The Saint is the nickname of the fictional character Simon Templar, featured in a series of novels and short stories by

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (; born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin; 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.''The Saint'', which includes motion pictures, radio dramas, comic strips, comic books, and three television series.

Overview

Simon Templar

Simon Templar is a

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...

-like figure known as the Saint—from his initials, per '' The Saint Meets the Tiger'', and the reader is told that he was given the nickname at the age of nineteen. In addition, per ''

Knight Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

'' : Templar has aliases, often using the initials S.T. such as "Sebastian Tombs" or "Sugarman Treacle". Blessed with boyish humour, he makes humorous remarks and leaves a " calling card" at his "crimes," a stick figure of a man with a halo over his head. This is used as the logo of the books, the films, and the three TV series. Supposedly, the stick figure was created by Charteris when he was a boy, "...drawing cartoons for his own four-page magazine at 10...." He is described as "a buccaneer in the suits of

Savile Row Savile Row (pronounced ) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical ...

, amused, cool, debonair, with hell-for-leather blue eyes and a saintly smile". His origin remains a mystery; he is explicitly British, but in early books (''e.g.,'' '' Meet the Tiger'') there are references which suggest that he had spent some time in the United States battling

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

villains. Presumably, his acquaintance with Bronx sidekick Hoppy Uniatz dates from this period. In the books, his income is derived from the pockets of the "ungodly" (as he terms those who live by a lesser moral code than his own), whom he is given to "socking on the boko." There are references to a "ten percent collection fee" to cover expenses when he extracts large sums from victims, the remainder being returned to the owners, given to charity, shared among Templar's colleagues, or some combination of those possibilities. Templar's targets include corrupt politicians, warmongers, and other low life. "He claims he's a Robin Hood," says one victim, "but to me he's just a robber and a hood." Robin Hood appears to be one inspiration for the character; Templar stories were often promoted as featuring "The Robin Hood of modern crime," and this phrase to describe Templar appears in several stories. A term used by Templar to describe his acquisitions is " boodle," a term also applied to the

short story collection A short story collection is a book of short stories and/or novellas by a single author. A short story collection is distinguished from an anthology of fiction, which would contain work by several authors (e.g., '' Les Soirées de Médan''). Th ...

. The Saint has a dark side, as he is willing to ruin the lives of the "ungodly," and even kill them, if he feels that more innocent lives can be saved. In the early books, Templar refers to this as murder, although he considers his actions justified and righteous, a view usually shared by partners and colleagues. Several adventures centre on his intention to kill. (For example, "Arizona" in '' The Saint Goes West'' has Templar planning to kill a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

scientist.) During the 1920s and early 1930s, the Saint is fighting European arms dealers, drug runners, and white slavers while based in his London home. His battles with Rayt Marius mirror the 'four rounds with Carl Petersen' of Bulldog Drummond. During the first half of the 1940s, Charteris cast Templar as a willing operative of the American government, fighting Nazi interests in the United States during World War II. Beginning with the "Arizona" novella, Templar is fighting his own war against Germany. '' The Saint Steps In'' reveals that Templar is operating on behalf of a mysterious American government official known as Hamilton who appears again in the next WWII-era Saint book, ''

The Saint on Guard ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...

,'' and Templar is shown continuing to act as a secret agent for Hamilton in the first post-war novel, ''

The Saint Sees it Through ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

.'' The later books move from confidence games, murder mysteries, and wartime espionage, and place Templar as a global adventurer. According to ''Saint'' historian

Burl Barer Burl Barer (born 1947 in Walla Walla, Washington) is an American author, literary historian and radio host. He is best known for his writings about the character Simon Templar. Career Fiction ''The Saint'' ''The Saint: A Complete History in ...

, Charteris made the decision to remove Templar from his usual confidence-game trappings, not to mention his usual co-stars Uniatz, girlfriend Patricia Holm, valet Orace, and police foil Claud Eustace Teal, as they were all inappropriate for the post-war stories he was writing. Although the Saint functions as an ordinary detective in some stories, others depict ingenious plots to get even with vanity publishers and other rip-off artists, greedy bosses who exploit their workers, con men, etc. Charteris gave Templar interests and quirks as the series went on. Early talents as an amateur poet and songwriter were displayed, often to taunt villains, though the novella '' The Inland Revenue'' established that poetry was also a hobby. That story revealed that Templar had written an adventure novel featuring a South American hero not far removed from The Saint himself. Templar also on occasion would break the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

in an almost

metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...

al sense, making references to being part of a story and mentioning in one early story how he cannot be killed so early on; the 1960s television series would also have Templar address viewers. Charteris in his narrative also frequently breaks the fourth wall by making references to the "chronicler" of the Saint's adventures and directly addressing the reader. In the story "The Sizzling Saboteur" in ''

'' Charteris inserts his own name. In the story "Judith" in '' Saint Errant'' is the line, "'This,' the Saint said to nobody in particular, 'sounds like one of those stories that fellow Charteris might write.'" Furthermore, in the 1955 story "The Unkind Philanthropist," published in the collection '' The Saint on the Spanish Main,'' Templar states outright that (in his fictional universe) his adventures are indeed written about by a man named Leslie Charteris.

