He was captured in North Africa, imprisoned and threatened with execution in Italy, then escaped to join the British forces at Salerno. He was then posted to serve with the partisans in Yugoslavia. He wrote about his experiences in the book The World is Six Feet Square (1954). He was promoted to Captain and awarded the Military Cross in 1944.
Several of Caillou's novels were filmed, such as Rampage with Robert Mitchum in 1963 based on his big game hunting knowledge, Assault on Agathon with Nico Minardos as Cabot Cain for which Caillou did the screenplay as well, and The Cheetahs, filmed in 1989. He can be seen as a contestant on 23 January 1958 edition of You Bet Your Life.
He appeared as an actor and/or worked as a Screenwriter in such shows as Daktari, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (including the screenwriting for "The Bow-Wow Affair" from 1965), Thriller, Daniel Boone, Quark, Centennial, and How the West Was Won. She appeared in such television movies such as Sole Survivor (1970), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1972, as Inspector Lestrade), and Goliath Awaits (1981). His cinema film credits included roles in Five Weeks in a Balloon (1962), Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion (1965), The Rare Breed (1966), The Devil's Brigade (1968), Hellfighters (1968), Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977), Beyond Evil (1980), The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982) and The Ice Pirates (1984).
Alan Caillou died in Sedona, Arizona, United States in 2006.
