Help Us Find and Improve Next Week's Connection Profiles: TV Detectives

Question

This coming week, the example profile will be Peter Falk, aka Columbo, born on September 19, 1927.

We're searching for more notable people who have acted as detectives on television to feature alongside Falk. Could you help?

Here are a few we're getting started on:

• Jack Lord, aka Steve Garrett on Hawaii 5-0 (needs a connection, a picture, and bio work)
• Telly Savalas, aka Kojak (needs a picture, a connection, and bio work)
• Raymond Burr, aka Perry Mason
• John Thaw, aka Inspector Morse (needs a picture, a connection, and bio work)

Can you help with these profiles, or expand their families? Adding relatives in any direction helps with connections.

Who else should we feature? Do they need a profile? We want them all to have a profile image, a good biography, and a connection to the big tree.

We can't feature everyone who has been a detective on TV (we only have room for eight per week), but if we don't feature a profile you work on, we may use it sometime in the future. And, of course, all contributions help improve our shared tree.

We'll make a final decision on which ones to feature early next week.

Thanks for your help!

Comments

George Baker (Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford) (English)

Lord Peter Wimsey as portrayed by Ian Carmichael.  (English) 

Edward John "Michael" Pate as Detective (Senior) Sergeant Vic Maddern CIB (Australia -- may be more of a cop thing than a detective thing, though).  Is not yet connected, though.

Rupert Davies as Maigret. (English)

Mr & Mrs North as portrayed by Richard Denning and Barbara Britton. (USA)

David Janssen Harry O, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, and O'Hara, US Treasury. (USA)

Philip Carey as Philip Marlowe (USA)

Sorry that all my links to this point - except Michael Pate - are to Wikipedia not to a WT ID#.

I'll go check to see if any of them already have profiles.

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Thanks, Melanie! That's a great list.

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There are also various Miss Marple actresses  - and even Hercule Poirot actors. 

(Can you tell I read a lot — and watch shows/movies based on my beloved books?  ) 

ETA - Just a few Miss Marple portrayers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Hayes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Hickson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geraldine_McEwan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracie_Fields

Margaret Rutherford https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rutherford-3154

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I was going to suggest Margaret Rutherford (is connected, has pic, and actually an interesting genealogy with room for improvement), but Melanie beat me to it.

Is it going to be just Anglo-saxon actors? I can hardly think of any non-Anglo who would be recognized internationally. There IS Horst Tappert (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Tappert), but he has a controversial past.

I looked for French actors who could fit the bill but found none who would be recognizable, let alone be ready in time.

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@ Isabelle - was there a tv detective show Simeon? (Or some similar name. I have a vague recollection of a French detective show back in the black and white days.  (NOT Christie's Poirot, who isn't French.))

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James Garner who played Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files. (My husband is distantly related.)

Jerry Orbach who played Lenny Briscoe on Law & Order. His WikiTree profile is in need of TLC.

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Georges Descrières as Arsène Lupin

Myrna Loy as Nora Charles in the Thin Man series (technically a movie series, but I only ever saw it on TV -- and she's FEMALE) https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Williams-25384

Bonita Granville played Nancy Drew (again, a film series, but I only ever saw it on TV, and, again, she's female!) https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Granville-161 (has picture, is connected, could do with fleshing out of bio)

All the other female "detectives" I can think of are still living, so can't be used even if they have profiles.

There was a US President's daughter (Truman?) who wrote crime stories, but I can't recall if they were ever made into movies or TV shows.

Farrah Fawcett played Jill Monroe on Charlie's Angels (the original series) https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fawcett-433

Jean Stapleton played Christie's Ariadne Oliver in TV film "Dead Man's Folly" (with Peter Ustinov -- who played Christie's Poirot).  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Murray-5171 (has picture, is connected, has fleshed-out bio)  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Von_Ustinow-1 (has picture, is connected, could do with bio being better fleshed out)

ETA WT ID#s

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Isabelle, any TV detectives who do (or film, really). But I am not familiar with those outside the Anglo realm so, other WikiTreers will have to help find them.

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Joe Mannix - AKA Mike Connors - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ohanian-8

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John Thaw, aka Inspector Morse (needs a picture, a connection, and bio work)

asked by Abby Glann

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Would a photograph of a book cover photograph - or a photograph of a TV screen image be allowable under "Fair Use"?  (I know Wikipedia allows such.)

If so, I can probably provide an image for Thaw (once I break out the late husband's video/ebook collection). 