Other recurring characters

The Saint has many partners, though none last throughout the series. For the first half until the late 1940s, the most recurrent is Patricia Holm, his girlfriend, who was introduced in the first story, the 1928 novel '' Meet the Tiger,'' in which she shows herself a capable adventurer. Holm appeared erratically throughout the series, sometimes disappearing for books at a time. Templar and Holm lived together in a time when common-law relationships were uncommon and, in some areas, illegal. They have an easy, non-binding relationship, as Templar is shown flirting with other women from time to time. However, his heart remains true to Holm in the early books, culminating in his considering marriage in the novella '' The Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal,'' only to have Holm say that she had no interest in marrying. Holm disappeared in the late 1940s, and according to Barer's history of ''The Saint,'' Charteris refused to allow Templar a steady girlfriend, or Holm to return. (However, according to the Saintly Bible website, Charteris did write a film story that would have seen Templar encountering a son he had had with Holm.) Holm's final appearance as a character was in the short stories "Iris," "Lida," and "Luella," contained within the 1948 collection '' Saint Errant;'' the next direct reference to her does not appear in print until the 1983 novel ''

Salvage for the Saint ''Salvage for the Saint'' is the title of a 1983 mystery novel featuring the character of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". The novel was written by Peter Bloxsom, based on the two-part '' Return of the Saint'' episode "Collision Course" by Jo ...

.'' Another recurring character,

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

Inspector Claud Eustace Teal, could be found attempting to put the Saint behind bars, although in some books they work in partnership. In '' The Saint in New York,'' Teal's American counterpart,

NYPD The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

Inspector John Henry Fernack, was introduced, and he would become, like Teal, an

Inspector Lestrade Detective Inspector G. Lestrade ( or ) is a fictional character appearing in the Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Lestrade's first appearance was in the first Sherlock Holmes story, the 1887 novel ''A Study in Scarlet''. Hi ...

-like foil and pseudo-nemesis in a number of books, notably the American-based World War II novels of the 1940s. The Saint had a band of compatriots, including Roger Conway, Norman Kent, Archie Sheridan, Richard "Dicky" Tremayne (a name that appeared in the 1990s TV series, ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American Surrealist cinema, surrealist Mystery film, mystery-Horror film, horror Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It Pilot (Twin Peaks), premiered on American Broad ...

''), Peter Quentin, Monty Hayward, and his ex-military valet, Orace. In later stories, the dim-witted and constantly soused but reliable American thug Hoppy Uniatz was at Templar's side. Of the Saint's companions, only Norman Kent was killed during an adventure (he sacrifices himself to save Templar in the novel '' The Last Hero''); the other males are presumed to have settled down and married (two to former female criminals: Dicky Tremayne to "Straight Audrey" Perowne and Peter Quentin to Kathleen "The Mug" Allfield; Archie Sheridan is mentioned to have married in "The Lawless Lady" in '' Enter the Saint,'' presumably to Lilla McAndrew after the events of the story "The Wonderful War" in '' Featuring the Saint).''

The Hirondel

The Hirondel (sometimes misspelled as Hirondelle) is a fictional car driven by

Simon Templar The Saint is the nickname of the fictional character Simon Templar, featured in a List of works by Leslie Charteris, series of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date other authors collaborat ...

. The Hirondel is an opulent, eight-cylinder, cream and red vehicle costing £5,000 and is a recurring element in many of The Saint books. The Hirondel is also used by Storm (Captain Arden) in the non-Saint novel '' Daredevil.'' ''Daredevil'' also features inspector Teal. The Hirondel was featured in a 1972 issue of '' Automobile Quarterly'' (Vol. 10 No. 1).

