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Leslie Charteris (May 12, 1907, Singapore–April 15, 1993), born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, was a half-Chinese, half English author of primarily mystery fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint." May 12 is the 132nd day of the year (133rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... is the 105th day of the year (106th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar). ... Languages English Religions Christianity (Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism and other minority denominations), and other faiths. ... An artists conception of Simon Templar as seen on the cover of a 1983 omnibus edition collecting several early Saint books. ...

Biography

Charteris was born to a Chinese father and an English mother. His father was a physician who claimed to be able to trace his lineage back to the emperors of the Shang Dynasty. Charteris became interested in writing at an early age, at one point creating his own magazine with articles, short stories, poetry, editorials, serials, and even a comic strip. He attended Rossall School near Fleetwood in Lancashire. Remnants of advanced, stratified societies dating back to the Shang period have been found in the Yellow River Valley. ...

When his first book, written during his first year at Cambridge University (where he studied at King's College), was accepted, he left university and embarked on a new career. Charteris was motivated by a desire to be unconventional and to become financially well off by doing what he liked best to do. He continued to write English thriller stories, while he worked at various jobs from shipping out on a freighter to working as a bartender in a country inn. He prospected for gold, fished for pearls, worked in a tin mine and on a rubber plantation, toured England with a carnival, and drove a bus. In 1926, he legally changed his last name to Charteris, after Colonel Francis Charteris. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the worlds most prestigious universities. ... Full name The King’s College of Our Lady and St Nicholas in Cambridge Motto Veritas et Utilitas Truth and usefulness Named after Henry VI Previous names - Established 1441 Sister College(s) New College, Oxford Provost Prof. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Colonel Francis Charteris Colonel Francis Charteris, (baptised 12 January 1672 - February 24, 1732), nicknamed The Rape-Master General, was a British aristocrat who had earned a substantial amount of money through gambling and the South Sea Bubble. ...

His third novel, Meet - The Tiger! (1928), introduced his most famous creation - "Simon Templar" - and was a popular success. However, in his 1980 introduction to a republication of the novel by Charter Books, Charteris indicated that he was dissatisfied with the work, suggesting that its only value was as the start of the long running Saint series. Occasionally he chose to ignore the existence of Meet - The Tiger! altogether and claim that the Saint series actually began with the second volume, 1930s Enter the Saint; an example of this can be found in the introduction Charteris wrote to an early 1960s edition of Enter the Saint published by Fiction Publishing Company (an imprint of Doubleday). Meet - The Tiger! is the title of an action-adventure novel written by Leslie Charteris. ... Enter the Saint is a collection of three interconnected adventure novellas by Leslie Charteris first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in 1930, followed by an American edition by The Crime Club in 1931. ... Doubleday is one of the largest book publishing companies in the world. ...

Although he would write a few other books (including a novelisation of his screenplay for the Deanna Durbin mystery-comedy Lady on a Train, and the English translation of Juan Belmonte: Killer of Bulls by Manuel Chaves Nogales) his lifework — at least in the literary world — would consist primarily of Simon Templar Saint adventures, which would be relayed in novel, novella, and short story format over the next 35 years (with other authors ghost writing the stories on Charteris' behalf for another 20 years thereafter; Charteris acted as an editor for these books, approving stories and making revisions when needed). This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Deanna Durbin (born Edna Mae Durbin on December 4, 1921, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to English immigrant parents) was a popular young singer and actress in Hollywood films of the 1930s and 1940s. ... Lady on a Train is a black-and-white comedy shot in film noir style. ... Manuel Chaves Nogales. ... A ghostwriter is an author who writes under someone elses name, with their consent. ...

Charteris relocated to the United States in 1932, where he continued to publish short stories and also became a writer for Paramount Pictures, working on the George Raft film, The Midnight Club. Around this time, Charteris also travelled on the Hindenburg on its successful maiden voyage to New Jersey (the famous disaster did not occur until the aircraft's second year of operation). Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood, California. ... Raft in They Drive by Night George Raft (September 26, 1895 - November 24, 1980) was an American film actor most closely identified with his portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. ... LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German zeppelin that was destroyed by fire while landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey on May 6, 1937. ... Official language(s) English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ...