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For a French one, Jean Poiret played Inspector Lavardin both in movies and in TV series. It's possible to make a picture by cropping the photo from his Wikipedia article. He's connected.

Georges Descrières, unfortunately, I see no way of connecting him... And in the Lupin series he actually played the thief, so I'm not sure that works.

@Melanie perhaps you are referring to Maigret series, which were adapted from Simenon's books? Both actors who played the characted are deceased, unfortunately, my favorite Bruno Cremer is impossible to connect without using living people. (and the picture on Wikipedia is "fair use" - it is copyrighted and even French Wikipedia can't use it). His predecessor, Jean Richard, can only be connected with a place holder profile in the path.

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I did wonder if I was mis-remembering the Simeon and confusing it with the author of Maigret (Simenon).  It was an awfully long time ago. 

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John Thaw, aka Inspector Morse (needs a picture, a connection, and bio work)

asked by Abby Glann

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I've fleshed out the bio a little, but have not, yet, looked to make any connections. 

Would love a response regards being able to use a digitally altered/manipulated photograph of a stopped scene from the TV show (Morse) as a profile picture.  (In other words, I stopped the video and took a snapshot of the screen, uploaded it to my computer, and then messed around with it some.  Even altered in this way, attribution would need to be given to whoever owns the actual show.)

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Melanie, check out this photo from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Prime_Mover_Twilight_Zone_1961.jpg

Note that they indicate that a photograph taken from a television show (or movie) pre-1978 with no discernible copyright mark is fair use under U.S. law. But read up on what's on the details of the page to see if your image will fit within this.

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"Technically", Raymond Burr was a lawyer in Perry Mason and not a television detective - HOWEVER, he would qualify in his role as Detective Ironside in the television show "Ironside".

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Not sure, Scott -- the one you linked was 1961, and the Thaw episode I used was 1987.  I could do a side-by-side and you (general, not specific to Scott) can offer opinions regards the differences being enough to count as "fair use", or not enough to count.

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The question is -- has the "original" on the left (which is a photograph of what is seen on a television screen) been altered enough (on the right) to classify as "fair use"? 

(The image to the right has had effects such as canvas (three times), vignette, fading, and page curl added. It has been placed on an original background as created by me.  It has been cropped. It has been framed and re-placed (placed again, not exchanged) on an original background as created by me.)

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I am thinking that the above may fall under "derivative work", as a number of changes have been made to the "original", and it reflects enough of the way I do certain images to be considered to "bear my personality".

While not as derivative as Marcel Duchamp's L H O O Q work based on the Mona Lisa, it nevertheless is no longer the original image.

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Thoughts?  (On the John Thaw image being either Fair Use, or a derivative work.)

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I don't think you'll be able to use the pre-1978 rule for no copyright mark if you're using an image from 1987, so that won't work.

Woo - I did find this very helpful chart about U.S. copyright and public domain called the "Hirtle Chart".

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Hirtle_chart

Derivative works get very tricky. See this section.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing#Derivative_works

Apparently anything post 1978 and derivative requires permission.

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And yet, the image Wikipedia uses for John Thaw's Wikipedia page is a screencap from an episode of Kavanaugh QC.

Also - that talks of copyright regards such things as Mickey Mouse.  You can't copyright a person. The film/tv episode can be copyrighted, but if anyone owns the rights to Thaw's images, it would be his widow. 

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I have sent an email to RADA asking permission to use their 1960 photograph of Thaw.  We'll see where that one goes.

I still have not found a way to connect him, even though I am racking up a good list of ancestors.  I have a fear that any connection would come by way of his living children, or their mothers.

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Yeah - I've seen Wikipedia's arguments about fair use of copyrighted materials and it makes me nervous. Good call on asking for permission. When it states that "Any other uses... may be copyright infringement" then I usually back away slowly.

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I've added another couple of generations up, but still not even a sniff of a connection.  Am working on sourcing another, but confirming a second marriage is proving difficult.

Have not heard back from RADA, but it's a little soon to expect, I guess.  Not everyone is going to be as quick to respond as was the Australian DoB person over Samuel Blackall (correcting decades-old pre-internet errors).

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Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and  amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher in "Murder She Wrote".  My mother's favorite.  Actual name Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury ,  Oh wow! She's on but is living that's awesome she's getting up there, guess we can't use her.

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Angela Lansbury is a terrific TV Sleuth, but she is still alive.

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Yeah, Nelda I was just editing my message to say that!!!

