Yahoo Movies John le Carré: The remarkable life of the spy and author
The Pigeon Tunnel documentary tells the story behind the literary giant who lived the espionage life he wrote about
John le Carré, the legendary British author renowned for his espionage novels including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, led a life as captivating as the intricate plots he crafted.
The Pigeon Tunnel, a new documentary based on le Carré's 2016 memoir by the same name, follows the life and career of the writer and is set to hit cinemas and Apple TV+ on 20 October.
In his memoir, le Carré acknowledged that spying didn't introduce him to secrecy; instead, evasion and deception were the survival tools of his childhood.
Read more: The finest screen adaptations of John le Carré
Le Carré's real-life espionage journey started early, influenced by his father, Ronnie Cornwell, a lifelong con artist always in financial and legal turmoil.
Abandoned by his mother at the age of five, young David Cornwell, his birth name, found himself roped into his father's schemes.
He became his father's partner in crime, not just to assist him but also to protect himself from a violent and unpredictable man who drank, gambled and wasn't afraid to harm his own son.
Born David John Moore Cornwell on 19 October, 1931, in Poole, Dorset, his journey into the world of espionage began after he attended Oxford University.
Early life
He briefly worked as a teacher but his life took a turn in 1950 when he joined the ranks of the British intelligence service, MI6, thrusting him into the midst of the Cold War and offering him firsthand experience of the shadowy world of espionage.
To protect his anonymity and security, David Cornwell adopted the pen name John le Carré.
In 1961, le Carré made his literary debut with Call for the Dead, a novel that introduced the world to the enigmatic character George Smiley, an intelligence officer known for his understated brilliance. He was still commuting by train to MI5’s London headquarters.
Smiley would go on to become one of le Carré's most iconic and enduring characters.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, le Carré crafted a series of spy novels including Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold which received critical acclaim and firmly established him as a master of the espionage genre.
Le Carré created George Smiley as a deliberate contrast to James Bond, portraying him as a short, overweight, and bespectacled character who allows mistreatment by others, including his unfaithful wife.
While cinematic adaptations often show him in dark suits, the novels describe his clothing as "really bad".
Actors including Gary Oldman and Alec Guinness have portrayed Smiley in film and TV adaptations, with Oldman earning an Academy Award nomination for his role.
Inhabiting George Smiley remains one of the high points of my life.Gary Oldman, Deadline 2020
“His characters were drawn deftly and deeply, nuances too many to count, and for me," said Oldman. "Inhabiting George Smiley remains one of the high points of my life."
Political controversy
Le Carré's novels often depicted the world of espionage in a more realistic and morally ambiguous light compared and his critical portrayal of the British intelligence services like MI6, didn't sit well with some officials.
His left-leaning political views included support for socialist ideals and criticisms of capitalism, often made him a polarising figure in political discussions.
An outspoken critic of the Iraq War and the Bush administration's foreign policy, his views were considered controversial in some political circles.
“I saw the Berlin Wall go up when I was 30 and I saw it come down when I was 60,” le Carré said in an interview, “I was chronicling my time, from a position of knowledge and sympathy."
Le Carré expressed support for whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, who exposed government secrets, believing their actions were in the public interest.
Yevgeny Primakov, the former head of Soviet foreign intelligence and Russia's first post-Soviet intelligence chief, admired le Carré. During a London visit in 1997, he invited le Carré to lunch and received a signed copy of Smiley's People.
Successive MI6 chiefs, like Sir Maurice Oldfield and Sir Richard Dearlove, were critical of le Carré's books, believing they hindered recruitment efforts for the intelligence service.
Sir Richard Moore, MI6’s current chief first ever tweet as chief of MI6 urged would-be Smileys not to apply to the service.
I plan to keep tweeting, but obviously can neither confirm nor deny how often. I’ll also try to persuade some of you to come and work for #MI6. #Bond or #Smiley need not apply. They’re (splendid) fiction but actually we’re #secretlyjustlikeyou 2/2
— Richard Moore (@ChiefMI6) October 1, 2020
Throughout his prolific career, Le Carré received numerous awards including the Golden Dagger Award for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold in 1963 and an OBE in 1998 for his services to literature.
In 2011, le Carré was honoured with the prestigious Goethe Medal, a German cultural award of great distinction.
The not so private man
Le Carré was known for his private nature. He rarely granted interviews and guarded the details of his personal life with great diligence.
He was married to his first wife, Ann Sharp, from 1954 to 1971 with whom he had three sons – Simon, Stephen and Timothy.
While still married to Sharp he had an affair with Susan Thurman, wife of author and journalist, Sydney Thurman. The affair led to the end of his first marriage to Sharp.
Thurman was not the only woman le Carré had an affair with. A novelist under her pen name, Suleika Dawson, wrote The Secret Heart – John le Carre: An Intimate Memoir, told The Times that she was "the love of his [life]" and had a longer affair than "all his ‘other women'".
My infidelities became almost a necessary drug for my writing.John le Carré, The Telegraph, 2023
After his divorce from Sharp, le Carré married Valerie Jane Eustace. She was an editor at his publishing company and had a son, Nick Harkaway – a British novelist like his father. The pair remained married until his death in 2020.
Writing about women characters
In the early 1990s, aged 60, le Carré met a US fan in England and travelled to Baton Rouge with hopes of starting an affair.
After spending four nights in a hotel together, the admirer invited him to her home, le Carré declined her advances, telling her, "I can't."
One recurring criticism of le Carré's works is his inability to craft convincing female characters. Several theories attempt to explain this, from a potential mistrust of women following his mother's departure.
Adam Sisman's detailed biography of le Carré revealed that his first wife, Sharp, “told him frequently that he knew nothing of women” and his female characters showed his ignorance.
He gave her name to Smiley’s wife, who in le Carré's novels is notoriously unfaithful, as depicted in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
According to Sisman, le Carré’s second wife endured David's extramarital adventures while trying to shield him from their consequences, declaring: "Nobody can have all of David."
Salman Rushdie voiced his criticism, asserting that le Carré struggled to create credible female characters.
Le Carré himself told Sisman that his "infidelities produced in my life a duality and a tension that became almost a necessary drug for my writing, a dangerous edge of some kind".
Spying and novel writing are made for each other.John le Carré, New York Times 2016
He added: “Both call for a ready eye for human transgression and the many routes to betrayal."
Le Carré died on 12 December, 2020 from pneumonia aged 89. He makes a posthumous appearance in Apple TV+'s The Pigeon Tunnel, for which he filmed his final interview.
The Pigeon Tunnel is streaming on Apple TV+ now.
Read more: John le Carre
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Watch the trailer for The Pigeon Tunnel:
