Nick and Nora Charles the bantering, romantically involved detective duo has become a well-used trope in literature, stage, screen, and television ever since. The characters first appear in Dashiell Hammett's best-selling last novel "The Thin Man" (1934). Nick is an alcoholic former private detective who retired when he married Nora, a wealthy Nob Hill heiress. Hammett reportedly modeled Nora on his longtime partner Lillian Hellman, and the characters' boozy, flippant dialogue on their relationship. (The novel also mentions that Nick was once a Pinkerton detective, as was Hammett.) The novel is considered one of the seminal texts of the hard-boiled subgenre of mystery novels,
Macklyn Arbuckle Macklyn Arbuckle Macklyn Arbuckle (July 9, 1866 – April 1, 1931) was an American screen and stage actor. He was the brother of actor Andrew Arbuckle and cousin of comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Arbuckle was born in San Antonio, Texas on July 9, 1866, of Scottish descent. He began in theater in the 1890s, when he was in his 30s. His first Broadway play, "Why Smith Left Home", was in 1899. Some of his many Broadway successes were "The County Chairman" (1903) (which he made as a silent film in 1914), "The Round Up" (1907) with Julia Dean (and which