Publishing history

The origins of the Saint can be found in early works by Charteris, some of which predated the first Saint novel, 1928's ''Meet the Tiger'', or were written after it but before Charteris committed to writing a Saint series. Burl Barer reveals that an obscure early work, '' Daredevil'', not only featured a heroic lead who shared "Saintly" traits (down to driving the same make of car) but also shared his adventures with Inspector Claud Eustace Teal—a character later a regular in Saint books. Barer writes that several early Saint stories were rewritten from non-Saint stories, including the novel '' She Was a Lady'', which appeared in magazine form featuring a different lead character. Charteris utilized three formats for delivering his stories. Besides full-length novels, he wrote novellas for the most part published in magazines, notably developing the character in the pages of the British story-paper ''The Thriller'' under the tutelage of Monty Hayden, who was developing the ″Desperado″ character type for the magazine, and these were later collected in hardback books collecting two or three stories per volume. He also wrote

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

featuring the character, again mostly for magazines and later compiled into omnibus editions. In later years these short stories carried a common theme, such as the women Templar meets or exotic places he visits. With the exception of ''Meet the Tiger'', chapter titles of Templar novels usually contain a descriptive phrase describing the events of the chapter; for example, Chapter Four of ''

'' is titled "How Simon Templar dozed in the Green Park and discovered a new use for toothpaste". Although Charteris's novels and novellas had more conventional thriller plots than his confidence game short stories, both novels and stories are admired. As in the past, the appeal lies in the vitality of the character, a hero who can go into a brawl and come out with his hair combed and who, faced with death, lights a cigarette and taunts his enemy with the signature phrase " As the actress said to the bishop ..." The period of the books begins in the 1920s and moves to the 1970s as the 50 books progress (the character being seemingly ageless). In early books most activities are illegal, although directed at villains. In later books, this becomes less so. In books written during World War II, the Saint was recruited by the government to help track spies and similar undercover work. Later he became a cold warrior fighting

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. The quality of writing also changes; early books have a freshness which becomes replaced by cynicism in later works. A few Saint stories crossed into science fiction and fantasy, "The Man Who Liked Ants" and the early novel '' The Last Hero'' being examples; one Saint short story, "The Darker Drink" (also published as "Dawn"), was even published in the October 1952 issue of ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...

''. When early Saint books were republished in the 1960s to the 1980s, it was not uncommon to see freshly written introductions by Charteris apologizing for the out-of-date tone; according to a Charteris "apology" in a 1969 paperback of '' Featuring the Saint'', he attempted to update some earlier stories when they were reprinted but gave up and let them sit as period pieces. The 1963 edition of the short story collection '' The Happy Highwayman'' contains examples of abandoned revisions; in one story published in the 1930s ("The Star Producers"), references to actors of the 1930s were replaced for 1963 with names of current movie stars; another 1930s-era story, "The Man Who Was Lucky", added references to atomic power. Although Templar is depicted as ageless, Charteris occasionally acknowledged the passing of time for those around him, such as in the 1956 short story collection '' The Saint Around the World'' which features the retirement of Inspector Teal in one story. Charteris started retiring from writing books following 1963's '' The Saint in the Sun''. The next book to carry Charteris's name, 1964's '' Vendetta for the Saint'', was written by science fiction author Harry Harrison, who had worked on the ''Saint'' comic strip, after which Charteris edited and revised the manuscript. Between 1964 and 1983, another 14 ''Saint'' books would be published, credited to Charteris but written by others. In his introduction to the first, '' The Saint on TV'', Charteris called these volumes a team effort in which he oversaw selection of stories, initially adaptations of scripts written for the 1962–1969 TV series '' The Saint'', and with Fleming Lee writing the adaptations (other authors took over from Lee). Charteris and Lee collaborated on two Saint novels in the 1970s, '' The Saint in Pursuit'' (based on a story by Charteris for the ''Saint''

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

) and '' The Saint and the People Importers''. The "team" writers were usually credited on the title page, if not the cover. One later volume, '' Catch the Saint'', was an experiment in returning The Saint to his period, prior to World War II (as opposed to recent Saint books set in the present day). Several later volumes also adapted scripts from the 1970s revival TV series '' Return of the Saint''. The last ''Saint'' volume in the line of books starting with ''Meet the Tiger'' in 1928 was ''

'', published in 1983. According to the Saintly Bible website, every Saint book published between 1928 and 1983 saw the first edition issued by

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

in the United Kingdom (a company that originally published only religious books) and

The Crime Club ''The Crime Club'' was an imprint of the Doubleday publishing company, which later spawned a 1946-47 anthology radio series, and a 1937-1939 film series. Literature Many classic and popular works of detective and mystery fiction had their f ...

(an imprint of Doubleday that specialized in mystery and detective fiction) in the United States. For the first 20 years, the books were first published in Britain, with the United States edition following up to a year later. By the late 1940s to early 1950s, this situation had been reversed. In one case—'' The Saint to the Rescue''—a British edition did not appear until nearly two years after the American one. French language books published over 30 years included translated volumes of Charteris originals as well as novelisations of radio scripts from the English-language radio series and comic strip adaptations. Many of these books credited to Charteris were written by others, including Madeleine Michel-Tyl. Charteris died in 1993. Two additional Saint novels appeared around the time of the 1997 film starring

Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a Leading actor, leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including Comedy film, comedies, dramas, action fi ...

