Modesty Blaise

Modesty Blaise was a 1982 American-produced one-hour television pilot produced for the ABC Network and based upon the 1963-2001 comic strip Modesty Blaise, created by Peter O’Donnell.

This was the second attempt at adapting the comic strip as a live-action production, following a 1966 film of the same title. It was written by Stephen Zito, directed by Reza Badigi, with Barney Rosenzweig as executive producer. The plot has a few elements taken from O’Donnell’s first Modesty Blaise novel but is largely original. Whereas Modesty in the comic strip and novels was said to be of uncertain Eastern European ancestry, and her companion Willie Garvin was a Cockney, the telefilm makes both characters American.