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Took a shot at Jack Lord's maternal line - added several family members, but no clue yet towards a connection. The O'Brien's were fairly recent immigrants and I'm really not good a tracking Irish ancestors in the 1800-1900 timeframe. I'll march forward with a few additional links via marriage and if that leads nowhere, I'll see if the paternal line looks better.

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Found a connection for Jack Lord - it should show up tonight.

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Raymond Burr's Perry Mason was a Lawyer. He played a cop in Ironside.

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Kenneth More https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/More-736 (not connected)

One of several who played G K Chesterton's Father Brown.

ETA - Scotland's Mark McManus for Taggart (a favourite of mine)

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/McManus-3712 (not  connected)

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I reached the limits of my abilities to connect Mark, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/McManus-3712 , I even tried his adopted Brother https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Connolly-2616 with no gain. Possibly someone from the UK can make more headway.

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John Thaw is now connected.  (Should show after next update.)

.

(I am so chuffed at this -- it has taken me hours and hours and hours of hunting, and finally ended in New Zealand.  Now I just need to flesh out the in between profiles I created to make the link)

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You are awesome Melanie!! Thanks for the hard work!

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Nice job, Melanie!!

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I tell you ……..  PHEW!   

I've now added biographies and sources to the profiles making the link. 

I had to take it all the way to his 3-greats-grandfather, because the connection goes through his great-great-grandfather's sister's youngest child's husband, and I couldn't add the great-grand-aunt without a parent to link her to her brother.   (And the great-grand-aunt had 15 kids and I needed to check every one for marriages that might lead to a link.  Wouldn't it have to be child #15!)

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Does it have to be a serious show? How about a few comedy detectives?

The stars of Car 54 Where Are You?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_E._Ross (no WikiTree profile that I could find)

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gwynne-24

Or perhaps any of those who played Inspector Jacques Clouseau?

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sellers-1227

Allan Arkin (still living)

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Moore-20832 (already mentioned elsewhere)

Steve Martin (still living)

We could extend this to Chief Inspector Dreyfuss as well, but I'll stop with the addition of Peter Sellers.

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Funny - animated detectives count?

Anyone recall Inch High Private Eye? He was voiced by a comedian named Lenny Weinrib.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lennie_Weinrib

Unfortunately, no WikiTree profile that I could find.

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About pics - would cropped images found in FamilySearch collections be allowed? I'm thinking of Brazil immigration cards like this one: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GPSP-966Q?i=120&cc=1932363&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AKC6X-35N

(this one is Bruno Crémer, who has no available picture at all, but you get the idea).

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Isabelle, This is just my opinion based on reading the familysearch terms of use but I would say no. Their terms read that any images can only be used on non commercial sites or for your personal use and since WikiTree is a commercial for profit site use of any image from familysearch would not be allowed.

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Dale, FamilySearch has given WikiTree permission to use their images. (with proper attribution, of course). However this being a 1950s passport from the Brazilian archives complicates things.

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I have snipped passport photos out of Family Search documents in the past, although if I remember correctly they were always U.S. Passports. I sure hope they were OK, but typically they were of someone's father or grandfather that I probably wouldn't have been able to get any other easy or reasonable manner.

I sure hope those were OK, as I really doubt I'd be able to find them again.

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Perry Mason was a lawyer.

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Lincoln, I recently watched a very early Perry Mason movie where he was a detective. I think they changed his occupation for the TV version.

The HBO series presents him as being a private detective, becoming a lawyer by necessity in order to salvage the case he's working on. In this series, he lives on what remains of a dairy farm which has been in his family for at least two prior generations. He is also a veteran of WWI, having been discharged with a "blue ticket" (i.e. with negative connotations), probably because he mercy-killed some comrades who were about to die from a poison gas attack which they were too severely wounded to escape. Mason is also an alcoholic, divorced father who is struggling to maintain ownership of his deceased parents' farm.

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Funny you should mention Lennie Weinrib, as I have just created his profile as part of my H.R. Puffnstuff mini-project, trigged by the recent passing of Billie "Witchiepoo" Hayes. He is now Weinrib-21 

Lennie voiced Mayor Puffnstuff as well as the Grimice in the old McDonald's commercials.  

Other Puffnstuff Links

Billie "Witchiepoo" Hayes

Jack "Jimmy" Wild

Joan "Freddie the Flute" Gerber 

[These profiles are all in their infancy and are all unconnected. I won't get to them for a little while but I welcome participation from any fans who want to get a jump start on them.]    