: a novelisation of the film (which had little connection to the Charteris stories) and ''

Capture the Saint ''Capture the Saint'' is the title of a 1997 mystery novel by Burl Barer, featuring the character of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint" who was created by Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (; born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin; 12 May 1907 – 15 ...

'', a more faithful work published by The Saint Club and originated by Charteris in 1936. Both books were written by Burl Barer, who in the early 1990s published a history of the character in books, radio, and television. Charteris wrote 14 novels between 1928 and 1971 (the last two co-written), 34 novellas, and 95 short stories featuring Simon Templar. Between 1963 and 1997, an additional seven novels and fourteen novellas were written by others. In 2014, all the Saint books from ''Enter the Saint'' to ''Salvage for the Saint'' (but not ''Meet the Tiger'' nor Burl Barer's ''Capture the Saint'') were republished in both the United Kingdom and United States.

On radio

Several radio drama series were produced in North America, Ireland, and Britain. The earliest was for Radio Éireann's Radio

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...

in 1940 and starred Terence De Marney. Radio Times dated 11 October 1940 refers to "'The Saint' Terence de Marney as the Charteris hero." Both

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

produced ''Saint'' series during 1945, starring

Edgar Barrier Edgar Barrier (March 4, 1907 – June 20, 1964) was an American actor who appeared on radio, stage, and screen. In the 1930s he was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and was one of several actors who played Simon Templar on ''The Saint (r ...

and

Brian Aherne William Brian de Lacy Aherne (2 May 190210 February 1986) was an English actor of stage, screen, radio and television, who enjoyed a long and varied career in Britain and the United States. His first Broadway appearance in '' The Barretts of ...

. Many early shows were adaptations of published stories, although Charteris wrote several storylines for the series which were novelised as short stories and novellas. The longest-running radio incarnation was

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor. He was known for his work in the horror film genre, mostly portraying villains. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price ...

, who played the character in a series between 1947 and 1951 on three networks:

, Mutual and

. Like '' The Whistler'', the program had an opening whistle theme with footsteps. Price left in May 1951, to be replaced by

Tom Conway Tom Conway (born Thomas Charles Sanders; 15 September 1904 – 22 April 1967) was a British film, television, and radio actor. He is remembered for playing suave adventurer The Falcon in a series of 1940s films; and his appearances in three h ...

, who played the role for several more months; his brother,

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous charac ...

, had played Templar on film. For more about the Saint on American radio, see ''

The Saint (radio program) ''The Saint'' was a Radio broadcasting, radio adventure program in the United States that featured a character ("a swashbuckling, :wikt:devil-may-care, devil-may-care Robin Hood type who, in his attempt to help people, remained just one step ahea ...

''. The next English-language radio series aired on Springbok Radio in South Africa between 1953 and 1957. These were fresh adaptations of the original stories and starred Tom Meehan. Around 1965 to 1966 the South African version of Lux Radio Theatre produced a single dramatization of ''The Saint''. The English service of South Africa produced another series radio adventures for six months in 1970–1971. The most recent English-language incarnation was a series of three one-hour-long radio plays on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

in 1995, all adapted from Charteris novels: ''Saint Overboard'', ''The Saint Closes The Case'' and ''The Saint Plays With Fire'', starring Paul Rhys as Templar.

In film

Not long after creating The Saint, Charteris began a long association with

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

as a screenwriter. He was successful in getting a major studio,

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Kei ...

, interested in a film based on one of his works. The first, '' The Saint in New York'' in 1938, based on the 1935 novel of the same name, starred Louis Hayward as Templar and

Jonathan Hale Jonathan Hale (born Jonathan Hatley; March 21, 1891 – February 28, 1966) was a Canadian-born film and television actor. Life and career Hale was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Before his acting career, Hale worked in the Diplomatic Co ...

as Inspector Henry Fernack, the American counterpart of Mr Teal. The film was a success and RKO began a Saint series. Some of the films were based on Charteris's original novels or novellas; others were original stories based upon outlines by Charteris. Louis Hayward was no longer available, as he was now under contract to independent producer Edward Small. The role of Simon Templar went to

. Sanders's suave, offhand manner captured the urbane yet daring qualities of the Saint character. After five films RKO discontinued American production but made two more films in England, using funds that had been frozen by recent British legislation. Actor

Hugh Sinclair Admiral Sir Hugh Francis Paget Sinclair, (18 August 1873 – 4 November 1939), known as Quex Sinclair, was a British intelligence officer. He was Director of British Naval Intelligence between 1919 and 1921, and he subsequently helped to se ...

played Simon Templar in both films, produced in 1941: '' The Saint's Vacation'' and '' The Saint Meets the Tiger''. The second film was shelved until 1943, when it was released by

