Nick and Nora Charles
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Nick and Nora Charles, or Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Charles (which was changed from his father's original Greek name "Charalambides"), are the characters created by Dashiell Hammett in his novel The Thin Man. Nick is a retired private detective and Nora a wealthy society woman whose snobbish family thinks she has married beneath herself; Hammett modeled her on his lover Lillian Hellman. Their banter provides comic relief of the type that would later be seen between John Steed and Emma Peel in The Avengers. The couple have a pet dog, Asta, who is a female schnauzer (but became a male wire fox terrier when the book was made into a film).
The film adaptation of The Thin Man was a resounding success, and although Hammett never wrote another novel with Nick and Nora Charles, five movie sequels were produced. In the novel, Nick Charles is overweight and out of shape; the "thin man" is in fact a murder victim. However, Nick Charles was portrayed by the slim actor William Powell, naturally confusing the audience into thinking Nick was the title character. The movie producers capitalized on this confusion, and inserted "Thin Man" in the titles of the sequels to indicate Nick and Nora stories. Nora is portrayed by Myrna Loy in the films.
A radio show based on the characters ran from 1941-1950. In 1957, a TV show based on the characters ran two seasons in 1957-1959, starring Peter Lawford and Phyllis Kirk as Nick and Nora. In 1975, Craig Stevens and Jo Ann Pflug starred in the episode Nick and Nora from the Wide World Mystery television series.
In 1991, the Thin Man motion pictures were adapted into an unsuccessful Broadway musical, Nick & Nora. It opened on December 8, 1991 and ran for just nine performances before closing on December 15.
Nick and Nora were the inspirations for two comic book couples: the adoptive parents of Mary Marvel, Nick and Nora Bromfield, as well as the relationship between Ralph Dibny (DC Comics' Elongated Man) and his wife Sue Dibny. They also lend their names to the main characters of a 2006 young adult novel by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.
[edit] Homages
- Neil Simon's 1976 movie Murder by Death parodied Nick and Nora as Dick and Dora Charleston.
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