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Simon Templar is a fictional character in a long-running series of books by Leslie Charteris entitled The Saint published between 1928 and 1963, after which other authors wrote the books, which were still credited to Charteris. New books featuring the character were written into the 1990s.
Overview
Templar is known as The Saint because of his initials (ST), and also because of his heroic exploits, despite his nefarious reputation. He sometimes uses the nom de guerre Sebastian Tombs and also calls himself by sundry other names, all with the initials S.T., such as Sullivan Titwillow and Sugarman Treacle - the Saint has a boyish sense of humour. He frequently leaves a "calling card" at the scenes of his "crimes," consisting of a stick drawing of a man with a halo, which is the logo of both the book series and the later 1960s TV series. (This image is visible on the book cover reproduced at right.)
The books often allude to the possibility that Templar started his career as a criminal and suggest that he had somewhere developed the skills of a burglar. It is clear from the texts, however, that at the time of the books, all of his income derives from the pockets of the "ungodly" (as he terms those who live by a less moral code than his own.) There are several references to a "ten percent collection fee" as he extracts large sums of money from his victims, the remainder being returned to its owners or given away. These unworthies include corrupt politicians, warmongers, and indeed all the nastier forms of low life. "He claims he's a Robin Hood," bleats one of his victims, "but to me he's just a robbing hood."
The very first Saint novel, 1928's Meet-The Tiger! (more popularly known by its reissue title, The Saint Meets the Tiger), was out of print for many years until it returned in a 1980 paperback edition by Charter Books. In an introduction to the new edition, Charteris indicated his personal distaste for the book, but acknowledged that fans of the character deserved to read of Templar's first adventure. In fact there is evidence that Charteris attempted to disown this first book completely; in an introduction written for a mid-1960s paperback edition of Enter the Saint by Fiction Publishing Company, Charteris states outright that Enter the Saint was the first Simon Templar book, even though it was the second. In 1983, Avenel Books published a hardcover omnibus that included Enter the Saint; in an introduction, Charteris acknowledged the existence of a book previous to Enter the Saint but states it is a book "of which I am not particularly proud". Other references such as the Saint.org website contend that the second Saint book published was actually The Last Hero as it saw print in serial form in 1929, before Enter the Saint was published. Charteris, however, in the Avenel introduction, identifies the two novellas of Enter the Saint as the first stories he wrote with the intent of making Templar, in his words, a "series character".
Although the Saint functions as an ordinary detective in some stories (figuring out puzzle-mysteries), according to fans and critics the best of the stories depict ingenious plots to get even with vanity publishers and other consumer ripoff artists, greedy bosses who exploit their workers to an extreme degree, con men, etc. (see for instance "The Mug's Game" and "The Uncritical Publisher").
Charteris utilized three formats for delivering his stories. Besides full-length novels, he also wrote shorter novellas that were usually collected in volumes of two or three stories (and on occasion were published individually i.e. The Saint and the Sizzling Saboteur), as well as several volumes of short stories, usually between six and fifteen per book. In later years these short stories often carried a common theme, such as focusing on the women Templar meets or the 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 Knight Templar is entitled, "How Simon Templar dozed in the Green Park and discovered a new use for toothpaste".
Although Charteris' novels had more conventional thriller plots than his confidence game short stories, both the novels and the stories are still admired by a significant fan community. As in the past, the central appeal lies in the vitality of the Templar character, a hero who can go into a brawl and come out of it with his hair still freshly combed, and who, when faced with imminent death, coolly lights a cigarette and taunts his enemy with the signature phrase, "As the actress said to the bishop..."
