Remembering Mickey Spillane
Crime novelist Mickey Spillane died on July 17, 2006, at his home in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. He was 88. Best known as the creator of hard-boiled private investigator Mike Hammer, Spillane became one of the most commercially successful crime writers of the twentieth century. His first Hammer novel, I, the Jury, was published in 1947.
For Columbo fans, Spillane is remembered as bestselling novelist Allen Mallory in 1974’s Publish or Perish. Mallory has decided to leave publisher Riley Greenleaf—played by Jack Cassidy—and take his latest manuscript to a rival company. Greenleaf responds by arranging an elaborate murder scheme intended to provide himself with an alibi while directing suspicion elsewhere.
There is also an enjoyable irony in seeing the creator of Mike Hammer become a murder victim in a television mystery. Spillane was not simply playing a generic writer: his presence gave the fictional publishing rivalry an extra layer of authenticity.
Remembering Thayer David
Character actor Thayer David also died on July 17—28 years before Spillane—in 1978. David suffered a heart attack in New York City and was only 51 years old.
David made a brief but memorable appearance in Now You See Him as the clerk in the magic shop visited by Columbo during his investigation of the Great Santini. The credit is small, but David’s imposing presence and distinctive voice make the scene instantly recognizable. IMDb identifies his character simply as “Clerk.”
David was familiar to television audiences from Dark Shadows, on which he played several roles, most notably Professor T. Eliot Stokes. His film credits included Journey to the Center of the Earth, Little Big Man, The Eiger Sanction and Rocky.
David had also filmed the title role in a television adaptation of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe. Intended as a possible series pilot, the production was not broadcast until December 1979, more than a year after his death.
Comments
Post a Comment