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he portrayals in the non-novel based media may have
attributed more to the way we conceive our hero, specifically movies and television. Although most of them lacked success it's easily understandable that the appearances of the actors in magazines, TV-shows,... etc. influenced the way Ellery Queen was seen by his readers.
In the 70s television series Ellery is far more sloppy than he ever was in the books. This is mainly due to the producers Richard Levinson and William Link. Later they took this even a step further when they made Columbo . They based their figure on a personage in Dostojevski's Crime and Punishment. I still think they also recognized the shortcomings of Ellery as a person of flesh and blood and injected him with the same 'sloppiness' they found so useful for their later Columbo-creation. And it worked! Peter Falk certainly portrayed Columbo as a sloppy detective and even imitated a characteristic Jim Hutton introduced: when stopped to answer a question we see Hutton halt and raise one arm in the air and pause while thinking.


Above right: While Link was a Dannay-adept, Levinson had a high Marlowe factor which probably accounts for the Columbo raincoat. Some cover artists succeeded in making Ellery a "clean" Columbo-clone...

This Ellery Queen television series was a milestone in the perception of the Ellery-figure. The Ellery Queen figure reflected Hutton's own tastes in wardrobe since he pleaded with the producers no to make Queen a fob. They gave him carte blanche in selecting a wardrobe. He headed for Brooks Bros. to avoid trendy styles, settling for true blue conservative elegance. He particularly likes wearing sweaters with shirt collars protruding at the neck.
Adepts who already read some works were disappointed to see their cool and collected sleuth changed. The NBC Ellery Queen pilot film captured the "authentic" Ellery's nearly as he has ever been captured. His sloppy personal habits are a contradiction to his well ordered mental skills. He is a slob at home, in his apartment he shares with his father, Inspector Queen; yet he is mentally well-disciplined. He can notice a clue as obscure as the number of matches in a matchbook, yet become so engrossed in his writing that he doesn't hear the telephone ring. Although I had read several Queens at the time, it did influence my image of both Ellery and his father immensely. Imagine the shock I got when reading the first ten novels where Ellery is an aristocratic 'wooden stick' with pince-nez. A figure much like the TV-series Simon Brimmer, which never appeared in the books. Such a figure would have to overcome many difficulties before the TV-audiences, who tend to prefer the underdog. There is only one thing more enervating than someone who thinks he is always right... someone who is always right.
 

ugh Marlowe 1/30/1911 - 5/2/1982

Hugh Marlowe usually was a secondary lead. ... He was the first Ellery Queen on radio in 1940. A role he also played some 14 years later on TV ... (click on picture for more)

alph Bellamy 6/17/1904 - 11/29/1991

He starred in numerous whodunits,  as super-sleuth Ellery Queen in four terrible 1940-41 B's beginning with Ellery Queen, Master Detective. ... (click on picture for more)

arleton G. Young 5/26/1907 - 7/11/1971

One of radio's most successful and prolific actors in Radio. On radio he took over from Hugh Marlowe as Ellery Queen in 1942-43. ... (click on picture for more)

illiam Gargan 07/17/1905 - 2/16/1979

In most of his screen appearances, Gargan basically played himself: a robust, handsome, high-spirited Irishman. He played master detective Ellery Queen in three 1942 Columbia movies ... (click on picture for more)

ydney Smith 11/25/1909 - 3/3/1978

In the 4th radio season (1943-1944) Sydney stepped in as Ellery Queen, a role he continued to play until 1947. He already had some radio success before assuming the role of the famous detective... (click on picture for more).

ichard Coogan 4/4/1914 - 3/12/2014

He lasted only a few months as Ellery Queen in the radio series. As star of the first season of the live sci-fi-series Captain Video (1949-1950) he became one of the first actors to make his mark on TV. ... (click on picture for more)

awrence Dobkin 9/16/1919 - 10/28/2002

In 1947 Larry was asked to play radio's infamous Ellery Queen.  He would play the detective for two years and would later direct the Ellery Queen TV-series. ... (click on picture for more)

oward Culver 6/2/1918 - 8/4/1984

In April-May 1948 Howard became the last actor to play Ellery Queen in the US radio series.  Jokingly he later his told his daughters he '"killed" Ellery Queen. ...  (click on picture for more)

ichard Hart 4/14/1915 - 1/2/1951

The star of The Adventures of Ellery Queen, the first TV-series to try and bring to live Ellery Queen.  The live show appeared on Dumont beginning in 1950. ... (click on picture for more)

ee Bowman 12/28/1914 - 12/25/1979

Since his debut in 1937, he spent years playing second leads, with suave, elegant style and dapper, handsome looks. He briefly starred in the TV's The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1950-51).   ... (click on picture for more)

ichard Derr 6/15/1917 - 5/8/1992

Played Ellery Queen only once in the TV-episode "Confidential Agent" (8-27-52) of The Adventures of Ellery Queen as replacement for Lee Bowman who was on vacation...   ... (click on picture for more)

eorge Nader 10/19/1921 - 2/4/2002

After his screen career Nader starred in three short-lived TV-series: The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen (1958), The Man and The Challenge (1960) and Shannon (1961). ... (click on picture for more)

ee Philips 01/10/1927 - 3/3/1999

Past the halfway point of The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen TV-series (1958) Philips took over as EQ, who he portrayed as a man of awareness and compassion.  ... (click on picture for more)

im Hutton 5/31/1934 - 6/2/1979

The "definite" Ellery Queen due to his likeable impersonation in the NBC-TV series. Hutton died at age 45 -- just short of the start of his son Timothy's career ... (click on picture for more)