The Saint had many partners in his escapades, though none that lasted throughout the series. In the early books the most recurrent was Patricia Holm, his girlfriend, who was introduced in Meet-The Tiger! in which she shows herself to be a capable adventurer in her own right. Inspector Claud Eustace Teal could frequently be found attempting to put the Saint behind bars, although in the later books they can be found working in partnership. (Teal can be said to play a role comparable to Sherlock Holmes' Inspector Lestrade.) In the very earliest stories the Saint had a veritable band of compatriots, including Norman Kent, Peter Quentin, Archie Sheridan, Dicky Tremaine (a character name that later appeared in the 1990s TV series, Twin Peaks), Roger Conway, and his ex-military butler, Orace. When most of these dropped out of the stories, the dimwitted but reliable thug Hoppy Uniatz (who drank Vat 69 like it was lemonade) was frequently found at Templar's side.
The time period of the books begins in the 1920s and moves through to the 1970s quite recognisably as the series of 50 books progresses (the character being seemly ageless). In the early books most of the Saint's activities are clearly illegal, although directed at villainous characters. In later books, this becomes less so. In the books written during the period of World War II, The Saint (in common with many fictional maverick heroes) was recruited by the government to help with the war effort by tracking down spies and similar undercover work. Later he became a cold warrior fighting against Communism. The quality of writing also changes; early books have a freshness of spirit which becomes replaced to an extent by an air of cynicism in the later works. A few Saint stories crossed into the realms of science fiction and fantasy, with "The Man Who Liked Ants" and the early novel The Saint being examples. When early Saint books were republished in the 1960s through to the 1980s, it was not uncommon to see freshly written introductions by Charteris appended to the works, apologizing for the stories' out-of-date tone; according to a Charteris "apology" in a 1969 paperback edition of Featuring the Saint, he once attempted to revise and update some of his earlier stories when they were reprinted, but eventually gave up on the idea and let them sit unaltered as period pieces.
Charteris started to step back from writing the books in the early 1960s, retiring from writing the books following 1963's The Saint in the Sun. The next book to carry Charteris' name, 1964's Vendetta for the Saint, was actually written by science fiction author Harry Harrison, who had worked on the Saint comic strip. Between 1964 and 1983 another 14 Saint books would be published, credited to Charteris but written by others. In his introduction to the first of these books, The Saint on TV, Charteris called these volumes a team effort, in which he oversaw the selection of stories, initially from scripts written for the 1962-69 TV series, and with Fleming Lee writing the actual adaptations (later, other authors took over from Lee). Charteris and Lee would also collaborate on two Saint novels in the 1970s, The Saint in Pursuit and The Saint and the People Importers. The "team" writers were usually credited on the book's title page, if not on the cover. One of these later volumes, Catch the Saint, was an experiment in returning The Saint to his period roots, being set prior to the Second World War (as opposed to most recent Saint books which had been set in the present day).
The last Saint volume in the line of books starting with Meet-The Tiger! in 1928, was Salvage for the Saint, published in 1983. According to the Saintly Bible website, every Saint book published between 1928 and 1983 saw their first editions issued by Hodder and Stoughton in the UK (ironically a company that originally published only religious books) and The Crime Club (an imprint of Doubleday that specialized in mystery and detective fiction) in the United States. For the first 20 years of the series, the books were first published in Britain, with the US edition sometimes following up to a year later. By the late 40s-early 50s 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 publication.
A series of French language books featuring the character were published over a 30-year period. This series included a number of 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, though credited to Charteris, were in fact 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: a novelisation of the film (which had little if any connection to the Charteris stories), and Capture the Saint, a more faithful-to-the-character work published by The Saint Club, the Club originated by Charteris himself in 1936. Both books were written by Saint historian Burl Barer, who in the early 1990s published a massive history of The Saint in books, radio, and television.
In total, between 1928 and 1971 Charteris wrote 14 novels (the last two being co-written with another writer), 34 novellas, and 95 short stories featuring Simon Templar. Between 1963 and 1997 an additional 7 novels and 14 novellas were written by others.
The Saint on Radio
Several radio drama series based upon The Saint were produced in North America and Great Britain. The earliest known was produced for Radio Athlone in 1940 and starred Terrance De Marney. Both NBC and CBS produced separate Saint series during 1945, starring Edgar Barrier and Brian Aherne, respectively.
