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Philip Marlowe Biography
Fictional Detective
Philip Marlowe is perhaps the leading icon of the "hard-boiled" school of mystery writing. The fictional creation of author Raymond Chandler, Marlowe is a private detective, a smart and tough lone wolf with a sense of honor. He works mainly in Los Angeles (where Chandler himself had lived). In all Marlowe appears in seven complete novels by Chandler, beginning with The Big Sleep (published 1939) and ending with Playback (1958). Various TV and radio series also featured the Marlowe character, though they were not written by Chandler. A Marlowe novel left unfinished at Chandler's death, Poodle Springs, was finished by mystery writer Robert B. Parker and published in 1989.
Extra credit: In the movies Marlowe was most famously played by Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep (1946), and by Robert Mitchum in Farewell, My Lovely (1975) and The Big Sleep (1978)... He was also played by James Garner in the 1969 film Marlowe, which co-starred Bruce Lee.
Marlowe appears with Alfred Hitchcock in our loop The Santa Rosa Connection.
Blog posts mentioning Philip Marlowe:
Four Good Links
Thrilling Detective: Philip Marlowe
Swell introduction to the character; don't miss the links to Marlowe on film, radio and TV
Shamus: A Tribute to Philip Marlowe
Fan page, maybe a bit too adoring; nice comparison of movie Marlowes
Stalking Raymond Chandler's Spirit
Nice little essay by writer Tom Stoppard, from 1998
The Big Sleep Ring
A half-dozen sites about the movie version of the story; great reviews at the MRQE link
Vital Stats
Birth
c. 1939
Birthplace
Death
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Best Known As
Hard-boiled hero of Farewell, My Lovely and other novels