Will Farrell and Raymond Chandler

Will Farrell, Raymond Chandler and thirteen others will receive stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame in 2015.

Chandler joins just a handful of writers to be honored this way, Ogden Nash, Ray Bradbury, Dr. Seuss and Adela Rogers St. Johns.  The creator of Philip Marlowe, Chandler had one of the most distinctive voices in fiction. Could anyone else have written these lines?

“She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket.” Farewell My Lovely.

“I’m an occasional drinker, the kind of guy who goes out for a beer and wakes up in Singapore with a full beard.” Philip Marlowe’s Guide to Life.

“She lowered her lashes until they almost cuddled her cheeks and slowly raised them again, like a theater curtain. I was to get to know that trick. That was supposed to make me roll over on my back with all four paws in the air.” The Big Sleep. 

Chandler was noted primarily as a novelist for works that included, The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, The Long Goodbye, The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister and The High Window.

However, he was also a successful screenwriter. Two of his most successful films were, Strangers on a Train, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and Double Indemnity.

Chandler was and is deserving of a star on the Walk of Fame. He influenced a generation of writers, more of them more noteworthy than me.

I always keep another quote of his in mind when working on a novel. “Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered potholder.”

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