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Nominee Best Original Screenplay for "2001: A Space
Odyssey", Hugo & Nebula Award winner, namesake for the Arthur
C. Clark Award
You live in the world that Arthur C. Clarke envisioned.
Clarke, a multiple award winner for his science fiction
novels (CHILDHOOD'S END, RENEDVOUS WITH RAMA), his contribution
to science (coming up with the basic concepts and principles
that allowed the creation of satellite communication in
geostationary orbits which impacted everything from TV broadcasts
to the relay of photographs from outer space to predicting
the weather) and commentator for the moon landings of Apollo
11, 12 and 15 with CBS News Anchor Walter Cronkite helped
change the world we live in. ***
Clark was born on December 16, 1917 in Minehead, Somerset,
England. During the war he served as a RAF officer and worked
with the UK's first radar equipment. His first professional
short story "Rescue Party" was written in 1945 for the small
science fiction magazine Astounding Science Fiction. ***
Clarke was married briefly to Marilyn Torgenson in
1953 before declaring that he wasn't marriage material.
He obtained degrees in physics and mathematics at King's
College in London. In 1954 Clarke used his paper on the
use of satellites to suggest to Dr. Harry Wexler at the
U.S. Weather Bureau that the U.S. satellites currently in
the sky could be used to forecast weather conditions. Clarke
was an avid diver taking initially becoming interested in
the hobby because it could simulate the weightlessness of
space. ***
In 1964 Clarke was contacted by maverick film director
Stanley Kubrick with an unusual proposal; Kubrick felt that
there were too many bad grade z science fiction films that
had been made and that the genre hadn't reached its potential
in film. He proposed to Clarke that they take an existing
story of the author's ("The Sentinel") that focused on an
artifact left by an extraterrestrial civilization on the
moon as a beacon to signal when mankind had left its humble
planet. Clarke and Kubrick fashioned a screenplay that covered
the evolution of mankind in "2001: A Space Odyssey" (its
title a reference to Homer's epic story The Odyssey) about
humanity finding its place among the cosmos. Released by
MGM in 1968 the story an alien intelligence that takes humanity
to the next level of evolution in the form of a black monolith.
"2001: A Space Odyssey" became a cult film after its release
due to the infamous sequence created by visual effects Douglas
Trumbull using his slit-scan device to portray the voyage
through space/time by astronaut Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea).
Kubrick's film ushered in a major change in the way that
science fiction was viewed by Hollywood as well as a revolution
in visual effects. It's often poetic quality made the epic
film unique and both admired and despised by the public
because it was perceived as pretentious. ***
Later, Clarke fashioned a sequel novel and worked with
writer-director Peter Hyams to help fashion the sequel which
starred the late Roy Scheider. "2010" followed up on the
fate of the spaceship Discovery and what happened to astronaut
David Bowman the only survivor of the computer HAL's murderous
rampage. Although "2010" failed to live up to the power
of the first film, it was a fairly faithful adaptation of
Clarke's sequel novel. Clarke also wrote two additional
sequels to the book and film "2001". ***
Clarke also appeared with Walter Cronkite and astronaut
Wally Schirra covering the moon landings for CBS of Apollo
11, 12 and 15. Later, in 1985 Clarke hosted his own television
syndicated program "Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange
Powers" and appeared on Walter Cronkite's TV series "Universe".
Clarke's seminal novel Childhood's End was optioned back
in the 1980's and has been in development on and off for
a long period of time although the film has never come to
fruition. At one time Clarke was in competition with science
and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov to see who could
publish the most books. Asimov won the competition. Clarke
is also famous for coming up with a variety of "laws" that
explain the paradoxes of existence and human behavior. His
most famous is Clarke's 3rd law "Any sufficiently advanced
technology is indistinguishable from magic" is probably
the best known. The Clarke belt that surrounds the earth
was part of his proposal for geosynchronous satellites used
for communication and it is so named for him. Clarke lived
in Sri Lanka off the coast of India since 1955. Clarke was
90.
Filmography: WRITER: "Rendezvous with Rama" (2009-screenplay
and source novel)
The Colours of Infinity (1995-TV-writer)
"The Twilight Zone" (Episode 1, 1985-source story "The
Star")
"2010 (1984) (source novel adapted by Peter Hyams)
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) (screenplay with Stanley
Kubrick and source story "The Sentinel")
"Tales of Tomorrow" (1952, writer source story "All
The Time in the World")
"Captain Video and His Video Rangers" (1949-writer)
ACTOR/PERFORMER/HOST:
"Vision of a Future Passed: The Prophecy of 2001" (Himself)
"We Love The Sky at Night (Himself)
"To Mars by A-Bomb: The Secret History of Project Orion"
(2003) (Himself)
"Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe" (1994) (Host)
"World of Strange Powers" (1985) (Host)
"2010" (1984) Man on the Park Bench
"Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World" (1980) (host)
"Baddegama" (1980) Leonard Woolf
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