James Clavell (10 October 1921[1] – 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). Early life and World War II Peter Marlowe Clavell's fourth novel, Noble House (1981), became a number one best-seller that year and was made into a 1988 miniseries.