Comprehensive information and links about Philip Marlowe

Philip Marlowe . Marlowe first appeared in the short story "Finger Man," published in 1934. In this early appearance, however, Chandler had not yet developed the elaborate similes which were to become his trademark, and Marlowe is hard to distinguish from Chandler's other short fiction characters, such as Johnny Dalmas. Furthermore, whereas in the later novels, Marlowe inhabits Los Angeles, "Finger Man" is set in a fictional city called San Angelo.

Marlowe's character is typical of a genre of hardboiled crime fiction that originated with Dashiell Hammett and magazine in the 1920s where the private eye is a pessimistic and cynical observer of a corrupt society. Yet the enduring appeal of Marlowe and other hardboiled dicks like Hammett's Sam Spade lies in their tarnished idealism.

Underneath the wisecracking, hard drinking, tough private eye, Marlowe is quietly contemplative and philosophical. Marlowe enjoys chess and poetry. While he is not afraid to risk physical harm, he does not dish out violence merely to settle scores. Morally upright, he is not bamboozled by the genre's usual femme fatales, like Carmen Sternwood in . As Chandler wrote about his detective ideal in general, "I think he might seduce a duchess, and I am quite sure he would not spoil a virgin."

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Biographical Notes for Philip Marlowe

In a letter to D. J. Ibberson, 19th April 1951, Chandler noted amongst other things that Marlowe is thirty-eight years old, was born in Santa Rosa, California. He had a couple of years at college and some experience as an investigator for an insurance company and the district attorney of Los Angeles county. He's slightly over six feet tall and weighs about thirteen stone eight. He smokes and prefers Camels. He drinks whiskey and makes good coffee. At the time of writing he was probably carrying a Smith and Wesson .38 special with a four inch barrel. A six inch barrel would be better but awkward to carry.

See also Raymond Chandler, "Novels and Other Writings" (Library of America, 1995, ISBN 1-883011-08-6) for other letters

Influences and adaptations

Marlowe's name probably derives from either the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe or from the narrator of Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness, who uses a different spelling of the surname. Marlowe has been played on the screen by Humphrey Bogart, Robert Montgomery, George Montgomery, Robert Mitchum, Dick Powell, Elliot Gould, Danny Glover, James Garner, and James Caan. On radio, in , the character was portrayed by Van Heflin on NBC (June 17-September 9, 1947) and by Gerald Mohr on CBS (September 26, 1948-September 15, 1951). Powers Boothe had the title role in the HBO series, , which ran for two years (1984-1986).

Marlowe has proved such a complex and attractive character that he has appeared in short stories and novels by writers other than Chandler, such as (by John Shannon) Marlowe appears in retirement as a real person used as the model for Chandler's novels