CRIME AUTHORS CAUGHT ON CAMERA

Ready for a Close-Up

- Michael Mallory

When reduced to their essences, writing and acting seem a lot alike. Both involve the creation of characters and the means of communicating those characters through created traits and mannerisms. And both, of course, involve the never-ending quest for character motivation. Perhaps that is why so many mystery authors have taken the opportunity to appear before the camera and inhabit a character in another way as well.

The phenomenon is hardly new. Actorturned-writer Will Shakespeare may have been the first major historical figure to combine both careers, though two centuries and change later, Charles Dickens continued the practice. Once film was developed as an entertainment medium, the lure of the camera became too strong to resist. Mark Twain made an appearance in a 1909 film adaptation of The Prince and the Pauper and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle filmed a cameo for 1925’s The Lost World, based on his adventure/fantasy novel. Seen pottering around his garden, Conan Doyle had just one line—“I have wrought my simple plan to give one hour of joy to the boy who’s half a man or the man who’s half a boy”—delivered via title card. But he appeared to enjoy being recorded for posterity, perhaps happy to be recognized for something other than Sherlock Holmes.