Raymond Chandler Dead men are heavier than broken hearts

Chandler’s cameo in Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity

Adrian Wooton of the Guardian is right to point out that it is thanks to American writer Mark Coggins, tipped off by John Billheimer, and French journalist Olivier Eyquem that we know that Chandler has a tiny cameo in Billy Wilder’s 1944 movie Double Indemnity.



It’s just unmistakeably him. I’d lay money on it,’ says Judith Freeman, author of ‘The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman He Loved.’
While researching her Chandler biography, Freeman never once saw mention of the appearance in Chandler’s papers, not at the Bodleian Library in Oxford or at UCLA. ‘Believe me, I really combed over both archives,’ she said. But she watched the film again. ‘And sure enough, by damn, there he was, and in my mind there is absolutely no question that it’s Chandler.’

https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/jacket-copy/story/2009-07-15/raymond-chandlers-double-indemnity-cameo

Chandler wrote the script to Double Indemnity with director Billy Wilder.

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4 responses

  1. Mark Coggins Avatar
    Mark Coggins

    Good stuff! I like the blog and I liked your dedication. (I named my PI character August Riordan after Anne Riordan).

    Reply
    1. 11guitarist Avatar
      11guitarist

      Dear Mark,
      Thank you for the compliment, which I can only return.
      I love your website https://www.markcoggins.com and your photography. I haven’t read one of your novels yet, but the name “Riordan” sounds intriguing.

      Reply
      1. Mark Coggins Avatar
        Mark Coggins

        I love the image of the station on the blog. And I agree that Anne is the best of the Chandler females.

        Thank you for the compliment on the website. Here are some photos with Judith Freeman from the service reuniting Cissy with Chandler at Mt. Hope Cemetery.

      2. 11guitarist Avatar
        11guitarist

        Thank you for sharing those pictures! It must have been quite a moving ceremony. I’m glad that Judith Freeman was present, too. We owe her so much for The Long Embrace.

        mail@nothumantonight.com

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