The Saint's Blog devoted to news and rumors about The Saint and Leslie Charteris. Simon Templar, alias The Saint, was played by Roger Moore in the 1960's TV show featuring the Volvo 1800.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Leslie Charteris Interview from 1958 French TV

An interview of the author of The Saint, Leslie Charteris, done by Janine Modave on July 22, 1958 in French has been posted to YouTube.

Carolyn reports in The Epistle:
In order for me to give you an line-by-line translation, I'd have to download the clip again, and I don't have time to do that right now.

In general, the interview was pretty typical and covered pretty familiar ground. The interviewer wanted to know how Leslie came up with Simon's name (he tried some options and picked the best one), what his writing method was (insert paper into the typewriter and start with the first line), was he happy with the Hollywood movies (no, but there were French ones being considered) and a few other related topics. Of course there was the obligatory "I'm sorry, but my French isn't very good," line from Leslie which the interviewer quickly discounted.

I'm sure people who are more fluent or who watch with purpose of translating the clip will be along shortly to do a much better job of providing you with a better, fuller and more complete translation, but I hope that gives you a sense of the interview.
Perhaps someone can comment below with a better translation?
Labels: 2007, French, Leslie Charteris, The Epistle, YouTube