TO OTHER  PAGES: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7

he portrayals in the non-novel based media may have attributed
more to the way we conceive our hero, specifically movies and television. Although most of them lacked success it's easily understandable that the appearances of the actors in magazines, tv-shows,... etc. influenced the way Ellery Queen was seen by his readers.
In the 70s television series Ellery is far more sloppy than he ever was in the books. This is mainly due to the producers Richard Levinson and William Link. Later they took this even a step further when they made 'Columbo' . They based their figure on a personage in Dostojevski's 'Crime and Punishment'. I still think they also recognized the shortcomings of Ellery as a person of flesh and blood and injected him with the same 'sloppyness' they found so usefull for their later Columbo-creation. And it worked! The televisionseries was a milestone in the perception of the Ellery-figure. Adepts who already read some works were disappointed to see their cool and collected sleuth changed. The NBC Ellery Queen pilot film 'captured' the 'authentic' Ellery's nearly as he has ever been captured. His sloppy personal habits are a contradiction to his well ordered mental skills. He is a slob at home, in his apartment he shares with his father, Inspector Queen; yet he is mentally well-disciplined. He can notice a clue as obscure as the number of matches in a matchbook, yet become so engrossed in his writing that he doesn't hear the telephone ring. Although I had read several Queens at the time, it did influence my image of both Ellery and his father immensely. Imagine the shock I got when reading the first ten novels where Ellery is an aristocratic 'wooden stick' with pince-nez. A figure much like the tv-series Simon Brimmer, which never appeared in the books. Such a figure would have to overcome many difficulties before the tv-audiences, who tend to prefer the underdog. There is only one thing more enervating than someone who thinks he is always right... someone who is always right.
 

im Hutton (31 May 1934  - 2 Jun 1979 )

The 'definite' Ellery Queen due to his likeable impersonation in the NBC-TV series. Hutton died of cancer at age 45 -- just short of the start of his son Timothy Hutton's career (with an Oscar for 'Ordinary People'). Born as Dana James Hutton in Binghamton, New York he was stationed in Germany during his military service. Whilst performing in a military show  was discovered by director Douglas Sirk who promptly ... (click on picture for more)

ee Bowman (28 Dec 1914  -  25 Dec 1979)

Bowman attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and began a career as a stage actor and radio singer in the '30s. Beginning with his debut in Internes Can't Take Money (1937), he spent seven years playing second leads, often as a playboy thanks to his suave, elegant style and dapper, handsome looks. He briefly starred in the TV series The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1950-51) as Ellery Queen  ... (click on picture for more)

alph Bellamy (17 Jun 1904  -  29 Nov 1991)

Bellamy frequently played principled but dull suitors invariably rejected by lively leading ladies, but also essaying heroic roles as well. He starred in numerous whodunits, first as Inspector Trent and then as super-sleuth Ellery Queen (in four terrible 1940-41 B's beginning with Ellery Queen, Master Detective). Unfortunately, the studios soon typecast him as "the other man"  ... (click on picture for more)

ichard Hart (14 Apr 1915 - 2 Jan 1951)

Richard Hart was the star of "The Adventures of Ellery Queen". It was the first tv-series to try and bring to live Ellery Queen and it was aired live and was well done for a Dumont net program. The show appeared on the Dumont Network beginning in 1950 and each episode took 25 minutes. After only four months, less than a third of the way through the season, January 2nd 1951, Hart died of a heart attack during a rehearsal ... (click on picture for more)

illiam Gargan (17 Jul 1905 - 17 Feb 1979)

In most of his screen appearances, Gargan basically played himself: a robust, handsome, high-spirited Irishman. For 'They Knew What They Wanted' (1940), he received a "Best Supporting Actor" nomination. Whilst during the '30s he played high-energy, gregarious leads in many "B"-movies and second leads in major films, later he moved into character roles He played master detective Ellery Queen in three 1942 Columbia programmers ... (click on picture for more)

ugh Marlowe (30 Jan 1911 - 2 May 1982)

Hugh Marlowe usually was a secondary lead. Although he preferred character part he got numerous roles in Westerns and Science-Fiction movies. He gueststarred in several tv series such as Perry Mason, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Another World,...  He was the first Ellery Queen on radio in 1940. A role he also played some 14 years later on tv ... (click on picture for more)

eorge Nader (1922 - 4 Feb 2002)

B-actor who's screen career was virtually over by the end of the 1950s. On Television, Nader starred in three short-lived series: 'The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen' (1958), 'The Man and The Challenge' (1960) and 'Shannon'(1961). He also made frequent appearances on "The Loretta Young Show" as well as guest starring in episodes of 'Alfred Hitchcock presents'... (click on picture for more)