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Raymond Chandler

One of the originators of hard-boiled detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, author Raymond Chandler and his gumshoe protagonist, Philip Marlowe, inspired countless future writers and generations of filmmakers. Born in Chicago, Chandler was raised in England by relatives after he and his mother were abandoned by his alcoholic father. After returning to the U.S and seeing horrific action as a soldier in World War I, he became a high-paid oil executive before publishing his first short story in Black Mask magazine. At the age of 50, he wrote his first novel, The Big Sleep, which was followed by such titles as Farewell, My Lovely and The Long Goodbye, each of which sold better than the one before. With success came the attentions of Hollywood, and although Chandler garnered Oscar nominations for his work on the noir classics, "Double Indemnity" (1944) and "The Blue Dahlia" (1946), his time with the studios was far from fulfilling. Over the years, Marlowe was portrayed on screen by several of Hollywood's most popular leading men, among them Humphrey Bogart in "The Big Sleep" (1946), Elliot Gould in "The Long Goodbye" (1973) and Robert Mitchum in "Farewell, My Lovely" (1975). Though underappreciated during his lifetime, Chandler would later be revered for transforming the crime fiction genre into a prism through which the author eloquently cast his sardonic eye upon the state of America, its culture and people.