Lily Gardner, author of Betting Blind—the 2nd Lennox Cooper Mystery—was kind enough to answer some of Criminal Element's questions about her beginnings as a writer, her inspirations, and living in Portland, OR.
John Dall (1918-1971) starred in top Hollywood productions Spartacus, Rope, and The Corn is Green, as well as the cult classic Gun Crazy. All in all, he made eight films, though unfortunately, ending his brief movie career on the campy Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1961). A handsome, charismatic actor with broad acting chops (his impressive…
For a guy who was only about five foot two, Percy Helton was the biggest creep in film noir. He has one of those indispensible faces that is as essential to the genre as cigarette smoke and low key lighting. He’s in a million noirs, almost always playing the same guy: the creep. Sometimes he’s…
We've recently featured a post on the noir career of Raymond Burr. Although he’s best remembered today as the stalwart defense attorney Perry Mason, Burr spent much of the 40s and 50s playing demented psychos and cold-eyed masterminds in film noir. It’s interesting to note, then, that William Talman—who played Perry Mason’s loyal opposition, district…
I loved Perry Mason as a kid, and something that I always felt without ever quite being able to put my finger on it at the time was that Raymond Burr was kind of creepy. He was the hero of the show, sure, but was there ever a TV star who was less warm and…
At age nine, I became hooked on the legal/mystery series Perry Mason, then in its fourth year on CBS. The first episode of season 4 aired on September 17, 1960. Despite what the calendar said, it was culturally still the 1950s. Dwight Eisenhower was president (John F. Kennedy would be elected six weeks later). Most…
Philip Marlowe might not have had a secretary, but Sam Spade knew better. Who else do you trust to bring you the dingus but your loyal secretary? Who else can you depend on to fend off inconvenient lovers or nasty cops, and deal with dead ship captains? Dashiell Hammett’s Effine Perrine is just one of…
“Listen to your mother.” Excellent words of advice, so today on the occasion of Mother’s Day, we are going to give some of our mothers the opportunity to make crime fiction book and TV recommendations. Of course, it just wouldn’t be right unless I started with my own lovely and talented mother whose favorite authors…
According to Variety, Robert Downey Jr. is teaming with Warner Brothers to star in a Perry Mason project to be set back in 1930’s L.A., a temptation for any director or cinematographer, I’d think. Secretary Della Street will be there, too, and that’s also a tempting role needing plenty of pluck and red lipstick. Will…