However, Charteris was excluded from permanent residency in the United States because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, a law which prohibited immigration for persons of "50% or greater" Oriental blood. As a result, Charteris was forced to continually renew his six-month temporary visitor's visa. Eventually, an act of Congress personally granted him and his daughter the right of permanent residence in the United States, with eligibility for naturalization which he later completed. The Chinese Exclusion Act may be: The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 passed in the United States in 1882 banning Chinese from entering American soil. ...

In the 1940s, Charteris, besides continuing to write Saint stories, scripted the Sherlock Holmes radio series featuring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. In 1941, he appeared in a Life Magazine photographic adaptation of a Saint short story, with himself playing the Saint. He also contributed storylines to a long-running comic strip based upon The Saint. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... A portrait of Sherlock Holmes by Sidney Paget from the Strand Magazine, 1891 Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. ... Basil Rathbone (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was an English actor most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and swashbuckler film villain roles. ... Nigel Bruce (left) with Basil Rathbone in a promotional photo for their Sherlock Holmes film series William Nigel Ernle Bruce (September 4, 1895 – October 8, 1953), usually credited as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor, best known as Dr. Watson in a series of films and a radioseries starring... A cover of Life Magazine from 1911 Life has been the name of two notable magazines published in the United States. ...

During the 1940s, a number of moderately successful motion pictures were produced based upon The Saint (though only a couple of films were directly based upon Charteris' writings).

In 1952 he married the Hollywood actress Audrey Long, born 1922; the couple eventually returned to England where Leslie Charteris spent his last years living in Surrey. Audrey Long (born April 14, 1922 in Orlando, Florida) was a movie actress who specialized in playing blonde bland, good girls in movies of the 1940s and 50s. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem - the United Kingdom anthem God Save the Queen is commonly used England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto)1 Unified  -  by Athelstan 927 AD  Area  -  Total... Should not be confused with Surry. ...

However long-term success eluded Charteris' creation outside the literary arena until the 1962–1969 British-produced television series The Saint went into production with Roger Moore in the Simon Templar role. The Saint was a long-running British action adventure television series, made by ITC Entertainment, that aired on ITV stations between 1962 and 1969, and on American television as a syndicated show (1962-1967) and on NBC (1967-69). ... For other persons named Roger Moore, see Roger Moore (disambiguation). ...

Many episodes of the TV series were based upon Charteris' short stories. Later, as original scripts were commissioned, Charteris permitted some of these scripts to be novelised and published as further adventures of the Saint in printed form (these later books, with titles such as The Saint on TV and The Saint and the Fiction Makers, carried Charteris' name as author, but were in fact written by others). Charteris would live to see a second British TV series, Return of the Saint starring Ian Ogilvy as Simon Templar, enjoy a well-received, if brief, run, and in the 1980s a series of TV movies produced in Australia and starring Simon Dutton kept interest in The Saint alive. There was also an aborted attempt at a 1980s TV series in the United States, which resulted in only a pilot episode being produced and broadcast. The Saint on TV is a collection of two mystery novellas by Fleming Lee, continuing the adventures of the sleuth Simon Templar aka The Saint, created by Leslie Charteris. ... The Saint and the Fiction Makers (some editions use the hyphenated form Fiction-Makers) is the title of a 1968 mystery novel featuring the character of Simon Templar, alias The Saint. The novel is credited to Leslie Charteris, who created the Saint in 1928, but the book was actually authored... Return of the Saint was a British action-adventure television series that aired for one season in 1978 and 1979 in Britain on ITV, and was also broadcast on CBS in the United States. ... Ian Ogilvy as Simon Templar pictured on a reprint of an early Saint novel published to coincide with the TV series. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Simon Dutton is a British actor, best known for playing the title role of Simon Templar in an ill-fated 1989 television revival of The Saint. ... A television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. ...

