The Saint in the Sun
About the Author:
Leslie Charteris
Leslie Charteris' famous hero Simon Templar, alias The Saint, fulfills his creator's belief that "there will always be a public for the old-style hero, who had a clear idea of justice, ... and the ability to have some fun with his crusades." Certainly, The Saint has had a long life in escapist novels, movies and TV. The Saint first appeared in Charteris' third book, The Saint Meets the Tiger. It is in this novel that Simon meets and falls in love with socialite Patricia Holm who becomes his on-again, off-again partner and lover through many of The Saint novels. Despite The Saint's carefree style and good humor, he is tough and can become violent when necessary.
He has been portrayed by many movie actors from Louis Hayward (1938) and George Sanders, who starred in the most Saint movies (five), to the most recent portrayal by Val Kilmer in 1997. No actor, however, is more associated with The Saint than Roger Moore who starred in a long-running TV series that is running yet on many cable stations.
Leslie Charteris changed his name from Leslie Charles Bowyer Yin in 1927 and the first Saint novel was published the next year. Both changed the course of his writing career. He continued to write Saint novels until around 1963 when many of the Saint novels began to be written by a consortium of writers but credited to him. Charteris was once denied permanent residency through the Chinese Exclusion Act, but a later act of Congress granted him permanent residency. He went on to become a naturalized American citizen, but spent his later years in England. He died at Windsor, Berks. in 1993.
Other Books By Leslie Charteris:
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