The longest-running and best known radio incarnation of Simon Templar was Vincent Price, who played the character in a long-running series that was broadcast between 1947 and 1951 on no less than three networks: CBS, Mutual and NBC. After Price left the series in May 1951, he was replaced by Tom Conway, who played the role for several more months. (His brother, George Sanders, played Templar on film.)
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 as the Saint.
Around 1965-1966 the South African version of Lux Radio Theatre produced a single dramatization of The Saint.
The English Radio Service of South Africa produced another series of Saintly radio adventures which aired for 6 months in 1970-1971.
The next English-language radio series was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995, starring Paul Rhys.
The Saint on film and TV
The character appeared in a string of movies in the 1930s and '40s, frequently portrayed by George Sanders. (He later appeared as a very similar character called The Falcon in a string of Falcon movies.)
Many years later, Roger Moore revived the role in a long-running television show The Saint - driving a Volvo P1800 with licence plates ST1. (According to the book Spy Television by Wesley Britton, the first actor offered the role was Patrick McGoohan of Danger Man fame.) The series ran from 1962 to 1969.
Since Moore, there have been several other actors who played him in less successful TV series, most notably Return of the Saint (1978-1979) starring Ian Ogilvy. In the mid-1980s, the National Enquirer and other newspapers reported that Moore was planning to produce a movie based upon The Saint with Pierce Brosnan as Templar, but it was never made. A pilot for a The Saint in Manhattan series starring Australian actor Andrew Clarke (who with his moustache bore a passing similarity to Tom Selleck) was shown in 1987, produced by Don Taffner, but it never progressed beyond the single pilot episode. That production featured another character from the Charteris book The Saint in New York, Inspector John Fernack of the NYPD, while Templar got about in a black Lamborghini, also bearing the ST1 licence plate. In 1989, a series of six movies was made for the United Kingdom's ITV by Taffner, starring Simon Dutton.
A film with Val Kilmer in the title role was finally made in 1997, but diverged far from the Charteris books, although it did revive Templar's use of aliases. Among other things, Kilmer's Saint is unable to defeat a Russian gangster in hand to hand combat and is forced to flee; this would have been unthinkable in a Charteris tale. Whereas the original Saint resorted to aliases which all had the initials S.T., Kilmer's character used names of Christian saints, regardless of whether they shared the initials. The film mirrored some aspects of Charteris's own life, notably his origins in the Far East, though not in an orphanage as the film portrayed. The film however does make it clear that the boy calling himself Simon Templar is not the man himself but only a fan of Charteris' books, hence he gives himself the title. Nonetheless the character of Inspector Teal does appear in the film.
The Saint 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. All non-Charteris Saint books were nonetheless credited "Leslie Charteris" on the front cover (with the actual author(s) credited inside) with the exception of the two novels by Burl Barer published in 1997.
