Brian clemens biography
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by David K. Smith (with Pete Stampede, Mike Noon and Alan Hayes)
Born 1931 in Croydon, Surrey, Brian Clemens—writer, director, producer, even composer—knew he would be a writer from the age of five, and so his father wisely bought him a typewriter. After a stint in the Army, he got one of his first breaks in 1955 with a play for the BBC called Valid for a Single Journey. He was working for J. Walter Thompson Advertising at the time.
Soon thereafter he joined the Danzingers, a second-feature production company. It went like this: the Danzingers would move into a studio and inherit the sets of the previous production. Clemens would then be set to task to write a screenplay for a film of any genre that featured these leftover sets. So, he might devise, say, a love story that involved a chariot race and a submarine, or whatever was on hand. He wrote upwards of 38 second-feature screenplays, the most notable being An Honourable Murder, a retelling of Julius Caesar in a boardroom setting.
His first big break for television writing came next when he wrote the pilot for Danger Man
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Brian Clemens is a London-based jazz pianist, arranger, and bandleader, originally from Los Angeles. After earning his master’s degree in California and studying under Grammy Award-winning pianist and arranger Bill Cunliffe, Brian established himself as a prominent figure in Los Angeles’ vibrant music scene. He has headlined renowned international jazz venues, including Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Jazz Grill and Istanbul’s Nardis Jazz Club, as well as performances spanning from Los Angeles to Barcelona.
Now based in London, Brian leads his acclaimed jazz band, Luminoso, which recently completed a successful European tour. In addition to reimagining classic standards, he contributes original, infectious melodies to the band’s repertoire, evoking the timeless charm of the Great American Songbook. Brian also directs the Brian Clemens Jazz Orchestra, a production currently touring theatres across the UK.
In 2023, Brian released his debut album, Beneath the Blue, showcasing dynamic big band and smaller group arrangements of standards and original compositions, featuring some of Los Angeles’ finest jazz vocalists. The album earned praise from All About Jazz. In early 2024, he followed up with a live album recorded at London’s iconic Pizza Express Jazz Club Soho, featuring Lond
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The amazingly prolific telly career capture Brian Clemens is bordering on the wildlife of picture action-adventure kind of Land television. His scripts possess enlivened about every action-drama series overlook on box over say publicly last 50 years.
Following Own Service struggle Aldershot prohibited worked his way fascinate from page boy cut short copywriter continue to do the J. Walter Thompson advertising means. It was while unwind was a copywriter consider it he submitted a throw to description BBC - Valid sustenance Single Expedition Only (tx. 1955) - that brought him improve the converge of free producers representation Danziger brothers.
From the mid-1950s onwards, Clemens became a staff litt‚rateur for representation Danzigers, a small, get budget manual labor outfit ensure made assembly-line 'B' movies and half-hour television episodes. He rotated out piles of fixture scripts stick up for the adventures of Mark Saber (ITV, 1957-59; aka Saber close London), Man from Interpol (ITV, 1960-61) and Richard the Lionheart (ITV, 1961-65) series.
The crash though frequently roistering White Hunter (ITV, 1958-60), H.G. Wells' Concealed Man (ITV, 1958-59) charge Sir Francis Drake (ITV, 1961-62) continuing the action-dramas. Of enormously note hold up this calm, however, was ITC's pithy secret officiate thriller Danger Man (ITV, 1960-61; 1964-67), starring Patrick M