Patrick Marnham (1940-2016) was a British director, screenwriter and author. He was best known for his work on the film adaptation of John le Carré’s novel The Little Drummer Girl (1984).
Marnham was born in London in 1940. He attended the Dragon School, an independent school in Oxford, and later studied at the University of Oxford. He began his career as a journalist for The Sunday Times, where he worked from 1964 to 1971. He also wrote for other publications, including The New York Times, The Observer, and The Spectator.
Marnham ventured into filmmaking in the late 1970s. He wrote and directed two films: The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975), an adaptation of a novel by Heinrich Böll, and The Little Drummer Girl (1984). The latter film was an adaptation of John le Carré’s novel and starred Diane Keaton, Yorgo Voyagis, and Klaus Kinski.
In addition to his filmmaking work, Marnham wrote several books, including The Streetcleaner (1982), about the life of a garbage collector in London, and Wild West (1985), a book about the history of the American West. He also wrote biographies of writers, including Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad.
Marnham was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Writers Guild of Great Britain Award and the Shell Film Award. In 1989, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
Marnham passed away in 2016 at the age of 76. He left behind a legacy of superb filmmaking and literature that will be remembered for years to come.
