Clancy Sigal's parents were both union organizers, and he was largely raised solely by his mother, Jennie, After a stint in the army Sigal was a union organiser in Detroit, then a talent agent in Hollywood. Escaping the Macarthyite witch-hunts, he emigrated to Great Britain, where he met and commenced a four-year affair with the writer Doris Lessing. He returned to the US, married, and with his wife co-wrote the oscar-winning 2002 Salma Hayek movie Frida. He died in 2017.