R.I.P. Anne Francis, Private detectives

R.I.P. Anne Francis (Born: Ann Marvak) September 16, 1930 in Ossining, New York, USA - Died: January 2, 2011 (age 80) in Santa Barbara, California, USA
"Anne Francis: The Life and Career" [Paperback book] biography, written by Laura Wagner - published by McFarland & Company you can pre-order it, release date on 31st May, 2011.

Dennis McLellan in the Los Angeles Times: "A shapely blond with a signature beauty mark next to her lower lip, Francis was a former child model and radio actress when she first came to notice on the big screen in the early 1950s.
She had leading or supporting roles in more than 30 movies, including Bad Day at Black Rock, Battle Cry, Blackboard Jungle, The Hired Gun, Don't Go Near the Water, Brainstorm, Funny Girl and Hook, Line and Sinker."
Known to many for her outstanding performances as Honey West and for her role in the Forbidden Planet; countless movies and television programs for over 70 years she leaves behind a legacy. Aside from being a pioneer for women in television Anne was also the first single woman to adopt a baby (Maggie) in 1970;
"Anne Francis, who costarred in the 1950s science-fiction classic Forbidden Planet and later played the title role in Honey West, the mid-1960s TV series about a sexy female private detective with a pet ocelot, died Sunday." Source: mubi.com

In the tradition of private detectives, Philip Marlowe has been arguably the most emblematic one, specially impersonated by Humphrey Bogart in "The Big Sleep" and by Dick Powell in "Murder, My sweet".
Dick Powell as Philip Marlowe and Claire Trevor as Mrs.Helen Grayle/Velma Valento in "Murder, My Sweet" (1944)

"A dozen actors have impersonated Marlowe on film, radio and TV, and Chandler, whose ideal exponent would have been Cary Grant, thought Bogart the best. In a 1946 letter to his British publisher, he said: "Bogart is so much better than any other tough-guy actor. As we say here, Bogart can be tough without a gun. Also he has a sense of humour that contains that grating undertone of contempt."
Finally, The Big Sleep is invariably described as a film noir, a term coined by French critic Nino Frank in 1945 when a flood of dark Hollywood thrillers made during the war eventually arrived on Parisian screens after the four years of German occupation. Nearly 40 years passed before the term became current in the English-speaking world. The time of day in The Big Sleep is appropriately night, with rain and fog the dominant climatic conditions. But the influence of German expressionism is absent, there's no hard-boiled narration, no angst-ridden hero, no distorted camera angles, no nightmares, no ominous shadows, no flashbacks. Bogart and Bacall's exchanges are wittily playful, and the only femme fatale is a minor though crucial figure who destroys that perennial noir fall-guy, Elisha Cook Jr. But it's unmissable, irresistible". Source: www.guardian.co.uk

"Hammett’s effect on this popular form is unmistakable, even today, but many of his contemporaries openly admitted his influence. Such notable and popular authors as Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald and Ian Fleming credited their inspiration to Hammett. Raymond Chandler, commenting on his influence and popularity, summed up his feelings when he wrote: "Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it . . . he put these people down on paper as they are, and he made them talk and think in the language they customarily use for these purposes".

Although detective fiction on the whole does not usually have well developed characters, The Maltese Falcon does. There are only a few characters in the book, and several of them are classics. Sam Spade is the prototype tough-guy. Another major character is Brigid O’Shaugnessy —a stunning beauty that can never tell the truth. She seems to always get her way with every man she meets, but she can never fool Sam Spade. Spade takes her to bed when she offers herself, and rather cleverly does a strip search that was really not necessary. She is perhaps the most vivid of Hammett’s cast.
There are several points that distinguish The Maltese Falcon and other hard-boiled novels from other works of detective fiction. First, clues are generally not as important as how they are found, and what they lead to". Source: www.urbinavolant.com

"Once Murder, My Sweet proved a hit, Jack Warner gave director Howard Hawks $50,000 to buy the rights to Chandler's first novel, The Big Sleep. Hawks called up Chandler and asked him if he'd like to see Humphrey Bogart as Marlowe. Chandler was as tickled as a kid at Christmas, and Hawks paid him five grand for the book rights, pocketing the remaining loot most probably to underwrite one hell of a hunting trip. Chandler and Hammett, like their hard-boiled alter egos, were soft when it came to money. Hammett got a decent payday for the film rights to The Maltese Falcon, but then spent years legally wrangling to regain control of the character of Sam spade, not wanting to believe he'd sold off the name forever. When Chandler signed on as a studio writer in the Forties, he was so overwhelmed by his weekly retainer it never dawned on him to ask for what other, lesser, writers were earning.
Although Dick Powell did a fine job in Murder, My Sweet, he couldn't quite conceal his bouncy, hoofer's energy beneath a rash of stubble and a rumpled suit. He came off more petulant than world-weary. Closer to the real Chandler, perhaps, but wide of the romantic ideal. On the other hand, "Bogart was the genuine article", Chandler bubbled in anticipation of his Marlowe incarnation. Robert Mitchum, who enjoyed a noir revival in the Seventies, portrayed Philip Marlowe in remakes of Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and a British version of The Big Sleep (1978)". --EDDIE MULLER, from Dark City "The Lost World of Film Noir"

Anthony Boucher once said (in New york Times Book Review, 5 August 1951) about 'The Way Some People Die' that it was "the best novel in the tough tradition I've read since 'Farewell, My Lovely' (1940) and possibly since 'The Maltese Falcon' (1930)".