Gerald Mohr

Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's famous hard-boiled private investigator:  Bogie played him in "The Big Sleep," of course, and we all remember Dick Powell in "Murder, My Sweet" and Robert Montgomery in "Lady in the Lake."  But the greatest Marlowe, the definitive Marlowe, never made it to the screen.

Gerald Mohr, The Lone Wolf in several movies, portrayed Marlowe on CBS radio from '48 through '51 and was so good, so flawless in a wonderfully fresh interpretation of the character, "The Adventures of Philip Marlowe" blitzed all competition.

After hundreds of other roles in radio, television, and movies, Mohr couldn't be asked to talk about one he had probably forgotten, but I had to get him to talk about my favorite P.I.  Almost everything about him reminded me of Marlowe.

The Cocoanut Grove seemed like a good place for us to meet, but the interview he agreed to never came off.  A blonde with a lot of curves wanted him out on the dance floor.  A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window, as Marlowe would say.

"I love L.A.," Mohr chuckled as he was led away.

    BACK