Sam Spade is a fictional character and the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel '' The Maltese Falcon''. Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett. ''The Maltese Falcon'', first published as a serial in the pulp magazine '' Black Mask'', is the only full-length novel by Hammett in which Spade appears. The character, however, is widely cited as a crystallizing figure in the development of hard-boiled private detective fiction— Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe, for instance, was strongly influenced by Spade. Spade was a departure from Hammett's nameless and less-than-glamorous detective, The Continental Op. Spade combined several features of previous detectives, most notably his detached demeanor, keen eye for detail, and unflinching determination to achieve his own justice.

Portrayals

Spade was a new character created specifically by Hammett for ''The Maltese Falcon''; he had not appeared in any of Hammett's previous stories. Hammett says about him:

Spade has no original. He is a dream man in the sense that he is what most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been and in their cockier moments thought they approached. For your private detective does not—or did not ten years ago when he was my colleague—want to be an erudite solver of riddles in the Sherlock Holmes manner; he wants to be a hard and shifty fellow, able to take care of himself in any situation, able to get the best of anybody he comes in contact with, whether criminal, innocent by-stander or client.

Films

From the 1940s onward, the character became closely associated with actor

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

, who played Spade in the third and best-known film version of ''The Maltese Falcon''. Though Bogart's slight frame, dark features and no-nonsense depiction contrasted with Hammett's vision of Spade (blond, well-built and mischievous), his sardonic portrayal was well-received, and is generally regarded as an influence on both

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

and the genre's archetypal private detective. Spade was played by Ricardo Cortez in the first film version, released in 1931. Despite being a critical and commercial success, an attempt to re-release the film in 1936 was denied approval by the Production Code Office due to the film's lewd content. Since Warner Bros. could not re-release the film, a second version, this one a comedy, '' Satan Met a Lady'' (1936), was produced. The central character was renamed Ted Shane and was played by Warren William. The film was a box-office failure, and eventually resulted in a new version being made starring Bogart and directed by John Huston, which closely followed the novel, with a few exceptions. George Segal played Sam Spade, Jr., son of the original, in the film spoof '' The Black Bird'' (1975). ''The Black Bird'' was panned by critics.

Peter Falk Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Columbo (character), Lieutenant Columbo on the NBC/American Broadcasting Company, ABC series ''Columbo'' (196 ...

delivered a more successful spoof the following year as Sam Diamond in

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three ...

's '' Murder by Death''. This was preceded by the spoof character Sam Diamond in '' The Addams Family'' episode " Thing Is Missing" (1965) portrayed by Tommy Farrell.

Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series '' Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...

starred as Spade in the 2024 television series '' Monsieur Spade'', a co-production between AMC,

AMC+ AMC+ is an American subscription video on demand streaming service owned by AMC Networks that was launched on June 11, 2020. The service is a premium bundle that includes the live feeds and program libraries of the company's television networks ...

and Canal+.

Radio

On the radio, Spade was played by Edward G. Robinson in a 1943 '' Lux Radio Theatre'' production, and by Bogart in both a 1943 '' Screen Guild Theater'' production and a 1946 '' Academy Award Theater'' production. The 1946-1951 radio show '' The Adventures of Sam Spade'' (on ABC, CBS, and NBC) starred

Howard Duff Howard Green Duff (November 24, 1913July 8, 1990) was an American actor. He started in radio during World War II before appearing in many Hollywood features and television programs from 1947 to 1990. He also directed for television. His career ...

(and later Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and

Lurene Tuttle Lurene Tuttle (August 29, 1907 – May 28, 1986) was an American actress and acting coach, who made the transition from vaudeville to radio, and later to films and television. Her most enduring impact was as one of network radio's more versatil ...

as Spade's devoted secretary Effie Perrine, and took a considerably more tongue-in-cheek approach to the character.

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 ...

adapted ''The Maltese Falcon'' in 1984, with Tom Wilkinson as Spade, while a 2009 dramatisation for the '' Hollywood Theater of the Ear'' starred

Michael Madsen Michael Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. Alongside his frequent collaborations with Quentin Tarantino—''Reservoir Dogs'' (1992), ''Kill Bill: Volume 2'' (2004), ''The Hateful Eight'' (2015), and ''Once Upon a Time in Hol ...

Prequel

In 2009, with the approval of the estate of Dashiell Hammett, the veteran detective-story writer Joe Gores published ''Spade & Archer: The Prequel to Dashiell Hammett's THE MALTESE FALCON'' with Alfred A. Knopf, the original publisher of Hammett's ''The Maltese Falcon''.