Besides being a fiction writer, Charteris also wrote a column on cuisine for an American magazine, as a sideline. He also invented a wordless, pictorial sign language called Paleneo and wrote a book on it. In addition, Charteris was also one of the earliest members of Mensa. Mensa is the largest, oldest, and best-known high-IQ society in the world. ...

The adventures of The Saint were chronicled in nearly one hundred books. Charteris himself stepped away from writing the books after The Saint in the Sun (1963). The next year Vendetta for the Saint was published and while it was credited to Charteris, it was actually written by science fiction writer Harry Harrison. Following Vendetta, as noted above, came a number of books adapting televised episodes; these books were credited to Charteris but were actually by others (although Charteris himself did collaborate on several Saint books in the 1970s). Several Return of the Saint scripts were also adapted, and there were also some original stories thrown into the mix. Charteris appears to have served in an editorial capacity for these later volumes. He also edited (and contributed to) The Saint Mystery Magazine, a digest-sized publication. The final book in the Saint series was Salvage for the Saint, published in 1983. Two additional books were published in 1997, a novelization of the film loosely based on the character, and an original novel published by "The Saint Club" a fan club that Charteris himself founded in the 1930s. Both books were written by Burl Barer, who also wrote the definitive history on Charteris and The Saint. The Saint in the Sun is a collection of short stories by Leslie Charteris, featuring the Robin Hood-inspired crimefighter, Simon Templar, whom Charteris introduced in 1928. ... The Saint was a long-running British action adventure television series, made by ITC Entertainment, that aired on ITV stations between 1962 and 1969, and on American television as a syndicated show (1962-1967) and on NBC (1967-69). ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... At the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, August 2005 Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey, March 12, 1925 in Stamford, Connecticut) is an American science fiction author who has lived in many parts of the world including Mexico, England, Denmark and Italy. ... Salvage for the Saint is the title of a 1983 mystery novel featuring the character of Simon Templar, alias The Saint. The novel was written by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse, but per the custom at this time, the author credit on the cover goes to Leslie Charteris, who created... The Saint is a 1997 film based on the character of Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in 1928 for a series of books published as The Saint. Besides the book series which ran until 1983, the character was also featured in a series of Hollywood movies made between 1938... A fan club is a group that is dedicated to a well known person, group, idea (such as history) or sometimes even an inanimate object (such as a famous building). ... Category: ...

He was married four times, to Pauline Schishkin, Barbara Meyer, Elizabeth Bryant Borst and film actress Audrey Long. Audrey Long (born April 14, 1922 in Orlando, Florida) was a movie actress who specialized in playing blonde bland, good girls in movies of the 1940s and 50s. ...

Leslie Charteris died at Windsor, Berks. on 16th April 1993. His wife survived him.

Bibliography

For a list of Simon Templar novels, novellas and short story collections by Charteris, see the list at Simon Templar or the table, below. An artists conception of Simon Templar as seen on the cover of a 1983 omnibus edition collecting several early Saint books. ...

Non-Saint books by Leslie Charteris include:

• X Esquire (1927)
• The White Rider (1928)
• Daredevil (1929)
• The Bandit (1929) - previously serialized as The Black Cat
• Juan Belmonte, Killer of Bulls (1937); editor and English translator of original work by Manuel Chaves Nogales
• Lady on a Train (1945) - novelisation of Charteris' film story
• Spanish for Fun (1964) - non-fiction
• Paleneo: A Universal Sign Language (1972) - non-fiction

In addition, Charteris authored numerous uncollected short stories and essays.^[1] Daredevil is the title of a mystery novel by Leslie Charteris which was first published by Ward Lock in 1929 (followed by an American edition that same year by The Crime Club). ... Manuel Chaves Nogales. ... Lady on a Train is a black-and-white comedy shot in film noir style. ...

References

External links

• Leslie Charteris official site
• The Saintly Bible The Saint site