   

Answer 1

Not really a TV detective , but he was in 14 Hollywood films as Sherlock Holmes :  Basil Rathbone:  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rathbone-296

Comments

I was just going to mention him

Answer 2

I'll start a profile for Joan Hickson, OBE, who portrayed Miss Marple. I'm sure I'll need help from English researchers! I've added the Notables project and will happily add the England project if that's better.

Comments

I’ve connected her to the tree via her mother who is 17 steps from William Bligh. Her own connections should show up tomorrow.

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Amazing! I was looking at her husband's Butler ancestors.

Answer 3

Patrick Macnee played Steed in the tv series, The Avengers.

[ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Macnee-4 ]

Jean Gabin played Maigret in 3 movies. [ https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Moncorgé-1 ]

Comments

I would add Diana Rigg, but she is happily still alive.

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I would add Diana Rigg, but she is happily still alive.

commented by Jaki Erdoes

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Apparently no longer. https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1103920/diana-rigg-died-age-82

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Honor Blackman also died a few months ago.

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The Avengers were supposed to be spies rather than detectives, but as long as they did investigative work, it's probably OK.

Diana Rigg: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rigg-471

Honor Blackman: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Blackman-3212

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Diana Rigg also played a detective in the Mrs Bradley Mysteries, so she would qualify.

Answer 4

How about the TV Detective who played McCloud:

Dennis Weaver

How about Mannix's detective Joe Mannix:

Krekkor Ohanian (aka Mike Connors)

How about the 1957 Perry Mason's private detective, Paul Drake:

William Hopper

How about the guy who played Cannon in the TV Series:

William Conrad

Here's the guy from the Father Dowling Mysteries:

Thomas Bosley

And the guy who played Barnaby Jones:

Buddy Ebsen

Comments

Sadly, I couldn't find a profile for Lt. Philip Gerard from the Fugitive:

Barry Morse (Wikipedia)

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Almost forgot McMillan and Wife:

Rock Hudson

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Scherer-784

and a living co-star, so we can't use her here.

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Almost forgot about the star of Peter Gunn, Craig Stevens:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shikles-3

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There's also the lead from Banacek (1972-1974 tv series):

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Peppard-56

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Hi Scott,

Since you listed Buddy Ebsen I saw his primary photo that included Irene Ryan who played Granny Moses on The Beverly Hillbillies.

I created a profile for her and made the same photo her primary photo. She was a sleuth in her nosey way.

Dash Dwyer

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I think she already had a profile:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Noblitt-122

You might see if you can set up a merge.

Answer 5

I was able to add a brother for Raymond Burr, and a few sources to his parents' profiles.

Answer 6

Baantjer is a Dutch television programme which was broadcast from 6 October 1995 until 1 December 2006 for a total of 123 episodes in 12 seasons. It stars Piet Römer as Jurriaan 'Jurre' de Cock, a police detective.

Comments

WT profile created: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/R%C3%B6mer-510

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Baantjer het is!!

Upvoted.

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Thank you, Astrid!

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I'd love to see him used, if you all can find a connection and a picture!

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The picture will be the easiest one Abby!

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I can help expand his family; but, it won't be as nicely sourced as when it's done by someone Dutch.

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Thank you so much, Isabelle! Your sources are perfectly OK!

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Isabelle, the best way to learn is by doing. And working together is also: Helping/showing eachother. Like at the Thon's

And you are very good so no worries!

We love to show you the next step if you ever need, what I doubt.

Thank you for offering help!

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I can't wait to add Piet Römer to WT. He did not only play in Baantjer but he is the TV and film actor of my youth.

The time we sat on the couch at Saturday night with the whole family watching tv. All freshly bathed, stove on, dad and mum taking care, pyama's on........

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He's connected!! Well, he should show as connected after tomorrow morning's update... Now I've got to clean up the profiles I created along the path :D

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Great, Isabelle, you are a star!

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Wow - very nice work!

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Thank you Isabelle!

Answer 7

Tatort (Crime scene) is a German language police procedural television with episodes broadcast from 1981 to 1991 starring George Götz portraying proletarian police officer Horst Schimanski, who eventually became a cult figure in Germany.

Comments

He is (first name/last name) Götz George. His father was also an actor, also in movies that were shot during the Nazi-time.

Answer 8

Anthony Marcus Shalhoub as Adrian Monk

Comments

Disqualified due to life.

