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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 'sloppyness' they found so usefull for their later Columbo-creation. And it worked! Peter Falk certainly portraited 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 pauze while thinking. This Ellery Queen televisionseries 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 hime carte blanche in selecting a wardrobe. He headed for Brooks Bros. to avoid trendy styles, settling for true blue conservative elegance. He particulary 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 (30 Jan 1911 - 2 May 1982)

Hugh Marlowe usually was a secondary lead. Although he preferred character part he got numerous roles in Westerns and Science-Fiction movies. He gueststarred in several tv series such as Perry Mason, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Another World,...  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 (17 Jun 1904  -  29 Nov 1991)

Bellamy frequently played principled but dull suitors invariably rejected by lively leading ladies, but also essaying heroic roles as well. He starred in numerous whodunits, first as Inspector Trent and then as super-sleuth Ellery Queen (in four terrible 1940-41 B's beginning with Ellery Queen, Master Detective). Unfortunately, the studios soon typecast him as "the other man"  ... (click on picture for more)

arleton G. Young (26 May 1907 - 11 July 1971)

One of radio's most successful and prolific actors with some 8,000 to 10,000 appearances in Radio. His amazing voice was used for every dramatic Radio format imaginable. From detective dramas to adventures to straight dramatic roles to even the over-the-top melodrama.
On radio he took over from Hugh Marlowe as Ellery Queen in 1941-42.

illiam Gargan (17 Jul 1905 - 17 Feb 1979)

In most of his screen appearances, Gargan basically played himself: a robust, handsome, high-spirited Irishman. For 'They Knew What They Wanted' (1940), he received a "Best Supporting Actor" nomination. In the '30s he played high-energy, gregarious leads in many "B"-movies and second leads in major films. He played master detective Ellery Queen in three 1942 Columbia programmers ... (click on picture for more)

ydney Smith (15 Nov 1909 - 4 Mar 1978)

As of the fourth radio season (1943-1944) Sydney Smith stept in as Ellery Queen, a role he continued to play until 1947. Sydney was born in Bedford, Quebec in Canada. Before assuming the role of the famous detective he already had some success as Abie Levy in 'Abie's Irish Rose' (1942)


awrence Dobkin (16 Sep 1919 - 28 Oct 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.

ichard Hart (14 Apr 1915 - 2 Jan 1951)

Richard Hart was the star of "The Adventures of Ellery Queen"the first tv-series to try and bring to live Ellery Queen and it was aired live. The show appeared on the Dumont Network beginning in 1950 and each episode took 25 minutes. After only four months, less than a third of the way through the season, January 2nd 1951, Hart died of a heart attack during a rehearsal ... (click on picture for more)

ee Bowman (28 Dec 1914  -  25 Dec 1979)

Bowman attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and began a career as a stage actor and radio singer in the '30s. Since his debut in 1937, he spent seven years playing second leads, often as a playboy thanks to his suave, elegant style and dapper, handsome looks. He briefly starred in the TV series The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1950-51) as Ellery Queen  ... (click on picture for more)

eorge Nader (19 Oct 1921 - 4 Feb 2002)

B-actor who's screen career was virtually over by the end of the 1950s. On Television, Nader starred in three short-lived series: 'The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen' (1958), 'The Man and The Challenge' (1960) and 'Shannon'(1961). He also made frequent appearances on "The Loretta Young Show" as well as guest starring in episodes of 'Alfred Hitchcock presents'... (click on picture for more)

im Hutton (31 May 1934  - 2 Jun 1979 ) 

The 'definite' Ellery Queen due to his likeable impersonation in the NBC-TV series. Hutton died of cancer at age 45 -- just short of the start of his son Timothy Hutton's career (with an Oscar for 'Ordinary People'). Born as Dana James Hutton in Binghamton, New York he was stationed in Germany during his military service. Whilst performing in a military show  was discovered by director Douglas Sirk who promptly ... (click on picture for more)