Holm disappeared in the late 1940s, and according to Barer's history of The Saint, Charteris refused to allow Templar a steady girlfriend, or Holm to return ( although according to the Saintly Bible website, Charteris did write a film story that would have seen Templar encountering a son he had with Holm ).

Between 1964 and 1983, another 14 Saint books would be published, credited to Charteris but written by others.

After this, all future Saint books would be ghost written by other authors, though Charteris would continue in an editorial capacity until the series ends in 1983.

Charteris ' theme would also open the theme to Return of the Saint and would close the theme to the TV movies of The Saint which starred Simon Dutton ( neither of which were composed by Astley ); however, Astley's original Saint theme was chosen for the film of the same name.

Saint author Leslie Charteris was hired to take over the writing of the strip in September 1935, but the pair would only collaborate on one storyline.

The film was intended to establish a character who would replace Leslie Charteris ' The Saint, hero of a popular RKO series of B movies starring George Sanders.

The reference work The Saint: A Complete History by Burl Barer ( McFarland 1992 ) was written at a time when another set of plans were under way to launch a new Saint film series, which would have been faithful to the original writings of Leslie Charteris and feature characters from the original books.

It was not until 1952, however, shortly before his wedding to his pregnant girlfriend, Ann Charteris, that Fleming began to write Casino Royale, to distract himself from his forthcoming nuptials.

Leslie Charteris features Detective Inspector ( later DCI ) Claud Eustace Teal of Scotland Yard in several of his Saint novels, a character who reappeared in various dramatic incarnations of the series, notably on television by Ivor Dean.

Although Charteris ’ s novels and novellas had more conventional thriller plots than his confidence game short stories, both novels and stories are admired.

Charteris and Lee collaborated on two Saint novels in the 1970s, The Saint in Pursuit ( based on a story by Charteris for the Saint comic strip ) and The Saint and the People Importers.

The novel uses the same chapter title format that Leslie Charteris used in his Saint novels.

Worldwide fame arrived after Lew Grade cast Moore as Simon Templar in a new adaptation of The Saint, based on the novels by Leslie Charteris.

This is the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris creation The Saint that started in 1928.

* Claud Eustace Teal ( Mr Teal ), a character in the novels of Leslie Charteris

* The Crime Club, active through much of the 20th century, publishing mystery and detective novels, most notably the Fu Manchu series by Sax Rohmer and the Saint series by Leslie Charteris

Return of the Saint is a revival / updating of The Saint, a programme based upon the stories of Leslie Charteris that had originally aired from 1962 to 1969 and starred Roger Moore as Simon Templar ( the character, in turn, had been introduced by Charteris in a series of novels and short stories dating back to 1928 ).

Unlike the earlier series, Return of the Saint did not adapt any Leslie Charteris stories, however several teleplays ( such as " The Imprudent Professor " and " Collision Course ") were adapted as novels that were credited to Charteris but written by others.

* Leslie Charteris, creator and author of novels and teleplays based on Simon Templar aka The Saint

Saint Overboard is the title of a 1936 mystery novel by Leslie Charteris, one of a long series of novels featuring Charteris ' creation Simon Templar, alias " The Saint ".

The fictional detective-cambrioleur was created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s and featured in many novels and novellas over the years.

This was in keeping with the later format of the Charteris novels wherein the Saint usually worked alone.

It is an archetype of the espionage novel, a book to which more contemporary practitioners such as Eric Ambler, Ian Fleming, Leslie Charteris, Graham Greene, Len Deighton, John le Carré, Robert Ludlum, and Alan Furst are indebted for its role in developing the genre .. An example of this is the device, which Fleming copied in the James Bond novels, of referring to the head of British Intelligence only by an initial.

Charteris had originally created Kestry as the central figure of " The Man Who Liked Toys ", a short story he had written for The American Magazine.

According to Saint historian Burl Barer, Charteris made the decision to remove Templar from his usual confidence-game trappings, not to mention his usual co-stars Holm, Uniatz, Orace and Teal, as they weren't appropriate for the post-war stories he was writing.

