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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 continued writing new books featuring the character 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." Although the Saint functions as an ordinary detective in some stories (figuring out puzzle-mysteries), 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. These stories are not just a replay of the celebrated Raffles stories by E.W. Hornung . They are strikingly original and continue today to be as fresh and witty as when they were written in the 1930s (see for instance "The Mug's Game" and "The Uncritical Publisher.") 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, cooly 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 often-needing-rescue girl friend. Inspector Claude 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 Patricia Holm, Norman Kent, Archie Sheridan, Dicky Tremain (a character name that later appeared in the 1990s TV series, '' Twin Peaks ''), and Roger Conway. 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. , starring Roger Moore .]] The time period of the books begins in the 1920s and moves through the 1930s and 1940s quite recognisably as the series of about 45 books progresses. 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" being a successful example. Charteris started to step back from writing the books in the early 1960s. The last few titles released carried his name but were written by others; the last Saint novel to carry his name was published in 1973 but a number of additional books have appeared since then. Charteris died in 1993 . A few additional Saint novels appeared around the time of the 1997 film starring Val Kilmer . The very first Saint novel, ''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. 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.) Vincent Price played the Saint in a radio series made around the same time. 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 Australia n 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 Britain '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 Russia n 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 SAINT BOOK SERIES Most Saint books were collections of novellas or short stories, some of which were published separately. 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" with the exception of 1983 's ''Salvage for the Saint'' and the two novels by Burl Barer in 1997. In addition to the above, according to www.saint.org and [http://www.lofficier.com/saint.html], 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 . Most if not all of these stories were Ghostwritten by Madeleine Michel-Tyl and credited to Charteris. MOVIES (AND ACTORS PLAYING THE SAINT) played Templar in a short-lived 1970s TV series. Once again, numerous Saint novels were reprinted as tie-ins.]] 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 . This is a list of all the films featuring Simon Templar released to date, and the actors who played The Saint:
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 only major programs of its genre that was not adapated as a comic book in the United States. TELEVISION SERIES
COMPARE WITH: James Bond , The Persuaders! , Matt Helm , '' The Avengers '', To Catch A Thief , Robin Hood EXTERNAL LINKS
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