He turned the pulp detective mystery form into a successful genre of literature and created the quintessential private eye in the tough but chivalric loner, Philip Marlowe. Marlowe is the narrator of such books as The Big Sleep 1939 (filmed 1946), Farewell My Lovely 1940 (filmed 1944), The Lady in the Lake 1943 (filmed 1947), and The Long Goodbye 1954 (filmed 1975). He also wrote numerous screenplays, notably Double Indemnity 1944, Blue Dahlia 1946, and Strangers on a Train 1951.
