Nero Wolfe

Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective created by the prolific American author Rex Stout in the 1930s and featured in dozens of books and short stories (many of which were later collected into books). Wolfe, probably the best-known consulting detective after Sherlock Holmes, was born in 1892 or 1893 in Montenegro and fought in World War I against the Germans. He weighs about 285 pounds and is 5'11" tall. He raises orchids as a hobby in a rooftop greenhouse in his New York City brownstone rowhouse on West 35th Street with the help of his employee Theodore Horstmann, drinks copious amounts of beer throughout the day and is a gourmand (and so employs a live-in cook, Fritz Brenner), and almost never leaves his house (where his office is). His leg-work is done by another live-in employee, Archie Goodwin, who is also a licensed detective.

Wolfe in other media

Cinema

The Nero Wolfe mysteries have been turned into several movies, including Meet Nero Wolfe (1936), an adaptation of the first Wolfe novel starring Edward Arnold as Wolfe and Lionel Stander as Archie Goodwin, and The League of Frightened Men (1937), an adaptation of the second Wolfe novel starring Walter Connolly and Lionel Stander.

Related Topics:
1936 - Edward Arnold - Lionel Stander - 1937 - Walter Connolly

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Radio

A number of radio series have been made based on the Nero Wolfe stories:

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• 1943 starring Santos Ortega
• 1945 starring Francis X. Bushman
• 1950 starring Sidney Greenstreet
• 1982 starring Mavor Moore

Television

In 1977, Thayer David, Tom Mason, and Brooke Adams starred in a telemovie based on "The Doorbell Rang", intended as the pilot episode for a television series that did not eventuate, it was held back for release until 1979 due to the death of Thayer David shortly after filming.

Related Topics:
1977 - Thayer David - Tom Mason - Brooke Adams - 1979

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In 1981, William Conrad and Lee Horsley starred in a short-lived television series.

Related Topics:
1981 - William Conrad - Lee Horsley

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In 2001, Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton starred in The Golden Spiders, an telemovie adaptation of the 1953 story of the same name.

Related Topics:
2001 - Maury Chaykin - Timothy Hutton - 1953

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This led to an ongoing series, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, which played for two seasons before being cancelled.

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Both seasons are available on DVD as two boxed sets (the telemovie bundled with the second).

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Between 1969 and 1971, the Italian network RAI broadcasted a successful series of black and white telemovies starring Tino Buazzelli (Nero Wolfe), Paolo Ferrari (Archie Goodwin), Pupo De Luca (Fritz Brenner) and Renzo Palmer (Inspector Cramer). Ten episodes of this series are currently (2004) available on DVD. Tino Buazzelli is depicted in the San Marino stamp, above.

Related Topics:
1969 - 1971 - 2004 - San Marino

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The German-made mini-series of Too Many Cooks (Zu viele Köche, 1961) has some information available on the Internet Movie database: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0055641/. Heinz Klevenow starred as Nero Wolfe and Joachim Fuchsberger as Archie Goodwin.

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The Russian Wolfe TV movies were made in 2001-2002. The teleplay for the series was written by Vladimir Valutskiy who had previously written the Russian Sherlock Holmes TV series (around 1980). The IMDB link for more information: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0368157/. Nero Wolfe is played by Donatas Banionis and Archie Goodwin by Sergei Zhigunov.

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