MovieChat Forums > Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1980) Discussion > A curious choice of names?

A curious choice of names?

posted 12 years ago by finnegansword-772-990306
5 replies | jump to latest

In TTSS and SP we meet George Smiley's wife, the Lady Ann who is noted for her affairs and infatuations. Most authors are careful to change the names of the characters that appear in their stories. Indeed, some go so far as to state that any similarity with real persons either living or dead is purely coincidental. It is all the more surprising then to learn that the author's first wife was called Ann. This marriage ended in divorce, I understand.

Am I reading too much into this fact, or is there another explanation?

[–] dylanw1 12 years ago

I don't think Ann Smiley had anything to do with Le Carré's first wife. Ann Smiley was mentioned in his first novel, Call for the Dead from 1961, well before they divorced. From what (very) little is known about his private life, if infidelity was a factor in the end of that marriage, it wasn't on her part.

(In fact, Ann Smiley is mentioned on the first line of Call for the Dead, making her the first character ri appear in any of his fiction.)

[–] finnegansword-772-990306 12 years ago

Indeed, by the time "Call for the Dead"* appeared, the die had been cast so far as Ann Smiley's character was concerned (in the movie James Mason plays Smiley under a different name). However, we get an insight into the author's background in "A Perfect Spy" and le Carre tells us as much in more than one interview.

By writing "The Spy Who Came in from The Cold" did the author really become Persona non Grata in his career with MI5 & MI6 ? There were other authors in the Service and so far as I know they did not get their marching orders.

* a neglected gem and poorly rated on IMDb which has a play within the play of considerable merit.

[–] dylanw1 12 years ago

Le Carré has given various interviews over the years where he has more or less consistently indicated he had become increasingly unhappy with his job at MI6 and that the success of The Spy Who Came in from The Cold allowed him to quit and take up writing full-time. There was an interview on the Criterion disc of that film where I think he indicated that, while nobody was calling for his head, the book was none too popular among his superiors. Between that and having his identity blown to the Russians by Kim Philby the year before, nobody was begging him to stay when he decided to leave. (It’s been a while since I watched the interview, but I think that’s where I got this.)

I really liked The Deadly Affair, and I thought James Mason made a fine George Smiley. The change to the plot with Dieter Frey having an affair with Ann was a little melodramatic for my taste, but it’s not difficult to see why they did it.

Edit: Adding to this a couple of days later: In an article that appeared in The Guardian today, le Carré talks about writing The Spy Who Came in from The Cold:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/apr/12/john-le-carre-spy-anniversary

[–] !!!deleted!!! (41638798) 11 years ago

If he had to leave the service due to writing spy novels, nobody would be telling. ha

At least Le Carre aka David Cornwall ended up better than poor Ian Macintosh, who created the "Sandbaggers" and disappeared mysteriously and without a trace during the show's run!

I'm still waiting for Macintoshe's 1978 episode of "Sandbaggers" that never was shown because it violated the Official Secrets Act. Wonder what happened to it.

[–] benth04 11 years ago

Most authors are careful to change the names of the characters that appear in their stories. Indeed, some go so far as to state that any similarity with real persons either living or dead is purely coincidental.

You can tell it some other way:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065234/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

To make sure that we get the point Costa-Gavras takes the opposite stand: He declares something like that 'any similarity with situations and people is not coincidental - it is intentional'(!)