Harold Jack Bloom was a busy television writer in the 60`s and 70`s. Noteworthy of his body of work was the 1972 television show EMERGENCY. Bloom is suspected of having been commissioned to turn in a draft of You Only Live Twice that the producers ultimately rejected. Roald Dahl speculates as much in a 1980 interview he did with Tom Soter. Soter`s book, BOND AND BEYOND, would eventually get published in 1993.

Dahl credits Bond`s “death” and “burial at sea” to Cubby Broccoli, who suggested that this element be included in Dahl`s draft. But ultimately, Dahl believes it was part of a larger piece of work, turned in by Bloom, that Saltzman and Broccoli were unsatisfied with.

Dahl: “My guess is that it was the idea of Mr. Bloom. They had probably – and hadn`t told me – commissioned a screenplay from him, and it hadn`t been any good, but they picked out that idea and possibly one or two others which they had asked me to put in. So, Bloom had a right to some kind of credit. I never worked with him. The first time I heard of Bloom wanting a share in the credits was after the film had been cut and I was told that there would be a share. I said `Well, there`s no way anyone`s going to share the full credit` There was a fight about that, and then, they gave him what you see.” What he got was “additional story material” credit.

Tom Soter`s full article on Roald Dahl was published in the August 1991 issue of Starlog Magazine.