Editing Kyril Bonfiglioli

{{short description|British cult novelist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
'''Kyril Bonfiglioli''' (born '''Cyril Emmanuel George Bonfiglioli'''; 29 May 1928 – 3 March 1985) was a British art dealer, magazine editor and comic novelist. His eccentric and witty ''[[Mortdecai]]'' novels have gained a following since his death.

==Biography==
Bonfiglioli was born in [[Eastbourne]] on the south coast of England to an Italo-Slovene father, Emmanuel Bonfiglioli, and an English mother, Dorothy née Pallett. His mother and brother died in an air raid when he was 14. Having served in the British Army from 1947 to 1954, and being widowed, he applied to [[Balliol College, Oxford]], where he took his degree. After his divorce from his second wife, he lived in [[Silverdale, Lancashire|Silverdale]] in [[Lancashire]], then in [[Jersey]] and Ireland. With Keith Roberts, he edited ''[[Science Fantasy (magazine)|Science Fantasy]]'' magazine for a period from 1964 to 1966, appointed by David Warburton of Roberts and Vinter Ltd.; and the successor ''Impulse'' for its first few issues in 1966 before handing the reins to [[Harry Harrison (writer)|Harry Harrison]]. He died in Jersey of [[cirrhosis]] in 1985, having had five children.<ref name=Carey>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/09/20/040920crat_atlarge |title=The Genuine Article: the strange case of Kyril Bonfiglioli|magazine=The New Yorker |date=20 September 2004|last=Carey|first=Leo| access-date=25 October 2018}}</ref><ref name="Times">[https://web.archive.org/web/20140709142135/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/culture/books/non_fiction/article1426514.ece "Don’t Point That Thing at Me by Kyril Bonfiglioli"]. ''The Sunday Times''. Retrieved 17 October 2014.</ref>

He described himself as "an accomplished fencer, a fair shot with most weapons and a serial marrier of beautiful women ... abstemious in all things except drink, food, tobacco and talking ... and loved and respected by all who knew him slightly."<ref name=Carey/><ref>Bonfiglioli, Kyril. "After you with the Pistol", Penguin Books, 2014 edition, p. i (first page, publishers preface).</ref>

==Charlie Mortdecai novels==
{{Main|Mortdecai}}

Bonfiglioli wrote four books featuring Charlie Mortdecai, three of which were published in his lifetime, and one posthumously as completed by the satirist and parodist [[Craig Brown (satirist)|Craig Brown]]. Charlie Mortdecai is the fictional art dealer [[anti-hero]] of the series. His character resembles, among other things, an amoral [[Bertie Wooster]] with occasional [[psychopath]]ic tendencies. His [[Mortdecai]] comic-thriller trilogy received critical plaudits back in the 1970s and early 1980s. The dry satire and black humour of the books were favourably reviewed by ''[[The New Yorker]]'' and others. The books are still in print and have been translated into several languages. The books "attract a devoted cult following and are consistently praised by a wide variety of publications",<ref name="meslow">{{cite news |last1=Meslow |first1=Scott |title=Anatomy of a flop: How a horribly misguided movie like Mortdecai made it into theaters |url=https://theweek.com/articles/535868/anatomy-flop-how-horribly-misguided-movie-like-mortdecai-made-into-theaters |access-date=30 May 2024 |work=The Week |date=27 January 2015 |language=en}}</ref> although a writer in  ''[[The Paris Review]]'' said that "readers are pretty much evenly divided between those who relish the books' unflinching, un-PC meanness, and those who are appalled".<ref name="stein">{{cite news |last1=Stein |first1=Sadie |title=Something Nasty |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/01/20/something-nasty/ |access-date=30 May 2024 |work=The Paris Review |date=20 January 2015 |language=en}}</ref>

''Don't Point That Thing At Me'' was awarded the 1973 [[CWA New Blood Dagger]] for the best crime novel by a hitherto unpublished writer.

Actors [[Stephen Fry]] and [[Hugh Laurie]] are among those who are fans of his work.<ref name="Times"/> Hugh Laurie praised "the excellent Kyril Bonfigliolo" [sic] in the afternotes of his book ''[[The Gun Seller]]''.<ref>Hugh Laurie, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8DJq3GXqGP8C&pg=PA348 ''The Gunseller''], Washington Square Press, 1996, p. 345.</ref>

The three original books, published out of chronological order:
* ''Don't Point That Thing At Me'' ([[Weidenfeld and Nicolson]], 1972), Book One
::Reissued (Penguin, 2015 {{ISBN|978-0-241-97267-0}}) as film tie-in under title ''Mortdecai''
* ''After You With The Pistol'' ([[Secker and Warburg]], 1979), Book Two
* ''Something Nasty In The Woodshed'' (Macmillan, 1976), Book Three

Anthologised in:
* ''[[Mortdecai|The Mortdecai Trilogy]]'' (Black Spring Press, 1991)

An historical prequel about one of Charlie's Dutch ancestors: 
* ''All the Tea in China'' (Secker and Warburg, 1978)

The posthumously completed sequel:
* ''The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery'' completed by [[Craig Brown (satirist)|Craig Brown]] ([[Black Spring Press]], 1999)

Bonfiglioli's second wife Margaret wrote and compiled a posthumous anthology of works and anecdotes, called ''The Mortdecai ABC'' (London: Penguin / Viking, 2001), {{ISBN|0-670-91084-8}}.

===2015 film===
{{Main|Mortdecai (film)}}
''[[Mortdecai (film)|Mortdecai]]'', a film based on the books directed by [[David Koepp]] and starring [[Johnny Depp]] in the title role, was released in January 2015. The film was a [[box office bomb]], and received overwhelmingly negative reviews.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/25/mortdecai-box-office-flop_n_6542100.html |title='Mortdecai' Is One Of Johnny Depp's Worst Flops Ever |publisher=Huffingtonpost.com |date=2015-01-25 |accessdate=2015-06-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Stephanie Garcia |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/mortdecai-becomes-johnny-depps-fifth-consecutive-box-office-bomb-10003543.html |title=Mortdecai becomes Johnny Depp's fifth consecutive movie to flop at the box office - News - Films |work=[[The Independent]] |date=2015-01-26 |accessdate=2015-06-12 |location=London}}</ref> The [[Rotten Tomatoes]] aggregated rating for the movie stands at just 12%.<ref>[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mortdecai/ Rotten Tomatoes: Mortdecai]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Kyril Bonfiglioli}}
*[http://www.detecs.org/mortdecai.html Entertaining review & quotes]
*[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/forgotten-authors-no-56-kyril-bonfiglioli-2043234.html "Forgotten authors No 56: Kyril Bonfiglioli"], ''The Independent''. Retrieved 17 October 2014]
*[http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2004/09/20/040920crat_atlarge Article on Bonfiglioli] in ''The New Yorker''
*[http://bonfigliolirememberedbydonwells.blogspot.co.uk/2013_03_01_archive.html Recollections of Bonfiglioli by an old friend]
*[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3045616/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 Mortdecai Film on IMDB]
*{{IMDb name|5795768|Kyril Bonfiglioli}}
*{{ISFDB name|id=Kyril_Bonfiglioli|name=Kyril Bonfiglioli}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonfiglioli, Kyril}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:English science fiction writers]]
[[Category:English people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Science fiction editors]]
[[Category:20th-century English novelists]]
[[Category:English male novelists]]
[[Category:British speculative fiction editors]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]