| Year | First publication title (and author if not Charteris) | Stories | Alternate titles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Meet the Tiger | novel | The Saint Meets the Tiger Scoundrels Ltd. Crooked Gold The Saint in Danger |
| 1930 | Enter the Saint | "The Man Who was Clever" "The Policeman with Wings" "The Lawless Lady" (Some editions contain two stories in different combinations) | none |
| 1930 | The Last Hero | novel | The Creeping Death Sudden Death The Saint Closes the Case The Saint and the Last Hero |
| 1930 | Knight Templar | novel | The Avenging Saint |
| 1931 | Featuring the Saint (originally published UK only) | "The Logical Adventure" "The Wonderful War" "The Man Who Could Not Die" | none |
| 1931 | Alias the Saint (originally published UK only) | "Story of a Dead Man" "The Impossible Crime" "The National Debt" (Some editions contain "The National Debt" and "The Man Who Could Not Die" from the previous book). | none |
| 1931 | Wanted for Murder (US only) | America-only edition combining Featuring the Saint and Alias the Saint (only US edition of these books until the 1960s) | none |
| 1931 | She Was a Lady | novel | The Saint Meets His Match Angels of Doom |
| 1932 | The Holy Terror | "The Inland Revenue" "The Million Pound Day" "Melancholy Journey of Mr. Teal" | The Saint Vs. Scotland Yard |
| 1932 | Getaway | novel | The Saint's Getaway Property of the Deceased Two Men from Munich |
| 1933 | Once More the Saint | "The Gold Standard" "Man from St. Louis" "The Death Penalty" | The Saint and Mr. Teal |
| 1933 | The Brighter Buccaneer | "The Brain Workers" "The Export Trade" "The Tough Egg" "The Bad Baron" "The Brass Buddha" "The Perfect Crime" "The Unpopular Landlord" "The New Swindle" "The Five Thousand Pound Kiss" "The Blind Spot" "The Unusual Ending" "The Unblemished Bootlegger" "The Appalling Politician" "The Owner's Handicap" "The Green Goods Man" | none |
| 1934 | The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal | "The Simon Templar Foundation" "The Higher Finance" "The Art of Alibi" | The Saint in London The Saint in England |
| 1934 | Boodle | "The Ingenious Colonel" "The Unfortunate Financier" "The Newdick Helicopter" "The Prince of Cherkessia" "The Treasure of Turk's Lane" "The Sleepless Knight" "The Uncritical Publisher" "The Noble Sportsman" "The Damsel in Distress" "The Loving Brothers" "The Tall Timber" "The Art Photographer" "The Man Who Liked Toys" "The Mixture as Before" (some editions omit the stories "The Uncritical Publisher" and "The Noble Sportsman") | The Saint Intervenes |
| 1934 | The Saint Goes On | "The High Fence" "The Elusive Ellshaw" "Case of the Frightened Innkeeper" | none |
| 1935 | The Saint in New York | novel | none |
| 1936 | The Pirate Saint | novel | Saint Overboard |
| 1937 | The Ace of Knaves | "The Spanish War" "The Unlicensed Victuallers" "The Beauty Specialist" | The Saint in Action |
| 1937 | Thieves' Picnic | novel | The Saint Bids Diamonds |
| 1938 | Prelude for War | novel | The Saint Plays with Fire The Saint and the Sinners |
| 1939 | Follow the Saint | "The Miracle Tea Party" "The Invisible Millionaire" "The Affair of Hogsbotham" | none |
| 1939 | The Happy Highwayman | "The Man Who was Lucky" "The Smart Detective" "The Wicked Cousin" "The Well-Meaning Mayor" "The Benevolent Burglary" "The Star Producers" "The Charitable Countess" "The Mug's Game" "The Man Who Liked Ants" | none |
| 1940 | The Saint in Miami | novel | none |
| 1942 | The Saint Goes West | "Arizona" "Palm Springs" "Hollywood" (Some editions omit "Arizona") | none |
| 1942 | The Saint Steps In | novel | none |
| 1944 | The Saint on Guard | "The Black Market" "The Sizzling Saboteur" (Some editions omit the second story, which is often published on its own) | The Saint and the Sizzling Saboteur (single story reprint) |
| 1946 | The Saint Sees it Through | novel | none |
| 1948 | Call for the Saint | "The King of the Beggars" "The Masked Angel" | none |
