Stewart Terence Herbert Young (June 20, 1915 – September 7, 1994) was a British film director, born in Shanghai, China, was public-school educated, and studied Oriental History at St Catharine’s College in the University of Cambridge (like James Bond). He was probably best known for directing three films, including the first, in the James Bond series: Dr No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), and Thunderball (1965).

Terence Young and Sean Connery with Molly Peters on the set of Thunderball at Pinewood Studios.

Young began as a screenwriter in British films of the 1940s and 1950s, before directing several films for Irving Allen and Albert R Broccoli’s Warwick Films in the 1950s, including The Red Beret with Alan Ladd; this association lead to his being offered the directorship of the first two James Bond films.

“Terence Young WAS James Bond” wrote Robert Cotton. There is little doubt Young fit the profile of Bond – the erudite, sophisticated lady killer, dressed in Saville Row suits, always witty, well-versed in wine, and comfortable at home and abroad.

Cotton commented, “As Lois Maxwell related in one of Connery’s many biographies, ‘Terence took Sean under his wing. He took him to dinner, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat.’ Some of the cast remarked that Connery was simply doing a Terence Young impression, but Young and Connery knew they were on the right track.”