Dashiell Hammett
Dashiell Hammett, along with Raymond
Chandler, created a new genre in mysteries, the hard-boiled detective story. The Maltese Falcon introduced his most
famous character, Sam Spade, easily the most famous private detective of all
time. Hollywood actor Humphrey Bogart brought Spade to life
on the screen in the film version of The
Maltese Falcon in 1941, and he
portrayed Spade in The Adventures of Sam
Spade three years later. Sam Spade became the standard for future and
present day private PI’s. Hammett once worked for The Pinkerton Agency, but
quit when he became disgusted with their extreme, possibly murderous tactics to
break up strikes. From that experience he created the tough detective with a heart and sense of
honor, Sam Spade.
William Powell and Myrna Loy portrayed Nick
and Nora Charles in a series of movies based on his The Thin Man novel. The Thin
Man became a television series in the ‘50’s. The Thin Man was Hammett’s last novel.
Hammett contracted tuberculosis while in
the army in WWI, but he pulled strings to re-enlist during WW II. He was a
fierce anti-fascist and joined the Communist Party. When investigated by
Congress in the 50’s, he refused to name others in his group and was
blacklisted, but it didn’t diminish the popularity of Sam Spade and Nick and
Nora Charles. He had a thirty-year affair with playwright Lillian Hellman who
was with him when he died in NY of lung cancer. As a veteran of two world wars,
he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in January, 1961.
Hammett’s other novels are: Red Harvest, The Dain Curse, The Glass Key, and
Woman in the Dark: A Novel of Dangerous
Romance. He wrote many more short stories, some of which are in
collections: The Big Knockover, The
Continental Op, and Nightmare Town.
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