Books

* ''The Maltese Falcon'' (1930) ** Serialized in five parts, in the September 1929 to January 1930 issues of ''Black Mask'' * ''Spade and Archer'' by Joe Gores (2009) * ''The Radio Adventures of Sam Spade'' (2007) by Martin Grams, Jr., OTR Publishing, Churchville,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Short stories

* "A Man Called Spade" (July 1932, '' The American Magazine''; also collected in ''A Man Called Spade and Other Stories'') * "Too Many Have Lived" (October 1932, ''The American Magazine''; also collected in ''A Man Called Spade and Other Stories'') * "They Can Only Hang You Once" (November 19, 1932, ''Colliers''; also in ''A Man Called Spade and Other Stories'') * "A Knife Will Cut for Anybody" (Unpublished in Hammett's lifetime—published in 2013)

Collections

''A Man Called Spade and Other Stories''
(1944) (contains three Sam Spade stories from ''The American Magazine'' and ''Colliers''—listed above) * ''Nightmare Town'' (1999) (contains three Sam Spade stories from ''The American Magazine'' and ''Colliers''—listed above)

Films

* '' The Maltese Falcon'' (1931, Warner Bros.) (also known as ''Dangerous Female''), starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade * '' Satan Met a Lady'' (1936, Warner Bros.) (based on ''The Maltese Falcon'', with the character names and the object of their search changed), starring Warren William in the lead role * '' The Maltese Falcon'' (1941, Warner Bros.), starring

as Sam Spade * '' The Black Bird'' (1975, Columbia), a comedy

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to the 1941 film, starring George Segal as "Sammy" Spade Jr. * '' The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It'' (1977), played by Mike O'Malley; a

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 ...

spoof in which Spade is killed by the granddaughter of Professor Moriarty

Radio

* ''Screen Guild Theater'': "The Maltese Falcon" (1943, CBS: 30-minute version of the story, starring

as Spade, Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy,

Sydney Greenstreet Sydney Hughes Greenstreet (December 27, 1879 – January 18, 1954) was a British and American actor. While he did not begin his career in films until the age of 61, he had a run of significant motion pictures in a Hollywood career lasting t ...

as Casper Gutman, and Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo.) * ''Lux Radio Theatre'': "The Maltese Falcon" (1943, CBS): a 60-minute version of the novel, starring Edward G. Robinson as Spade and Laird Cregar as Gutman * ''Academy Award Theatre'': "The Maltese Falcon" (1946, CBS): 30-minute version of the story, starring

, Mary Astor, and

* '' The Adventures of Sam Spade'' (1946, ABC): 13 30-minute episodes, starring

* ''The Adventures of Sam Spade'' (1946–1949, CBS): 157 30-minute episodes, starring

* ''The Adventures of Sam Spade'' (1949–1950, NBC): 51 30-minute episodes, starring

* ''The Adventures of Sam Spade'' (1950–1951, NBC): 24 30-minute episodes, starring Steve Dunne * ''Suspense'': "The House in Cypress Canyon" (December 5, 1946, CBS): 30 minutes, featuring

* ''Suspense'': "The Kandy Tooth Caper" (January 10, 1948, CBS): 60 minutes, starring

* ''Maxwell House Coffee Time'' (aka The Burns And Allen Show): "Gracie Sends Sam Spade to Jail" (February 10, 1949 NBC) a 30-minute episode starring

—both as himself and as Sam Spade. * ''The Adventures of Babe Lincoln'' (circa 1950, CBS): unaired, starring

* '' Charlie Wild, Private Detective'' (September 24, 1950, NBC): premiere broadcast only, guest appearance

* BBC Radio 4: "The Maltese Falcon" (1984): starring Tom Wilkinson, Jane Lapotaire, and Nickolas Grace * ''The Maltese Falcon'' (2009): Grammy-nominated audio play, starring

as Spade, Sandra Oh as Brigid and Edward Herrmann as Gutman, produced by The Hollywood Theater of the Ear and published by Blackstone Audio.

Television

* '' Monsieur Spade'' (2024): Television series, starring

, a co-production between by

and Canal+.

Comics

* ''The Maltese Falcon'' (1946, Feature Books #48, David McKay Publications) Artist: Rodlow Willard * Sam Spade Wildroot Hair Tonic Ads (1950s) ** Single-page comic strips, appeared in newspapers, magazines, comic books. Tie-in with radio show '' The Adventures of Sam Spade'', which Wildroot also sponsored. Artist: Lou Fine. * Spade was highlighted in volume 21 of the '' Detective Conan'' manga's edition of " Gosho Aoyama's Mystery Library", in the section (usually the last page) where the author introduces a different detective (or occasionally, a villain) from mystery literature, television, or other media.

References

Informational notes Citations

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spade, Sam Fictional American detectives Fictional private investigators Characters in American novels of the 20th century Characters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction Literary characters introduced in 1930 Characters in pulp fiction Fictional characters from San Francisco Thriller film characters Dashiell Hammett characters Male characters in literature Male characters in film