Archie Goodwin (fictional detective)
Encyclopedia
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
and detective in Rex Stout
Rex Stout
Rex Todhunter Stout was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. Stout is best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the...
's Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created in 1934 by the American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe's confidential assistant Archie Goodwin narrates the cases of the detective genius. Stout wrote 33 novels and 39 short stories from 1934 to 1974, with most of them set in New York City. Wolfe's...
mysteries. The witty voice of all the stories, he recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 (Fer-de-Lance) to 1975 (A Family Affair
A Family Affair (novel)
A Family Affair is the final Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1975.-Plot summary:A waiter at Rusterman's Restaurant turns up at Wolfe's front door late one night, claiming that a man is going to kill him. Shortly after Archie puts him in one of the spare...
). He lives in Nero Wolfe's brownstone in New York City.
Archie was born on October 23 in Chillicothe, Ohio
Chillicothe, Ohio
Chillicothe is a city in and the county seat of Ross County, Ohio, United States.Chillicothe was the first and third capital of Ohio and is located in southern Ohio along the Scioto River. The name comes from the Shawnee name Chalahgawtha, meaning "principal town", as it was a major settlement of...
, but moved to Zanesville
Zanesville, Ohio
Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. The population was 25,586 at the 2000 census.Zanesville was named after Ebenezer Zane, who had constructed Zane's Trace, a pioneer road through present-day Ohio...
by age 12. In Fer-de-Lance we learn that Archie's parents died when he was still a child, but in The Final Deduction
The Final Deduction
The Final Deduction is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press in 1961 and collected in the omnibus volume Three Aces .-Plot summary:Mrs...
both Archie and Wolfe refer to Archie's mother as still alive; in The Rubber Band
The Rubber Band
The Rubber Band is the third Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its publication in 1936 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., the novel was serialized in six issues of The Saturday Evening Post...
we find that Archie has a sister who once gave him silk pajamas for Christmas.
Character
Archie is Wolfe's live-in assistant in the private investigation business Wolfe runs out of his brownstone townhouse in New York City. Wolfe rarely leaves the house, so Archie does most of the actual investigating, followed by reporting his findings to Wolfe, who solves the mystery. Archie has trained his memory so that he can make verbatim reports, oral or typewritten, of extended conversations.He also does Wolfe's bookkeeping and banking, types his correspondence, and keeps the germination
Germination
Germination is the process in which a plant or fungus emerges from a seed or spore, respectively, and begins growth. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm. However the growth of a sporeling from a spore, for example the...
and other records for the orchids Wolfe raises as a hobby. Archie's hobbies include dancing (usually at the Flamingo), poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
, and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
. He was a fan of the New York Giants
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
until they relocated to San Francisco in 1957, then later became a fan of the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
when that team was founded in 1962.
Although he is from the American Midwest
Chillicothe, Ohio
Chillicothe is a city in and the county seat of Ross County, Ohio, United States.Chillicothe was the first and third capital of Ohio and is located in southern Ohio along the Scioto River. The name comes from the Shawnee name Chalahgawtha, meaning "principal town", as it was a major settlement of...
, Archie has the "street smarts" to handle just about any situation he finds himself in, and he knows New York City like the back of his hand. Though he freely admits that there is no one better than Saul Panzer in many aspects of investigative work, such as remembering faces and tailing people, Goodwin is one of the most competent private detectives in the city. He has a long-time social relationship with Lily Rowan, a wealthy society woman, but they do not try to limit each other's social lives.
Archie has had relationships with Celia Grantham and Lucy Armstead-Valdon. He also exhibited affection for Beulah Page, Phoebe Gunther, Priscilla Eads, Sally Leeson, and Julie Jaquette.
Unlike his employer, Archie has only one conspicuous eccentricity: his favorite drink is milk.
When Wolfe leaves the brownstone after escalating threats from villain Arnold Zeck, Archie rents an office of his own and works as an independent detective. During this time, he manages to earn more than Wolfe had paid him—not because he needs more money, but as a matter of principle to confirm to himself that his long-term loyalty to Wolfe was not due to any inability to function on his own. Naturally, after Archie and Wolfe have arranged for one of Zeck's victims to kill Zeck, they return to their prior relationship with a deepened appreciation for their mutual loyalties.