| 1948 | Saint Errant | "Judith: The Naughty Niece" "Iris: The Old Routine" "Lida: The Foolish Frail" "Jeannine: The Lovely Sinner" "Lucia: The Homecoming of Amadeo Urselli" "Teresa: The Uncertain Widow" "Luella: The Saint and the Double Badger" "Emily: The Doodlebug" "Dawn: The Darker Drink" | none |
| 1953 | The Saint in Europe | "Paris: The Covetous Headsman" "Amsterdam: The Angel's Eye" "The Rhine: The Rhine Maiden" "Tirol: The Golden Journey" "Lucerne: The Loaded Tourist" "Jaune-les-Pins: The Spanish Cow" "Rome: The Latin Touch" | none |
| 1955 | The Saint on the Spanish Main | "Bimini: The Effete Angler" "Nassau: The Arrow of God" "Jamaica: The Black Commissar" "Puerto Rico: The Unkind Philanthropist" "Virgin Islands: The Old Treasure Story" "Haiti: The Questing Tycoon" (some editions contain only 4 stories) | none |
| 1956 | The Saint Around the World | "Bermuda: The Patient Playboy" "England: The Talented Husband" "France: The Reluctant Nudist" "Middle East: The Lovelorn Sheik" "Malaya: The Pluperfect Lady" "Vancouver: The Sporting Chance" | none |
| 1957 | Thanks to the Saint | "The Bunco Artists" "The Happy Suicide" "The Good Medicine" "The Unescapable Word" "The Perfect Sucker" "The Careful Terrorist" | none |
| 1958 | Señor Saint | "The Pearls of Peace" "The Revolution Market" "The Romantic Matron" "The Golden Frog" | none |
| 1959 | The Saint to the Rescue | "The Ever-Loving Spouse" "The Fruitful Land" "The Percentage Player" "The Water Merchant" "The Gentle Ladies" "The Element of Doubt" | none |
| 1962 | Trust the Saint | "The Helpful Pirate" "The Bigger Game" "The Cleaner Care" "The Intemperate Reformer" "The Uncured Ham" "The Convenient Monster" | none |
| 1963 | The Saint in the Sun | "Cannes: The Better Mousetrap" "St. Tropez: The Ugly Impresario" "England: The Prodigal Miser" "Nassau: The Fast Women" "Florida: The Jolly Undertaker" "Lucerne: The Russian Prisoner" "Provence: The Hopeless Heiress" | none |
| 1964 | Vendetta for the Saint (Harry Harrison, Leslie Charteris) | novel | none |
| 1968 | The Saint on TV (Fleming Lee, John Kruse) | "The Death Game" "The Power Artist" (novelisation of TV scripts) | none |
| 1968 | The Saint Returns (Fleming Lee, John Kruse, D.R. Motton, Leigh Vance) | "The Dizzy Daughter" "The Gadget Lovers" (novelisation of TV scripts) | none |
| 1968 | The Saint and the Fiction Makers (Fleming Lee, John Kruse) | novelisation of TV script | none |
| 1969 | The Saint Abroad (Fleming Lee, Michael Pertwee) | "The Art Collectors" "The Persistent Patriots" (novelisation of TV scripts) | none |
| 1970 | The Saint in Pursuit (Fleming Lee, Leslie Charteris) | novelization of comic strip | none |
| 1971 | The Saint and the People Importers (Fleming Lee, Leslie Charteris) | novelisation of TV script | none |
| 1975 | Catch the Saint (Fleming Lee, Norman Worker) | "The Masterpiece Merchant" "The Adoring Socialite" | none |
| 1976 | The Saint and the Hapsburg Necklace (Christopher Short) | novel | none |
| 1977 | Send for the Saint (Peter Bloxsom, John Kruse, Donald James) | "The Midas Double" "The Pawn Gambit" | none |
| 1978 | The Saint in Trouble (Graham Weaver, John Kruse, Terence Feely) | "The Imprudent Professor" (Return of the Saint episode novelisation) "The Red Sabbath" | none |
| 1979 | The Saint and the Templar Treasure (Graham Weaver, Donne Avenell) | novel | none |
| 1980 | Count on the Saint (Graham Weaver, Donne Avenell) | "The Pastors' Problem" "The Unsaintly Santa" | none |
| 1983 | Salvage for the Saint (Peter Bloxsom, John Kruse) | novel (Return of the Saint episode novelisation) | none |
| 1997 | The Saint (Burl Barer, Jonathan Hensleigh) | film novelization | none |
| 1997 | Capture the Saint (Burl Barer) | novel | none |
In addition to the above, according to www.saint.org and *, a large number of Saint adventures were published in French over a 30-year period, many of which have yet to be published in English. Many of these stories were ghostwritten by Madeleine Michel-Tyl and credited to Charteris. The French books were either novelisations of scripts from the radio series, or novels adapted from stories in the American comic strip, The Saint.
