Mr Teal
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3. How many portrayals have been done of The Saint?
There have been a number of portrayals of The Saint in books, films, television, radio, and comic strips.
a. Books:
Leslie Charteris wrote 50 English language books detailing the Saint's adventures. These fifty titles are comprised of 19 full-length novels, 48 novelettes or novellas, and 95 short stories (94 in the UK, where "The Uncritical Publisher" was left out of all editions of "The Saint Intervenes"). To muddy the situation, many of the 50 titles underwent title changes, and most of the short stories and novelettes have been repackaged into various anthologies and compilations over the years.
The linguistic qualification regarding "English language" is required as Charteris also wrote a further 40 adventures in French which have never been translated into English-although some have been translated into Dutch.
A detailed list of the English adventures, plus many of the anthologies and non-Saint books by Leslie Charteris, can be found at http://www.saint.org/books.htm
b. Films:
The best remembered films are the series of black and white movies that were made during the Golden Age of Hollywood by RKO. Between 1938 and 1953, with the help of Louis Hayward, George Sanders and Hugh Sinclair, they made nine movies.
Two French films were made by different French production companies in the 1960s. Charteris disliked these so much that he stopped them from being shown in any English-language territories. Copies of both films do exist in their native country but on viewing only go to emphasize the extremely high quality of every other Saint production.
Two two-part stories from the Roger Moore TV series, and one two-parter from the Ian Ogilvy series, have been shown as films on a very limited theatrical basis, but very often crop up as TV movies.
Val Kilmer played Simon Templar in the 1997 Paramount film, The Saint.
c. Television:
The first TV series, starring Roger Moore, ran between 1962 and 1969. They made 118 hour long episodes: 71 in black and white and 47 in color. Two of these stories ("The Fiction Makers" and "Vendetta for the Saint") were two-parters and subsequently were released as films on a limited basis.
The second series, with Ian Ogilvy as the Saint, ran in the late 1970s. They made 24 hour-long episodes. One story, a two parter called "Collision Course", was packaged into a feature length movie called "The Saint and the Brave Goose".
The third series, with Simon Dutton taking over the halo, was made in the late 1980s. There were 6 two-hour films.
There was a failed one-hour pilot made and shown in 1987, with Australian Andrew Clarke as Simon Templar. Those who've seen it do their best to forget it.
Further information on all the TV shows, and a detailed episode listing can be found at http://www.saint.org/sttv.htm
d. Radio:
The Saint debuted on the radio in 1940, when Terence De Marney starred in six episodes, adapted from the original Charteris stories, for Radio Athlone. These six episodes were later repeated on the British Forces Band.
In 1945 the Saint came to American radio. Edgar Barrier made 13 episodes for NBC. Later that years Brian Aherne made 13 episodes for CBS. Vincent Price took over the halo in 1947, making 51 episodes for CBS. In July 1948 the show moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System where he made a further 47 episodes. The show moved to NBC in 1950 where Price made a final batch of 44 episodes. Barry Sullivan also starred as the Saint for two episodes whilst the show was at NBC. Tom Conway took over the role in May 1951 and starred in 23 episodes as Simon Templar before the show finished in October that year.
3 chapters of the Immortal Works were adapted for radio and broadcast on Radio Sottens, a Swiss based French language radio channel, in July 1949.
From 1953 to 1957 Tom Meehan starred as Simon Templar on Springbok Radio (South Africa). The show, which was sponsored by Lever Brothers, was adapted from the books by Tom Meehan and producer Yolande D’Hotman.
In the mid 1960s ‘The Saint’ appeared as a one off dramatization for the Lux Radio Theatre (South African version).
In 1979/71 the Saint returned to South African radio with a series running for around six months on the English Radio Service Of South Africa.
In 1995, the Saint returned to British radio for the first time in over 50 years when Paul Rhys starred as Simon Templar in three adaptations of original Charteris novels for BBC Radio 4.
e. Comic Strips:
From 1948 to 1961 Charteris wrote the scripts for a daily Saint comic strip which was syndicated around the world by the New York Herald Tribune. Many of these stories were later collected up and reprinted as comic books. There was a separate series of comic books published by Avon Comics (USA) in the late 1940s and early 1950s. And from 1968 to 1988 Semic Press, a Scandinavian publisher, printed a Saint comic book, the stories for which were vetted by Charteris before reaching publication.
Last edited by Mr Teal, 5/Jan/07, 9:55 pm
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'The face of the law may change, but never the clutch of the constabulary.'
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