Language English Genre TV drama, screenplays Nationality Jamaican Name Evan Jones | Ethnicity Afro-Caribbean Role Poet | |
Occupation playwright, screenwriter, poet Children Sadie Jones, Melissa Jones Books Protector of the Indians Education Wadham College, Oxford, Haverford College, Munro College Movies Wake in Fright, King and Country, The Damned, Modesty Blaise, Funeral in Berlin Similar People Sadie Jones, Joseph Losey, Kenneth Cook, Ted Kotcheff, Alexander Knox | ||
Alma mater Wadham College, Oxford | ||
Evan Jones (born 1927 in Portland, Jamaica) is a poet, playwright and screenwriter based in Britain. He was educated in Jamaica, the United States and England. Jones taught at schools in the United States before moving to England in 1956 and beginning a career as a writer.
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He wrote the scripts for the feature films King & Country, Modesty Blaise, Funeral in Berlin, Wake in Fright and several television plays.
Biography
Evan Jones was born in 1927, the son of a banana farmer. He grew up in rural Jamaica and was educated at the prestigious boarding school Munro College and Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He graduated from Wadham College, Oxford in 1952 with a BA (Hons) in English literature. Jones taught at the George School in Pennsylvania and Wesleyan University, Connecticut. In 1956, he moved to England and earned his living as a writer of documentary drama, television plays and feature films.
His works include the television documentary series The Fight Against Slavery and several films directed by Joseph Losey, including Eva (a collaboration with Hugo Butler, 1962), King & Country (1964) and Modesty Blaise (1966). His other screenplays include Funeral in Berlin (also 1966), Escape to Victory (1981) and A Show of Force (1990). He is also notable as the author of Madhouse on Castle Street (1963), a now lost BBC television play, which featured the acting début of Bob Dylan. Jones has also written poetry, biographies and novels for children.
His wife, Joanna, is an actor and his daughters Melissa and Sadie are both novelists.