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

. In 1943 RKO launched a new series featuring '' The Falcon''. George Sanders again played a debonair adventurer, and "Saint" leading lady

Wendy Barrie Wendy Barrie (born Marguerite Wendy Jenkins; 18 April 1912 – 2 February 1978) was a British-American film and television actress. Early life Although sometimes stated to have been born in London, other sources, including Barrie herself, ...

was on hand as well. The new Falcon pictures followed the "Saint" pattern so closely that author Charteris sued RKO, charging unfair competition. Charteris told author David Zinman in 1971, "RKO switched to The Falcon, a flagrant carbon copy of their version of The Saint, in my opinion with the single mercenary motive of saving the payments they had to make to me for the film rights." Charteris actually makes fun of The Falcon in his 1943 novel '' The Saint Steps In'', with a character referring to the Falcon as "a bargain-basement imitation" of The Saint. In 1953, British

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classi ...

produced '' The Saint's Return'' (known as ''The Saint's Girl Friday'' in the United States), for which Louis Hayward returned to the role. This was followed by an unsuccessful French production in 1960. Roger Moore The Saint 1969

In the mid-1980s, the ''

National Enquirer The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years. The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays Source (journalism), sources for tips (chec ...

'' and other newspapers reported that Roger Moore was planning to produce a movie based on ''The Saint'' with

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...

as Templar, but it was never made. In 1989, six movies were made by Taffner starring Simon Dutton. These were syndicated in the United States as part of a series of films titled ''Mystery Wheel of Adventure,'' while in the United Kingdom they were shown as a series on ITV. In 1991, as detailed by Burl Barer in his 1992 history of ''The Saint,'' plans were announced for a series of motion pictures. Ultimately, however, no such franchise appeared. A feature film '' The Saint'' starring

was released in 1997, but it diverged in style from the Charteris books, although it did revive Templar's use of aliases. Kilmer's Saint is unable to defeat a Russian gangster in

hand-to-hand combat Hand-to-hand combat is a physical confrontation between two or more persons at short range (grappling distance or within the physical reach of a handheld weapon) that does not involve the use of ranged weapons.Hunsicker, A., ''Advanced Skills in ...

and is forced to flee; this would have been unthinkable in a Charteris tale. Whereas the original Saint resorted to aliases that had the initials S.T., Kilmer's character used Christian saints, regardless of initials. This Saint refrained from killing, and even his main enemies live to stand trial, whereas Charteris's version had no qualms about taking another life. Kilmer's Saint is presented as a master of disguise, but Charteris's version hardly used the sophisticated ones shown in this film. The film mirrored aspects of Charteris's own life, notably his origins in the Far East, though not in an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

as the film portrayed. Roger Moore features throughout in cameo as the BBC Newsreader heard in Simon Templar's Volvo. In July 2021,

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

announced a reboot film, with Regé-Jean Page set to play Templar.

On television

The actor

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the actor to portray Ian Fleming's fictional secret agent James Bond (literary character), James Bond in the Eon Productions/MGM Studios film series, playing the ...

brought Simon Templar to the new medium of television in the series '' The Saint'', which ran from 1962 to 1969, and Moore remains the actor most closely identified with the character. (According to the book ''Spy Television'' by Wesley Britton, the first actor offered the role was

Patrick McGoohan Patrick Joseph McGoohan (; March 19, 1928 – January 13, 2009) was an Irish-American actor of film, television, and theatre. Born in New York City to Irish parents, he was raised in Ireland and England. He began his career in England during t ...

of ''

Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again ...

'' and ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysteri ...

.'') Other actors played Templar in later series, notably '' Return of the Saint'' (1978–1979) starring

Ian Ogilvy Ian Raymond Ogilvy (born 30 September 1943) is an English actor, playwright and novelist. Early life Ogilvy was born in Woking, Surrey, England, to Francis Fairfield Ogilvy, brother of advertising executive David Ogilvy, and actress Aileen R ...

; the series ran for one season on

and ITV. A television pilot for a series to be called '' The Saint in Manhattan'', starring Australian actor Andrew Clarke, was shown on CBS in 1987 as part of the ''

CBS Summer Playhouse ''CBS Summer Playhouse'' is an American anthology series that ran from June 12, 1987 to August 22, 1989 on CBS. It aired unsold television pilots during the summer season. Overview Tim Reid and Daphne Maxwell Reid acted as hosts during th ...

;'' this pilot was produced by Donald L. Taffner, but it never progressed beyond the pilot stage. Inspector John Fernack of the

, played by

Kevin Tighe Kevin Tighe (; born Jon Kevin Fishburn; August 13, 1944) is an American actor who has worked in television, film, and theater since the late 1960s. He is best known for portraying firefighter-paramedic Roy DeSoto, on the 1972–1977 NBC series ' ...

