About

Known credits:
19
Birthday:
1896-02-22
Place of birth:
Whitechapel, London, England, UK
Website:
N/A

Peter Cheyney

Overview

Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse-Cheyney (22 February 1896 – 26 June 1951) was a British crime fiction writer who flourished between 1936 and 1951. Cheyney is perhaps best known for his short stories and novels about agent/detective Lemmy Caution, which, starting in 1953, were adapted into a series of French movies, all starring Eddie Constantine (however, the best known of these – the 1965 science fiction film Alphaville – was not directly based on a Cheyney novel). Another popular creation was the private detective Slim Callaghan who also appeared in a series of novels and subsequent film adaptations. Although out of print for many years, Cheyney's novels have never been difficult to find second-hand. Several of them have recently been made available as e-books. Peter Cheyney was born in Whitechapel in 1896, the youngest of five children, and educated at the Mercers' School in the City of London. He began to write skits for the theatre as a teenager, but this ended when the First World War began. In 1915 he enlisted in the British Army as a volunteer, in 1916 was wounded on active service and published two volumes of poetry, Poems of Love and War and To Corona and Other Poems. The next year, 1917, his military service ended. Starting in the late 1920s, Cheyney worked for the Metropolitan Police as a police reporter and crime investigator. Until he became successful as a crime novelist, he was often quite poor. It is said that he got his start through a bet; when Cheyney remarked that anyone could write a book in the idiom of the American thriller, he was wagered five pounds that he could not. Cheyney sold his first story as the result of this bet.

Known for

Writing

1975 Callaghan: un rendez-vous dans les ténèbres Writing Novel N/A
N/A
1971 Slečnám nic nevadí Writing Novel 58
Average
1965 Alphaville Writing Characters 64
Fair
1963 Your Turn, Darling Writing Writer 58
Average
1962 Ladies' Man Writing Novel 58
Average
1960 Women Are Like That Writing Novel 58
Average
1957 And This Way to the Exit Writing Scenario Writer 58
Average
1955 Diamond Machine Writing Novel 58
Average
1955 More Whiskey for Callaghan Writing Writer 58
Average
1955 The Amazing Mr. Callaghan Writing Novel 58
Average
1954 Meet Mr. Callaghan Writing Novel 59
Average
1954 Dames Don't Care Writing Novel 58
Average
1953 This Man Is Dangerous Writing Novel 58
Average
1953 Poison Ivy Writing Novel 58
Average
1952 Full House Writing Novel 58
Average
1952 Diplomatic Courier Writing Novel 58
Average
1948 Uneasy Terms Writing Screenplay 58
Average
1948 Uneasy Terms Writing Novel 58
Average
1937 The Wife of General Ling Writing Story 59
Average