Simon Templar - alias The Saint, after his initials - is the creation of Leslie Charteris.
Charteris was born Leslie Charles Bowyer Yin in Singapore in 1907, the son of a Chinese surgeon and his English wife. He was sent to a Lancashire public school, and went on to Kings College, Cambridge where - it is said - he started to write fiction as an escape from loneliness. He dropped out of university to pursue a writing career, and the first Saint book - Meet the Tiger - was published in 1929.
Meet the Tiger introduced a hero who was part chivalrous knight (the surname, presumably, was no coincidence) and part Bulldog Drummond. In Charteris' own words, Simon Templar was "a dashing daredevil, imperturbable, debonair, preposterously handsome, a pirate or philanthropist as occasion demands. He lives for the pursuit of excitement _ for the one triumphant moment that is his alone."
Often described as a modern day Robin Hood, Simon Templar - in the novels at least - kept ten percent of all money he recovered from the villains to fund his own lavish lifestyle. With his own activities bordering on the criminal, Templar's motive was not the pursuit of criminals, but rather the fighting of injustice. At the scene of his triumph he would leave behind his calling card - the famous stick figure with the halo, used here on the title page of this section of the website.
The Saint series became popular within a few years, and Leslie Charteris produced a steady stream of them. It has been said that by the end of the Second World War, Simon Templar was the second most profitable character created by an English novelist, second only to Sherlock Holmes. Charteris became an American citizen and lived comfortably in Florida: he was a millionaire before Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap was first performed, and before Ian Fleming had James Bond order his first vodka martini.
Simon Templar was portrayed on film by Louis Hayward first in 1938 for RKO, and by several other actors including George Sanders. Five different actors played The Saint on radio, including Vincent Price.
The Saint Mystery Magazine edited by Leslie Charteris became a bestseller, and Harry Harrison wrote reviews for the magazine which were published under Charteris' name. Later, several short stories appeared in the magazine under Harrison's own name. Vendetta for the Saint appeared as a serial in the magazine. There was also a comic strip which was syndicated in newspapers internationally: Harry Harrison wrote scripts for this comic strip, and these led directly to him ghosting Vendetta for the Saint.
With the popularity of television growing on both sides of the Atlantic, Charteris was approached several times for the tv rights to the Saint. But the author had been unhappy with previous screen versions, saying that George Sanders was 'absolutely wrong' and that the Saint should be 'someone with a dash of Cary Grant _ a young Douglas Fairbanks.' Charteris was already a wealthy man, so had no need to sell the rights.
But then Charteris was introduced to producer Robert Baker, who seems to have made a favourable impression as he was offered an option on the series. Baker sold the idea to Lew Grade, and terms were agreed towards the end of 1961. The series was to be filmed by British tv company ATV.
The next challenge was to cast a suitable actor in the title role. Patrick McGoohan was apparently considered, but he was enigmatic and intellectual, rather than dashing and romantic. The producers thought of Roger Moore, who had at that point in his career appeared in Ivanhoe and Maverick, and Robert Baker is quoted as saying of him:
"He was a good-looking guy, which was very important. He had a strong personality. He had a light touch which was also important because the television code was not going to permit us to have the same tough Saint as in the novels."
The Saint of the novels was occasionally brutal, not averse to a little torture to obtain information, and on one occasion allowing the villain to be torn to pieces by his own panther. This side of the character had to be toned down for family viewing. The Saint could not be seen to really hurt anyone, and nor could he be allowed to keep any of the money he took from the villains.
Production of the tv series began in June 1962 at what would become Elstree Studios. One-hour episodes were not common on British tv at that time, but Lew Grade was making them with an eye on the American market. But ABC and CBS both rejected the series as being too British and too old fashioned. It was eventually picked up by NBC and shown in a late night slot, where it did remarkably well in the ratings. The show would eventually be syndicated across the US right through the 1970s.
Originally 26 episodes of the series were planned: 71 black and white episodes were eventually produced, followed by 43 colour ones. The adaptation of Vendetta for the Saint formed two of the latter.
There have been two attempts to revive the Saint on television, one in the late 1970s - The Return of the Saint, starring Ian Oglivy - and one in the late 1980s: neither caught the imagination of tv audiences like the original. More recently, a film featuring Val Kilmer garnered mixed reviews.
© Paul Tomlinson, 1986 and 1999