“A lot of fancier yarns come from people trying to tell the truth. It’s not easy once you’re out of the habit.”
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Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles, The Continental Op and the comic strip character Secret Agent X-9.
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culture · American writer (1894–1961) · writer · novelist · screenwriter · journalist · literary critic · prose writer · also Dashiell Hammett, Samuel Dashiell Hammett, Hammett
Born 27 May 1894 · Died 10 January 1961 · Q186335
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2026· 5 entries
“That’s why I don’t very often drink, or even smoke. I want to try cocaine, though because that’s suppose to sharpen the brain, isn’t it?”
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“She keeps trying and you’ve got to be careful or you’ll find yourself believing her, not because she seems to be telling the truth, but simply because you’re tired of disbelieving her.”
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“The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.”
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Moviefone: Dashiell Hammett
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2016· 2 entries
Paste: Nobody’s Son: The Legacy of Dashiell Hammett
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JSTOR Daily: Dashiell Hammett and the Movies
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2015· 2 entries
The Washington Post: Separating fact from fiction in Dashiell Hammett’s life and work
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The Guardian: Major Dashiell Hammett collection bought by US university
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2014· 4 entries
The Guardian: Reading group: Dashiell Hammett, dean of hard-boiled detective fiction
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The Guardian: December’s Reading group: The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
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The Guardian: The 100 best novels: No 54 – The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (1929)
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National Review: The Mysterious Dashiell Hammett
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2011· 2 entries
The Guardian: Dashiell Hammett's lost works found in Texas
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Published the YA suspenseful romance, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
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2006· 1 entry
Rachel Cohn published the YA novel, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, whose main characters were named for the sleuths in Hammett's Thin Man series
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1990· 1 entry
The Crime Writers' Association picked three of his five novels for their list of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time
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1975· 1 entry
The film The Black Bird starred George Segal in the role of Sam Spade Jr
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1961· 3 entries
Died 1961-01-10.
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Of lung cancer, diagnosed just two months beforehand
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“O pensamento é algo que dá vertigem.”
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1953· 1 entry
Before the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his own activities, but refused to cooperate with the committee
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1951· 2 entries
In front of United States District Court Judge Sylvester Ryan, facing questioning by Irving Saypol, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, described by Time as "the nation's number-one legal hu
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Their appeals exhausted, four of the convicted men fled rather than surrender themselves to federal agents and begin serving their sentences
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1949· 1 entry
When bail in the amount of "$260,000 in negotiable government bonds" was posted "to free eleven men appealing against their convictions under the Smith Act for criminal conspiracy to teach and advocate the overthrow of t
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1946· 2 entries
At a meeting held at the Hotel Diplomat in New York City, and "devoted the largest portion of his working time to CRC activities"
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A bail fund was created by the CRC "to be used at the discretion of three trustees to gain the release of defendants arrested for political reasons
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1945· 1 entry
Hammett was one of 16 Army officers and enlisted men singled out as alleged Communists by the House Committee on Military Affairs
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1943· 1 entry
While still a member of the military, he co-authored The Battle of the Aleutians with Cpl
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1941· 1 entry
President) of the League of American Writers, he served on its Keep America Out of War Committee in January 1940 during the period of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
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1935· 1 entry
Hammett joined the League of American Writers (1935–1943), whose members included Lillian Hellman, Alexander Trachtenberg of International Publishers, Frank Folsom, Louis Untermeyer, I
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1931· 1 entry
Hammett embarked on a 30-year romantic relationship with the playwright Lillian Hellman
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1926· 1 entry
“Did it ever occur to you that everybody is more or less afraid of nearly everything, and that courage isn't a damn thing but a habit of not dodging things because you're afraid of them?”
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1918· 1 entry
And served in the United States Army Ambulance Service
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1908· 1 entry
When he was thirteen years old, due to his father's declining health and the need for him to earn money to support the family
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1898· 1 entry
And for the most part, it was the city where he lived until he left permanently in 1920 when he was 26 years old
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1894· 1 entry
Born 1894-05-27.
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