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Philo Vance
Description
The character of Philo Vance came from the pen of S. S. Van Dine, the pen name for Willard Huntington Wright (1888-1939), who wrote 12 Philo Vance novels. Philo Vance is an amateur detective who assists the district attorney with his investigations; outside of detective work he is a wealthy connoisseur of the arts. NBC was first to bring Vance to the airwaves, airing a Summer series of 13 shows from 07/05/45 to 09/27/45 with Jose Ferrer as Vance and Frances Robinson as his secretary. Another Summer series aired in Summer 1946 on ABC with John Emery as Vance. In 1948 Frederick Ziv syndicated a series of 104 shows starring Jackson Beck as Vance with Joan Alexander as his secretary, lasting into 1950; it featured last-minute clue-gathering leading into end-of-show revelations and solutions.
Philo Vance is a fictional amateur detective originally featured in 12 crime novels by S. S. Van Dine in the 1920s and '30s. During that time, Vance was immensely popular in books, films, and radio. He was portrayed as a stylish—even foppish—dandy, a New York bon vivant possessing a highly intellectual bent. S. S. Van Dine was the pen name of Willard Huntington Wright, an art critic who initially sought to conceal his authorship of the novels. Van Dine was also a fictional character in the books, a sort of Dr. Watson figure who accompanied Vance and chronicled his exploits.
Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Updated Jun 17, 2026.
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- 19457:30 PM ETNBC · eveningSuMoTuWeThFrSa
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