Answer 9

It would be an absolute travesty not to include the original TV detective, Sgt. Joe Friday on Dragnet, played by Jack Webb:  "Just the facts, ma'am."  It was actually on radio before TV.  Jack Webb "was buried with full honors befitting an LAPD detective, including a 17-gun salute.  Not only did the Los Angeles Police Department use Dragnet (1951) episodes as training films for a time, it also named a police academy auditorium after Webb."^Source

I've started adding sources to his profile.  All connections are via one of his wives; I'm 25 degrees from him.  I've looked for an easy way to connect his direct ancestry to the big tree but haven't found one yet.  I'll always have a soft spot for Joe Friday.

Comments

I agree Kerry... and must also include his sidekick , Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon.

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Here's Harry's profile:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bratsberg-5

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Is Harry's picture public domain?  (It looks to be about the same era as John Thaw's RADA one.)

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Thanks Scott !! Hey look I'm 22 degrees from both of them, different lines of course.  I was only checking relationships. before.. as seems like I'm connected to most everyone :)  We need a Norway expert for Harry Morgan, please. Getting late here in the US but if no one else jumps in I will do some investigation tomorrow on Jack Webb's  lines see if I can get something connected.

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I took a look at that picture, Melanie, and honestly, I'm not sure. I'll dig into it a bit more. I didn't see any copyright info on the picture or on the site it came from, but I didn't look too hard. I did notice that Wikipedia chose a different photo, but that doesn't necessarily mean the one we have is copyrighted and used without permission.

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Well, if the image on the profile proves problematic, the one on Wikipedia is public domain.

(I'm wondering, given the notice for Harry's Wikipedia image, if the 1960 RADA one for John Thaw might not fall under the same rule - - published between 1925 and 1977, has no visible copyright marking, or year of publication, or name of copyright owner : therefore public domain.)

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So, I spent this afternoon working on the research Jack Webb's family to try to get him connected.  Sadly, it's not getting back very far.  I have solid records back to his great grandparent Pleasant Willis Webb 30 AUG 1818 • Benton, Polk, Tennessee, USA  and Miriam Pannel.  And then he had a second wife Mary Catherine Runion.  After that it is scarce for records.  Possible parents of Pleasant, Willis Webb and Ann Vaught of Halifax, North Carolina.  All of these need profiles past his parents.  And I find not a single connection to the big tree.  I am going to add what I found,  but  if someone else has more research.  Otherwise, it's going to be hard to use him for a connection profile.

Answer 10

We shouldn't forget that Isabelle has done a lot of work on Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford, DBE who also played Miss Marple.

I wonder if folks should upvote either this post or Joan Hickson's in case they can't both be included? I may just have to get a Britbox subscription to watch some films.

Comments

Not sure if they'd be problematic due to this being "television" and not "movies", but I do agree that those who have played this role are memorable.

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@ Scott -- Abby did say that film would be ok, when replying to Isabelle :

Isabelle, any TV detectives who do (or film, really). But I am not familiar with those outside the Anglo realm so, other WikiTreers will have to help find them.

commented 2 days ago by Abby Glann

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Darn - I missed that one. Thanks for pointing it out! :)

Answer 11

How about Jules Maigret?

We could feature Jean Richard or Bruno Cremer.

Comments

I would love to see one actor who portrayed Maigret featured - Cremer (my favorite in the role), Jean Richard or even Gabin, though he only played him in movies. They are unfortunately all very tricky to connect. I would rule out Cremer as finding a usable photo and connecting him in such a sort time seems impossible. I checked them on Roglo and Jean Richard is perhaps the less difficult to connect.

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Jean Richard is connected now - and the profile has a good picture (showing him as Maigret). I guess he'd be a better fit than Jean Poiret.

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Bruno Cremer is also connected and we have some options for his image. Which actor do we prefer to feature?

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To speak only of France, while Jean Richard made a fine Maigret and was quite popular, Bruno Cremer's performance made the older Maigret series look immediately outdated and he's arguably the most emblematic "Maigret". Also... His maternal ancestry is already more developed on WikiTree than I've seen anywhere else.

But either would be great :-)

Answer 12

Diana Riggs died at age 82 years yesterday. How about 'The Avengers?'

Comments

[[Rigg-471|Dame Diana Rigg]]

Answer 13

was going to say someone but they are already mentioned

Answer 14

Hercule Poirot is another character that has been played by a number of actors:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Trevor (in 1931)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Randall (in 1965)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ustinov (six times starting in 1978)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatoly_Ravikovich (in 1989)

I'd have to hunt their WikiTree profiles - I'm pretty sure Tony Randall and Peter Ustinov have profiles at least.

