Article: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE; In 1962 newspaper publisher David Astor sent a reporter to a job in Dublin - he had SEVEN DAYS either to get Brendan Behan off the drink.. or take down his last words.(News)

Byline: EAMONN O'HANLON

A TOP Hollywood scriptwriter has revealed how he was sent to 1960s Dublin on a doomed mission to save Brendan Behan's life.

Clancy Sigal was dispatched from London in 1962 by British newspaper publisher David Astor amid fears that Behan was drinking himself to death.

American-born Sigal, who now lives in Los Angeles, said he arrived in Ireland confident he could tempt the legendary Irish writer off the bottle.

But Behan, who was already suffering from liver disease and the diabetes that would eventually kill him, ...

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