According to the Saintly Bible website, at one point Leslie Charteris biographer Ian Dickerson was working on a manuscript (based upon a story idea by Charteris) for a new novel entitled Son of the Saint in which Templar shares an adventure with his son by Patricia Holm. The book has, to date, not been published.*
Movies (and actors playing The Saint)
Since 1938, numerous films have been produced in the United States, France and Australia based to varying degrees upon The Saint. The best-known, if not particularly popular, adaptation was a big-budget film released in 1997 starring Val Kilmer in the title role, but The Saint made regular appearances in Hollywood-produced films over a 16-year period during the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s.
A few of the films were based (usually loosely) upon Charteris' original stories, but most were original screenplays.
This is a list of all the films featuring Simon Templar released to date, and the actors who played The Saint:
- The Saint in New York (1938 - Louis Hayward)
- The Saint Strikes Back (1939 - George Sanders)
- The Saint in London (1939 - Sanders)
- The Saint's Double Trouble (1940 - Sanders)
- The Saint Takes Over (1940 - Sanders)
- The Saint in Palm Springs (1941 - Sanders)
- The Saint Meets the Tiger (1941 - Hugh Sinclair)
- The Saint's Vacation (1941 - Sinclair)
- The Saint's Return (1953 - Hayward)
- The Saint's Girl Friday (1954 - Hayward)
- Le Saint mène la danse (1960 - Félix Marten)
- Le Saint prend l'affut (1966 - Jean Marais)
- The Fiction Makers (1968 - Roger Moore) - edited from episodes of The Saint
- Vendetta for the Saint (1969 - Moore) - edited from episodes of The Saint
- The Saint and the Brave Goose (1979 made for TV - Ian Ogilvy) - edited from episodes of Return of the Saint
- The Saint in Manhattan (1987 made for TV - Andrew Clarke)
- Fear in Fun Park (1989 made for TV - Simon Dutton)
- The Big Bang (1989 made for TV - Dutton)
- The Blue Dulac (1989 made for TV - Dutton)
- The Brazilian Connection (1989 made for TV - Dutton)
- The Software Murders (1989 made for TV - Dutton)
- Wrong Number (1989 made for TV - Dutton)
- The Saint (1997 - Val Kilmer)
Three of the surviving actors who have played Templar -- Roger Moore, Ian Ogilvy, and Simon Dutton -- have been appointed vice-presidents of The Saint Club that was founded by Leslie Charteris himself in 1936.
Comic strip and comic book
The Saint appeared in a long running comic strip series starting as a daily strip 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 as the writer of the Secret Agent X-9 strip. The original artist was Mike Roy. In 1951, John Spranger replaced Roy as the artist. The final two years of the strip were drawn by Doug Wildey. It ended September 16 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). The 1960s TV series is unusual in that it is one of the few major programs of its genre that was not adapated as a comic book in the United States.
Television series
- The Saint (1962-1969 - Roger Moore)
- Return of the Saint (1978-1979 - Ian Ogilvy)
Compare with:
James Bond, The Persuaders!, Matt Helm, The Avengers, To Catch a Thief, Robin Hood, Adventure Eddy, Raffles, Bulldog Drummond
External links
- The Saintly Bible: Large website about Leslie Charteris' creation
- Official Website for Leslie Charteris
- The Saint Novels in French
- Listing of all English-language Saint radio programs
- Radio Lovers.com collection of public domain recordings of Saint radio episodes in MP3 format, starring Vincent Price.
Characters in written fiction | Simon Templar books | Fictional detectives | Fictional thieves | Fictional orphans | Leslie Charteris short story collections
"Simon Templar"