, made his first film appearance since the 1940s in that production, while Templar (sporting a moustache) got about in a black

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...

bearing the ST1 licence plate. Since the 1997 Val Kilmer film '' The Saint'', there have been several failed attempts at producing pilots for potential new ''Saint'' television series. On 13 March 2007,

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

said it was developing a one-hour series to be executive produced by William J. MacDonald and produced by Jorge Zamacona.

James Purefoy James Brian Mark Purefoy (born 3 June 1964) is an English actor. He played Marcus Antonius in the HBO series ''Rome'', Nick Jenkins in '' A Dance to the Music of Time'', college professor turned serial killer Joe Carroll in the series '' The Fo ...

was announced as the new Simon Templar. Production of the pilot, which was to have been directed by

Barry Levinson Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Levinson won the Academy Award for Best Director for '' Rain Man'' (1988). His other best-known works are ''Diner'' (1982), '' The Natural'' (1984 ...

, did not go ahead. Another attempt at production was planned for 2009 with Scottish actor Dougray Scott starring as Simon Templar. Roger Moore announced on his website that he would be appearing in the new production, which was being produced by his son, Geoffrey Moore, in a small role. It was announced in December 2012 that a third attempt would be made to produce a pilot for a potential TV series. This time, English actor

Adam Rayner Adam Rayner (born 1977) is an English actor. He is known for television roles including: Dominic Montgomery in '' Mistresses'', Dr. Steve Shaw in '' Hawthorne'', Aidan Marsh in '' Hunted'', Bassam "Barry" Al-Fayeed in ''Tyrant'', and Tal-Rho in ...

was cast as Simon Templar and American actress

Eliza Dushku Eliza Patricia Dushku (; born December 30, 1980) is an American former actress. Dushku starred as Faith (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Faith in the supernatural Drama (film and television), drama series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1998–2003) an ...

as Patricia Holm (a character from the novels never before portrayed on television and only once in the films), with Roger Moore producing. Unlike the prior attempts, production of the Rayner pilot did commence in December 2012 and continued into early 2013, with Moore and Ogilvy making cameo appearances, according to a cast list posted on the official Leslie Charteris website and subsequently confirmed in the trailer that was released. The pilot was not picked up for a series, but a large amount of additional footage was shot to complete it as the television film '' The Saint'', released on 11 July 2017.

Films

Since 1938, numerous films have been produced in the United States, France and Australia based to varying degrees upon the Saint. A few were based, usually loosely, upon Charteris's stories, but most were original. This is a list of the films featuring Simon Templar and of the actors who played the Saint: * '' The Saint in New York'' (1938 – Louis Hayward) * '' The Saint Strikes Back'' (1939 –

) * '' The Saint in London'' (1939 – Sanders; produced in the UK by RKO's British unit) * '' The Saint's Double Trouble'' (1940 – Sanders) * '' The Saint Takes Over'' (1940 – Sanders) * '' The Saint in Palm Springs'' (1941 – Sanders) * '' The Saint's Vacation'' (1941 –

; produced in the UK by RKO) * '' The Saint Meets the Tiger'' (produced in the UK by RKO in 1941, released in 1943 by Republic – Sinclair) * '' The Saint's Return'' (1953 – Hayward) – aka ''The Saint's Girl Friday'' * '' Le Saint mène la danse'' (1960 – Félix Marten) * '' Le Saint prend l'affût'' (1966 – Jean Marais) * '' The Fiction Makers'' (1968 –

) – edited from episodes of '' The Saint'' * '' Vendetta for the Saint'' (1969 – Moore) – edited from episodes of '' The Saint'' * '' The Saint'' (1997 –

) In the 1930s, RKO purchased the rights to produce a film adaptation of '' Saint Overboard,'' but no such movie was ever produced.

Television films

* '' The Saint and the Brave Goose'' (1979 made for TV –

) – edited from episodes of '' Return of the Saint'' * '' The Saint in Manhattan'' (1987 made for TV – Andrew Clarke) * ''The Saint'' – six 100-minute TV films, all starring Simon Dutton. Made for

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

(LWT) in the United Kingdom, it was postponed due to poor ratings, but went out as part of ''The Mystery Wheel of Adventure'' in the United States: ** '' The Saint: Wrong Number'' (21 July 1990, postponed from 14 July 1990 – Simon Dutton) ** '' The Saint: The Software Murders'' (4 August 1990 – Dutton) ** '' The Saint: The Brazilian Connection'' (2 September 1989 – Dutton) ** '' The Saint: The Blue Dulac'' (9 September 1989 – Dutton) ** '' The Saint: The Big Bang'' (28 July 1990 – Dutton) ** '' Fear in Fun Park'', a.k.a. '' The Saint in Australia'' (14 July 1990, postponed from 16 September 1989 & 7 July 1990 – Dutton) * '' The Saint'' (2017 made for TV –

)

Television series

:''This list includes only productions that became TV series, and does not include pilots.'' * '' The Saint'' (1962–1969 – Roger Moore) * '' Return of the Saint'' (1978–1979 – Ian Ogilvy)

Note

Three of the actors to play Templar—Roger Moore, Ian Ogilvy, and Simon Dutton—have been appointed vice presidents of "The Saint Club" that was founded by Leslie Charteris in 1936.

