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later revealed that RKO executives had recruited Conway simply as a way to induce
Sanders to make one more Falcon picture, after which the series would end. "So it was astonishing to them when Tom Conway caught on right away and carried the series on – even outgrossing the pictures George had made."
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with a weakness for beautiful women. Though Gay Falcon was the character's name in Arlen's original story, the character was renamed Gay
Laurence for the film. (The surname was spelled "Lawrence" in subsequent films.) Thus "The Falcon" became an alias or nickname, à la "The Saint." In later outings,
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As with other series of B mystery films, the plot of a Falcon movie generally revolved around a particular locale that the detective was visiting. An oft-used gimmick in the Falcon series was to tack "teaser" epilogues onto the ends of films. In each teaser, a previously unseen woman would approach
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The new Falcon films followed the "Saint" pattern so closely that author
Charteris sued RKO, charging unfair competition. Charteris told author David Zinman in 1971, "RKO switched to The Falcon, a flagrant carbon copy of their version of The Saint, in my opinion with the single mercenary motive of
175:
magazine. The story opens with the words "Now of this man who called himself Gay Falcon many tales are told, and this is one of them." Arlen's Falcon is characterized as a freelance adventurer and troubleshooter – a man who makes his living "keeping his mouth shut and engaging in dangerous
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The Falcon was revived for three more films, all made in 1948, but these featured the earlier "Michael Waring" character as created by Drexel Drake. However, he was referred to as "Watling" and the credits still claimed he was based on a character created by
Michael Arlen. Actor-magician
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continuing opposite
Sanders. In the Falcon movies, as in the Leslie Charteris "Saint" novels of the period, the hero is almost always accompanied in his travels by a wisecracking sidekick, portrayed variously by
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the Falcon, usually in desperation, and signal the title and locale of his next movie. A teaser rarely had anything to do with the plot of the upcoming film, since that film had not yet been produced.
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in various media, the character had a variety of "real names," still being known as The Falcon. Neither in films nor on radio was the nickname ever explained.
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in 1940. This Falcon made his first appearance in Arlen's short story "Gay Falcon" (aka "A Man Called Falcon"), which was originally published in 1940 in
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Starring George
Sanders and Tom Conway as the Lawrence brothers; Gay is murdered and Tom Lawrence, his brother, becomes The Falcon
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301:(1942). In the film, Gay Lawrence is killed by assassins, prompting his brother Tom, played by Sanders's actual older brother,
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saving the payments they had to make to me for the film rights." Charteris actually pokes fun at The Falcon in his 1943 novel
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George
Sanders appeared in the first four Falcon features. When Sanders tired of B leads, he bowed out of the series in
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is the nickname for two fictional detectives. Drexel Drake (real name
Charles H. Huff) created
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On the Trail of Drexel Drake's Falcon: An On-going
Investigation by Frank Derato
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reference to the Falcon being "a bargain-basement imitation" of The Saint.
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Gay
Stanhope Falcon/Gay Laurence/Tom Laurence/Michael "Mike" Waring
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played "The New Falcon" in three low-budget features produced by
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series, was cast in the Falcon role, with "Saint" love interest
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was intended to establish a replacement character for
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Arlen's Falcon was quickly brought to the screen by
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Fictional character created in 1940 by Michael Arlen
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Maurice Geraghty to David Zinman, op. cit., p. 222.
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564:(1943) (1980 Charter Books edition, p. 153)
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490:Starring John Calvert as Michael Waring
361:Starring George Sanders as Gay Lawrence
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153:. It was followed by two more novels –
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866:Literary characters introduced in 1936
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264:(in the first three Falcon films),
225:redefined the character as a suave
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545:Leslie Charteris to David Zinman,
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147:Michael Waring, alias the Falcon
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871:Fictional gentleman detectives
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54:Drexel Drake (Michael Waring)
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245:The Saint (Simon Templar)
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876:Fictional English people
350:Adventures of the Falcon
831:Appointment with Murder
778:The Falcon in Hollywood
738:The Falcon Strikes Back
503:Appointment with Murder
458:The Falcon in Hollywood
418:The Falcon Strikes Back
159:The Falcon Meets a Lady
112:In-universe information
802:The Falcon's Adventure
693:A Date with the Falcon
482:The Falcon's Adventure
374:A Date with the Falcon
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82:James Meighan (radio)
18:The Falcon (character)
701:The Falcon Takes Over
382:The Falcon Takes Over
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770:The Falcon in Mexico
746:The Falcon in Danger
730:The Falcon's Brother
709:The Falcon's Brother
450:The Falcon in Mexico
426:The Falcon in Danger
405:The Falcon's Brother
312:The Falcon's Brother
299:The Falcon's Brother
762:The Falcon Out West
558:Charteris, Leslie.
442:The Falcon Out West
392:Farewell, My Lovely
230:gentleman detective
191:, original star of
167:Gay Stanhope Falcon
30:Fictional character
794:The Falcon's Alibi
561:The Saint Steps In
474:The Falcon's Alibi
287:The Saint Steps In
213:RKO Radio Pictures
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172:Town & Country
155:The Falcon Cuts In
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385:(1942) (based on
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151:The Falcon's Prey
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16:(Redirected from
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180:Film appearances
41:First appearance
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107:(television)
100:John Calvert
85:Les Tremayne
64:Portrayed by
59:(Gay Falcon)
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356:Film series
352:(1954–55).
266:Don Barclay
195:film series
133:Nationality
860:Categories
721:Tom Conway
645:The Falcon
601:The Falcon
533:References
344:syndicated
336:television
303:Tom Conway
251:, star of
205:Tom Conway
193:The Falcon
143:The Falcon
125:Occupation
73:Tom Conway
51:Created by
253:The Saint
90:Les Damon
521:See also
165:created
97:(radio)
92:(radio)
87:(radio)
80:(radio)
652:Creator
227:English
136:British
102:(film)
75:(film)
70:(film)
842:(1949)
834:(1948)
826:(1948)
805:(1946)
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421:(1943)
408:(1942)
377:(1942)
369:(1941)
310:After
276:, and
215:. The
117:Gender
668:Films
332:radio
219:film
334:and
217:1941
120:Male
389:'s
280:.
243:'s
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338:–
272:,
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637:e
630:t
623:v
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20:)
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