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In the movie Murder by Death (1976), we are shown 5 famous detectives that are invited to a dinner. By names and manner I could understand on which two of them were based:

  • Miss Marbles - Miss Marple by Agatha Christie

  • Monsieur Perrier - Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie

I dont know about others. Are those based on characters like these or not? Could anyone please give an explanation about those characters?

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9

Murder by Death is a 1976 satirical comedy that looked at several different fictional detectives and their story telling style, such as hidden twists, unrevealed clues, and similar machinations. Each of the detectives (or group) was based on "real life" fictional characters.

Sidney Wang - Based on Charlie Chan created by Earl Biggers enter image description here enter image description here

Sam Diamond - Based on Sam Spade, from Dashiell Hammet's Maltese Falcon enter image description here enter image description here

Dick and Dora Charleston - Based on Nick and Nora Charles, also courtesy of Dashiell Hammet via the Thin Man films. enter image description here enter image description here

And, as you have pointed out, Miss Marbles and Monsieur Perrier are based on Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot via Agatha Christie.

It also is a little bit of trivia that the main protagonist in the film is played by Truman Capote, himself an accomplished author, in one of his very infrequent film appearances.

Group shot of all the detectives at dinner. Truman Capote is under the hat in the foreground, and it includes supporting members such as Wang's son, Perrier's manservent, etc.

enter image description here

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