On the stage

In the late 1940s Charteris and sometime

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

scriptwriter Denis Green wrote a stage play titled ''The Saint Misbehaves''. It was never publicly performed, as soon after writing it Charteris decided to focus on non-Saint work. For many years it was thought to be lost; however, two copies are known to exist in private hands, and correspondence relating to the play can be found in the Leslie Charteris Collection at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

In comics

The Saint appeared in a long-running series starting as a

daily comic strip A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays. They typically are smaller, 3–4 grids compared to the full page Sunday s ...

27 September 1948 with a Sunday added on 20 March the following year. The early strips were written by Leslie Charteris, who had previous experience writing comic strips, having replaced

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( ; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...

as the writer of the ''

Secret Agent X-9 ''Secret Agent X-9'' is a comic strip created by writer Dashiell Hammett ('' The Maltese Falcon'') and artist Alex Raymond ('' Flash Gordon''). Syndicated by King Features, it ran from January 22, 1934, until February 10, 1996. Premise and ...

'' strip. The original artist was Mike Roy. In 1951, when John Spranger replaced Roy as the artist, he altered the Saint's appearance by depicting him with a beard. Bob Lubbers illustrated ''The Saint'' in 1959 and 1960. The final two years of the strip were drawn by Doug Wildey before it came to an end on 16 September 1961. Concurrent with the comic strip, Avon Comics published 12 issues of a ''The Saint'' comic book between 1947 and 1952 (some of these stories were reprinted in the 1980s). Some issues included uncredited short text stories; one of these, "Danger No. 5", also appeared as filler in issue 2 of the 1952 war comic ''Captain Steve Savage''. The 1960s TV series is unusual in that it is one of the few major programs of its genre that was not adapted as a comic book in the United States. It was, however, adapted as a comic strip in the British weekly comic '' TV Tornado (later merging with TV21)'', where it ran from 1967 to 1970, drawn by Vicente Alcazar. The strip was titled ''Meet the Saint'' in later issues. In Sweden, a long-running Saint comic book was published from 1966 to 1985 under the title ''Helgonet''. It originally reprinted the newspaper strip, but already in 1969 original stories were commissioned for ''Helgonet''. These stories were also later reprinted in other European countries. About 170 stories were produced from 1969 to 1991 (after 1985, the stories were published in the Swedish ''James Bond'' comic book). Two of the main writers were

Norman Worker Norman Worker (1927 – 5 February 2005) was a British comic book writer, best known for his work on comic books featuring Lee Falk's ''The Phantom''. Norman was born in Kent, England, in 1927. When he was 17 years old, he fought in World War II ...

and Donne Avenell; the latter also co-wrote the novels '' The Saint and the Templar Treasure'' and the novella collection '' Count on the Saint'', while Worker contributed to the novella collection '' Catch the Saint''. A new American comic book series was launched by Moonstone in the summer of 2012, but it never went beyond a single promotional issue "zero".

In magazines

The original Saint novellas first appeared in ''The Thriller'' (1929–1940), edited by Monty Hayden, a friend of the author, who was sometimes given a thinly disguised role in the early stories. Charteris also edited or oversaw several magazines that tied in with the Saint. The first of these were anthologies titled ''The Saint's Choice'' that ran for seven issues in 1945–46. A few years later Charteris launched ''The Saint Detective Magazine'' (later titled ''The Saint Mystery Magazine'' and ''The Saint Magazine''), which ran for 141 issues between 1953 and 1967, with a separate British edition that ran just as long but published different material. In most issues of ''Saint's Choice'' and the later magazines Charteris included at least one Saint story, usually previously published in one of his books but occasionally original. In several mid-1960s issues, however, he substituted ''Instead of the Saint'', a series of essays on topics of interest to him. The rest of the material in the magazines consisted of novellas and short stories by other mystery writers of the day. An Australian edition was also published for a few years in the 1950s. In 1984 Charteris attempted to revive the ''Saint'' magazine, but it ran for only three issues. Leslie Charteris himself portrayed The Saint in ''The Saint Goes West'', a photo play in an issue of ''

Life magazine ''Life'' (stylized as ''LIFE'') is an American magazine launched in 1883 as a weekly publication. In 1972, it transitioned to publishing "special" issues before running as a monthly from 1978 to 2000. Since then, ''Life'' has irregularly publi ...

