisoft, which developed games based on Clancy's ideas.
Blockbuster video game titles bearing his name included Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six.
'Hard work'
In a 2007 interview with US TV network AMC, Clancy attributed his success as a novelist to dogged persistence and deep research.
"You learn to write the same way you learn to play golf," he said. "You do it, and keep doing it until you get it right.
"A lot of people think something mystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses you on the ear. But writing isn't divinely inspired - it's hard work."
Clancy said most of the research for his books involved talking to the types of people he wanted to write about.
For Red October, he interviewed former submariners who were working at a nuclear power plant near his home.
When his publisher had his finished manuscript checked by two submarine officers, they only found a few mistakes.
"I don't write about super-heroes," he told Verbosity magazine. "I want my protagonists to be recognisably human, with real human concerns.
"Some of my characters are based on real people. One's even based on me."
Clancy was known for his technically detailed espionage and military science storylines. One, written in 1994, told of a crazed Japan Airlines pilot who flies into the Capitol building in Washington.
In a 2003 interview, CNN presenter Wolf Blitzer suggested his precise accounts of the US military techniques were giving away secrets to terrorists.
"I never got any fan mail from Osama bin Laden, and I don't really know how many books I sold in Afghanistan," the author replied.
"You have to talk to the marketing people about that. But I'm not really concerned about it."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24372224