Irving Allen(1905-1987)

His partnership with Albert R. Broccoli was strained by their disagreement bringing to the screen the "James Bond" series. Broccoli was interested, Allen was not. The pair met with Bond author Ian Fleming in 1957, but Allen proclaimed (according to various accounts, including documentaries on Bond movie DVDs) that Fleming's novels weren't "good enough for television." Some years later Allen, with egg on his face, cast about for his own spy series. He acquired the rights to Donald Hamilton's "Matt Helm" series. Allen's Helm series had one major effect on Broccoli's Bond movies (produced at the time in partnership with Harry Saltzman). To get Dean Martin on board as Matt Helm, Allen had to make the actor a partner in the enterprise. Martin ended up making more money on The Silencers (1966) than Sean Connery made on Thunderball (1965), a fact that did not go unnoticed by Connery.

When I read (the novel) The Poseidon Adventure, I said, 'Hell, I want to make money with this.'