'' published in 19 May 1941. Other performers in the piece were

Morgan Conway Morgan Conway (born Sydney Albert Conway, March 16, 1900 – November 16, 1981)https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/191339427/person/172487150866/facts was an American actor, best known for his portrayals of Dick Tracy. Early l ...

, Lucia Carroll and Marjorie Woodworth.

Book series

Most Saint books were collections of novellas or short stories, some of which were published individually either in magazines or in smaller paperback form. Many of the books have also been published under different titles over the years; the titles used here are the more common ones for each book. From 1964 to 1983, the Saint books were collaborative works; Charteris acted in an editorial capacity and received front cover author credit, while other authors wrote these stories and were credited inside the book. These collaborative authors are noted. (Sources: Barer and the editions themselves.)

Omnibus editions

In addition to the above, numerous paperback omnibuses compiling short stories and novellas have been published. Examples include ''Arrest the Saint'' (Avon, 1951), ''Concerning the Saint'' (Avon, 1958) and ''The Saint Cleans Up'' (Avon, 1959). In 1983, Avenel Books published the hardcover omnibus ''The Saint: Five Complete Novels'', though this was actually three novellas and two full-length novels, combining the books ''Enter the Saint'', ''The Holy Terror'' (a.k.a. ''The Saint vs. Scotland Yard''), ''The Last Hero'' (a.k.a. ''The Saint Closes the Case'') and ''Knight Templar'' (a.k.a. ''The Avenging Saint'').

French adventures

A number of ''Saint'' adventures were published in French over a 30-year period, most of which have yet to be published in English. Many of these stories were ghostwritten by Madeleine Michel-Tyl and credited to Charteris (who exercised some editorial control). The French books were generally novelisations of scripts from the radio series, or novels adapted from stories in the American ''Saint'' comic strip. One of the writers who worked on the French series, Fleming Lee, later wrote for the English-language books.

Unpublished works

Burl Barer's history of the Saint identifies two manuscripts that to date have not been published. The first is a collaboration between Charteris and Fleming Lee called '' Bet on the Saint'' that was rejected by Doubleday, the American publishers of the Saint series. Charteris, Barer writes, chose not to submit it to his United Kingdom publishers, Hodder & Stoughton. The rejection of the manuscript by Doubleday meant that The Crime Club's long-standing right of first refusal on any new Saint works was now ended and the manuscript was then submitted to other United States publishers, without success. Barer also tells of a 1979 novel titled '' The Saint's Lady'' by a Scottish fan, Joy Martin, which had been written as a present for and as a tribute to Charteris. Charteris was impressed by the manuscript and attempted to get it published, but it too was ultimately rejected. The manuscript, which according to Barer is in the archives of

, features the return of Patricia Holm. According to the Saintly Bible website, at one time Leslie Charteris biographer Ian Dickerson was working on a manuscript (based upon a film story idea by Charteris) for a new novel titled ''Son of the Saint'' in which Templar shares an adventure with his son by Patricia Holm. The book has, to date, not been published. A fourth unpublished manuscript, this time written by Charteris himself, titled '' The Saint's Second Front'' was written during the Second World War but was rejected at the time; believed lost for decades, it emerged at an auction in 2017.

In popular culture

In the 2003 BBC documentary series ''Heroes and Weapons of World War II'' episode titled "The Man Who Designed the Spitfire" (Episode 2) at approximately 18 minutes in the film an RAF pilot is seen at rest in his dispersal hut with a large Saint stick-man logo on his flying gear (see image at right). He is perhaps showing some personal identification with Simon Templar's own war against Germany in the novella ''Arizona''. In 1980 English punk band Splodgenessabounds released a single "Simon Templer" (misspelling intentional). It reached number 7 in the UK charts. The song appears mocking of the TV character, concluding "I think Simon's a bit of a bore/Ian Ogilvy and Podgy Moore." In 1962 students from

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

, Australia abseiled down the pink granite monolith, Castle Hill and painted the character on its side as an act of patriotism, as the university had adopted the character as their mascot. At first, the local council (and some of the public) considered this vandalism and removed it, only for the students to keep repainting it. The council eventually gave up, and The Saint has been a permanent fixture since the 1970s. The irony now is that Queensland State Legislation states that objects older than 30 years old are eligible for cultural heritage status. This means that The Saint, originally a piece of graffiti, is now a Townsville Cultural Heritage icon.

References

External links

The Saintly Bible: large site about Leslie Charteris's creation (including news blog)Official site for Leslie Charteris
*Public domain recordings o
Saint radio episodes
in MP3 format, starring Vincent Price

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