Comments

And another character, Charlie Chan:

Primarily played by:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Toler

But also by:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Oland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Arb%C3%B3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Winters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Martin

And same link as above for Peter Ustinov, who played both Poirot and Chan.

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I think I linked Ustinov earlier.

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Yeah - he's played a lot of roles, and I think a pretty decent number of detective roles of some sort or another.

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I did --

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Von_Ustinow-1 (has picture, is connected, could do with bio being better fleshed out)

ETA WT ID#s

commented 3 days ago by Melanie Paul

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This is one profile I'm not butting in on, so someone else will need to "flesh it out". 

(I'm still trying to connect Thaw .. and am currently checking New Zealand!) 

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Here is the profile for Sidney Toler:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Toler-599

Answer 15

Sir Roger Moore and Tony Curtis in The Persuaders!. Moore's profile would need to be opened. (And Tony Curtis's bio looks like it was crudely pasted from Wikipedia).

Answer 16

John Hillerman as Jonathan Quayle Higgins III in the original Magnum PI series.

Comments

Here is John Hillerman's profile. He is a cousin of author Tony Hillerman, who was featured with John Buchan a couple of weeks ago. It's likely his biography is blunt copy-paste and needs work.

Answer 17

Here's a great one : https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crothers-244  Benjamin Sherman Crothers who voiced crime fighter "Hong Kong Phooey" .

He has a photo and bio but needs connecting.  Maybe the US Black Heritage Project could help ?

Answer 18

I've been looking into Telly Savalas. His connection appears to have to travel through a living person. I haven't found a connection as of yet, but so far here's what I've got:

His parents came from Greece, and I really don't have anything further on them - no grandparents (basic names and such, but nothing to connect with), no Aunts/Uncles, so no marriages to even attempt at that level.

His brothers all have married living wives, even though all his brothers have passed away. His sister is still alive and I've got pretty limited info on her.

His first wife passed away, but her parents were from Cyprus and very limited info on them.His children are still alive and there's a little info on them (marriages, their children and such).

I'm hesitant to put living profiles in place unless I'm certain of a connection, so while I've got lots of information sitting around at the moment that I could add, none of them have lead to a connection as of yet.

If anyone wants to work with me on this, I don't mind sharing a bit more detailed information, but I'd rather not start by sharing large amounts of information on living persons on G2G as it would violate privacy rules, even though all of this information came from public sources.

Comments

I do have one promising link - Charles Emery/Emory Townsend, born 31 May 1914 - died 10 November 1989 (likely died in Virginia). Wife - Mary Constantine - born 18 December 1923 in Virginia - died 30 November 2010 in Virginia. Mary's parents were from Greece, so I suspect that may be a bit of a dead end (although she had lots of brothers and sisters, so that's a possible avenue too).

But if I can find Charles' parents, I might be onto a good chain to follow. Charles information can be found here:

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G4M1-128

His "residence" is Norfolk, Virginia when they married in 1942. However, there's a potential merge record that shows he could have been born in Texas.

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MTF9-ZZ2

But the connection between the two is VERY iffy. If it's true, then parents listed for the first Charles (W.M. Townsend and Fannie Townsend - from the marriage info) could match up well with the second Charles (William Marion Townsend and Fannie Keith - from the second record). Sadly, we don't have a matching William Marion Townsend in WikiTree, but it's a start if we can prove it. Just not enough evidence in the two records for me to comfortably merge them at this time.

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If we can determine these two are the same, I think I can get a connection to this one:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Keith-618

I'll come back to this a bit later.

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Found another connection point before I wandered away. If this other family is his, then there's a brother (Marvin Lance Townsend) who married a Mortia Helen Constantine (looks like Mary's sister) - so possibly another push towards these two being the same...

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After reviewing everything, this does appear to be the same person, so I should be able to get a connection in place. It will involve 3 living profiles, but as I said, I doubt I'll find one at the moment that wouldn't have at least one.

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OK - only 2 living profiles but once the links update tonight, Telly Savales should be connected to the global tree.

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Wonderful work, Scott! Good to hear he'll be connected.

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I'm with Isabelle -- great work!  :)

Answer 19

I just had a look at Karl Malden, as he starred in the Streets of San Francisco. But he has to be connected first, and that won't be easy with his Serbian ancestry. 

Answer 20

I'll try my best.