Phyllis Dietrichson

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Phyllis Dietrichson is the fictional major female character in the 1944 film Double Indemnity. Dietrichson (played in the film by Barbara Stanwyck) convinces her insurance agent (Walter Neff, played by Fred MacMurray) to assist her in murdering her abusive, emotionally-distant, and much older husband by making it appear that he fell off of the back of a train—but only after they trick him into taking out a large (for the era) life insurance policy with a double indemnity clause, meaning that the face amount of the policy (the amount payable upon the death of the insured) is doubled if the insured's death can be shown to be due to an accident (hence the title). The Dietrichson character was based upon a real-life murderess, Ruth Snyder, whose crime was the basis for the James M. Cain novella upon which the film was based.

The character was ranked as the #8 film villain/villainess of the first 100 years of American cinema by the American Film Institute in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains program aired in 2003.

The character in the James M. Cain source novella was named Phyllis Nerdlinger, which was changed by the screenwriters who thought it too comical. Also, in the novella, the character was clearly disturbed, and was shown to be guilty of several other murders in addition to that of the first wife of her older husband.