Charteris utilized three formats for delivering his stories.

When early Saint books were republished in the 1960s to the 1980s, it was not uncommon to see freshly written introductions by Charteris apologizing for the out-of-date tone ; according to a Charteris " apology " in a 1969 paperback of Featuring the Saint, he attempted to update some earlier stories when they were reprinted but gave up and let them sit as period pieces.

In his introduction to the first, The Saint on TV, Charteris called these volumes a team effort in which he oversaw selection of stories, initially adaptations of scripts written the 1962 – 69 TV series The Saint, and with Fleming Lee writing the adaptations ( other authors took over from Lee ).

* early stories of " The Saint " by Leslie Charteris

* Leslie Charteris publishes his final collection of stories featuring Simon Templar, also known as " The Saint ", The Saint in the Sun ( he first wrote about the character in 1928 ).

Although based upon Charteris ' character, the film was an original work by British screenwriter Allan MacKinnon and not based directly on any of Charteris ' stories.

Many episodes were based upon Charteris ' stories, although a higher percentage of original scripts appeared as the series progressed (" Queen's Ransom " was both the first colour episode and the first episode not to be based on a Charteris work ).

The novel Vendetta for the Saint, credited to Charteris but written by Harry Harrison, was one of the last Saint stories to be adapted.

* Rayt Marius in Knight Templar and The Misfortunes of Mr. Teal, featuring Leslie Charteris ' the Saint, appears to be based on Zaharoff, with the last referring specifically to the theft of his explosive memoirs.

This was the fourth book — and third full novel — featuring Charteris ' Robin Hood-inspired anti-hero, Simon Templar, alias " The Saint ".

Simon Templar is a British fictional character known as The Saint featured in a long-running series of books by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963.

In this book, Sonia Delmar becomes the romantic female lead, replacing Templar's girlfriend of the previous books, Patricia Holm, who is referenced only briefly in the story as being on a cruise in the Mediterranean ( this same excuse was used by Charteris to remove the character from much of the action in Enter the Saint as well ).

( Charteris pokes fun at The Falcon in his 1943 novel The Saint Steps In, with a character making a metafictional reference to the Falcon being " a bargain-basement imitation " of The Saint.

It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, played by Roger Moore as a suave and sophisticated Robin Hood-like adventurer.

It is loosely based on the character of Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in 1928 for a series of books published as " The Saint ", which ran until 1983.

After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books until 1983 ; two additional works produced without Charteris ’ s participation were published in 1997.

Charteris gave Templar interests and quirks as the series went on.

Charteris breaks the fourth wall by making references to the " chronicler " of The Saint's adventures and in one instance ( the story " The Sizzling Saboteur " in The Saint on Guard ) inserts his own name.

The next book to carry Charteris ’ s name, 1964's Vendetta for the Saint, was written by science fiction author Harry Harrison, who had worked on the Saint comic strip, after which Charteris edited and revised the manuscript.

He assumed the surname of Charteris in lieu of Wemyss on being made heir his maternal grandfather Colonel Charteris's estate.

He then wrote a second theme, used in the second season of the colour episodes, based around Leslie Charteris ' own theme music, which had previously been used in films and on radio.

* The Saint ( film ), 1997 film starring Val Kilmer based on the Leslie Charteris series

Six weeks before his death, on 26 January 1972, the Duke married his second wife, ( Frances ) Laura Canfield née Charteris ( London, 10 August 1915 – 1990 ), the widow of the American publishing heir Michael Temple Canfield ( whose first wife had been Caroline Lee Bouvier, the sister of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ).

The music was written by John Scott and, like the last colour season of the previous ITC production, incorporated Leslie Charteris own theme which had previously been used in films and on radio.

Guy Lawrence Charteris and Frances Lucy Tennant, and grand-daughter of Hugo Richard Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss, on 28 June 1945 ( divorced 1952 ).