A group of us were wondering which author’s work was turned into the most movies. Our conclusion was probably Stephen King or Ian Fleming, but I’m sure there are other other contenders. Any more suggestions?
Shakespeare? Dickens?
Alastair Maclean - although most of the films bear very little relation to the books they are ‘based-on’
Are we talking percentage of books written converted to film, or just straight numbers?
Shakespeare & Jane Austen come immediately to my mind.
I was thinking of straight numbers, but percentage would be interesting as well, as long as the author has a few books out. What started this was thinking about Nick Hornby, who has written 4 books, and all but the most recent have been adapted (About a Boy, High Fidelity, and Fever Pitch). Which is a pretty good ratio.
There have been so many Sherlock Holmes movies, and so many others that are Sherlock Holmes rip-offs, I’d be inclined to guess that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the most adapted author.
Shakespeare by far. The IMDB has his listed with a writer’s credit on 475 titles. The IMDB has 85 title matches for “Hamlet” and 43 for “Romeo and Juliet,” and that doesn’t include things like “West Side Story,” “Shakespeare in Love,” or “In the Bleak Midwinter” (it’s possible a few of the titles had no relation to the Shakespere, but not many). There are also non-Shakespeare Shakespeare adaptations like “Forbidden Planet” where Will isn’t credited.
His percentage is also pretty good. His complete works were done as a series of videos on the BBC.
As for a more modern author, there’s always Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He’s listed as writer on 140 movies. Nearly all of his Sherlock Holmes stories have been filmed, as well as several of his Professor Challenger series.
Charles Dickens edges out Doyle, with 146 adaptation.
Stephen King, in contrast is listed for 68 films. Very good, but a long way from the top. Ian Fleming trails at 33, and Maclean a mere 17.
My first thought was Shakespeare. After I saw that he was already listed, I started thinking about others. Jules Verne was prolific, and multiply-filmed. The IMDB lists 76 titles for him, but I suspect that’s low – there are a lot of cartoon adaptations and others of his works.
And here the IMDB fails us. There aren’t even 33 Bond movies. It turns out they are counting video games, as well as any movie that uses the Bond character. My rough calculation makes it more like 17 for Ian Fleming (I was quite surprised to see that one of them was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). So I don’t know how much to trust the IMDB numbers.
Also, were they a little obsessed with Sherlock Holmes stories in the 20’s? It looks like there were 50 adaptions in the four years from 1920-1923. Talk about padding your stats.
What if we limit it to novels? That would get rid of that Shakespeare chap.
The IMDB numbers are admittedly rough (for instance, Shakespeare isn’t mentioned in the credits for “Forbidden Planet,” though the movie is based on “The Tempest”), but they should be a good general guide. The actual numbers are debatable, but the trends are clear.
With novels alone, that gives it to Dickens. Even if you remove the 34 adaptations of “A Christmas Carol” (a short story), that’s well over 100.
Then there’s Alexandre Dumas, pere, who also has over 100 credits.
If you count every movie relating to Dracula than Bram Stoker has done pretty well, but many of them have little or nothing to do with his novel.
A few other impressive tallies, from some now-neglected authors:
Elinor Glyn—26
Washington Irving—26
Edna Ferber—29
Fannie Hurst—31
Henry James—51
Booth Tarkington—59
Ditto for Frankenstein and Mary Shelley.
Nobody’s yet mentioned O. Henry (108 listings), Edgar Allen Poe (105), Robert Louis Stevenson (99) or Leo Tolstoy (89).
Tolstoy. Hmmph. Well, he’s no Elinor Glyn.
I believe that they are calling the new Bond movie “Die Another Day” the twentieth Bond movie. I suspect they are not counting “Casino Royale.”
But if we only count movies made from novels, we can’t count all of the Bond movies. “Octopussy” was based on a short story. The newest Bond movie is only based on Fleming’s characters, and I think that is true of some others. (“The Spy Who Loved Me” uses the title of a novel, but I have heard that Fleming realized how awful the book was, and would not let the movie producers use anything but the title.)
I have not been able to find a page count for “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, but if I remember correctly, it is too short to be considered a novel.
And if we only count novels, we have to eliminate most of the Sherlock Holmes movies, which were either based on short stories or just on the characters. There are only a few Sherlock Holmes novels. “The Hound of the Baskervilles” seems to have been made at least twenty times, but the remaining Sherlock Holmes novels only bring the total to thirty or so, plus two theatrical movies and two made-for-TV movies adapted from “The Lost World.”
I believe that they are calling the new Bond movie “Die Another Day” the twentieth Bond movie. I suspect they are not counting “Casino Royale.”
But if we only count movies made from novels, we can’t count all of the Bond movies. “Octopussy” was based on a short story. The newest Bond movie is only based on Fleming’s characters, and I think that is true of some others. (“The Spy Who Loved Me” uses the title of a novel, but I have heard that Fleming realized how awful the book was, and would not let the movie producers use anything but the title.)
I have not been able to find a page count for “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, but if I remember correctly, it is too short to be considered a novel.
And if we only count novels, we have to eliminate most of the Sherlock Holmes movies, which were either based on short stories or just on the characters. There are only a few Sherlock Holmes novels. “The Hound of the Baskervilles” seems to have been made at least twenty times, but the remaining Sherlock Holmes novels only bring the total to thirty or so, plus two theatrical movies and two made-for-TV movies adapted from “The Lost World.”
Sorry about the double post.
SmackFu wrote:
In which case, we have to subtract all those William Shakespeare video games the IMDb lists. 
(I can see it now … “Ooh! Hamlet’s acquired 50 Brooding Points! Now he’s powerful enough to defeat Laertes! If I can get another 25 Brooding Points, look out, Claudius!”