Portrayals
- Lionel StanderLionel StanderLionel Jay Stander was an American actor in films, radio, theater and television.-Early life and career:Lionel Stander was born in The Bronx, New York, to Russian Jewish immigrants, the first of three children...
in the Columbia Pictures films Meet Nero WolfeMeet Nero WolfeMeet Nero Wolfe is a 1936 mystery film based on the 1934 novel Fer-de-Lance, written by Rex Stout. Set in New York, the story introduced the detective genius Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin...
(1936) and The League of Frightened MenThe League of Frightened Men (1937 film)The League of Frightened Men is a 1937 mystery film based on the second Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout. Directed by Alfred E. Green, the Columbia Pictures film stars Walter Connolly as Nero Wolfe, a role played by Edward Arnold in the previous year's Meet Nero Wolfe...
(1937) - John Gibson in the 1943–1944 radio series The Adventures of Nero Wolfe
- Elliott LewisElliott Lewis (radio)Elliott Lewis was active during the Golden Age of Radio as an actor, producer and director, proficient in both comedy and drama. These talents earned him the nickname "Mr Radio"....
in the 1946 radio series The Amazing Nero Wolfe - Gerald MohrGerald MohrGerald Mohr was an American radio, film and television character actor who appeared in over 4,000 radio plays, 73 films and over 100 television shows....
, Herb Ellis, Lawrence DobkinLawrence DobkinLawrence Dobkin was an American television director, actor and television screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades....
, Harry BartellHarry BartellHarry Bartell was an American actor and announcer in radio, television and film. With his rather youthful sounding voice, Bartell was one of the busiest West Coast character actors from the early 1940s until the final end of network radio drama in the 1960s.Bartell was born in New Orleans,...
, Lamont JohnsonLamont JohnsonLamont Johnson was an American actor and film director who has appeared in and directed many television shows and movies. He won two Emmy Awards....
and Wally Maher in the 1950–1951 radio series The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe - Gene ReynoldsGene ReynoldsGene Reynolds is a former American actor turned award-winning television writer, director, and producer.-Early life:He was born Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal on April 4, 1923 to Frank Eugene Blumenthal and Maude Evelyn Blumenthal in Cleveland, Ohio, he was raised in Detroit, Michigan, where his...
in the 1956 OmnibusOmnibus (US TV series)Omnibus is an American, commercially sponsored, educational television series.-History:Broadcast live primarily on Sunday afternoons at 4:00pm Eastern time, from November 9, 1952 until 1961. Omnibus originally aired on CBS, and later on Sunday evenings on ABC. The program finally moved to NBC in...
TV series episode, "The Fine Art of Murder" - Joachim FuchsbergerJoachim FuchsbergerJoachim Fuchsberger is a German actor, television host, lyricist, businessman, activist, paratrooper and World War II veteran best known to a wide German-speaking audience as one of the recurring actors in various Edgar Wallace movies Joachim Fuchsberger (born 11 March 1927 in Zuffenhausen, today...
in the 1961 German TV movie Zu viele Köche - Paolo FerrariPaolo Ferrari (actor)Paolo Ferrari is an Italian actor. He has appeared in 45 films since 1938.-Selected filmography:* A Man for Emmanuelle * White Voices * I Don Giovanni della Costa Azzurra * Totò cerca pace...
in the 1969–1971 Italian TV series - Tom MasonTom Mason (actor)Tom Mason is an American actor born in Brooklyn, New York. He began his television career in 1977, portraying Rex Stout's fictional detective Archie Goodwin in the ABC-TV movie Nero Wolfe...
in the 1977 TV movie Nero Wolfe - Lee HorsleyLee HorsleyLee Arthur Horsley is an American film, television, and theater actor known for starring roles in the television series, Nero Wolfe , Matt Houston , and Paradise . He starred in the 1982 cult film, The Sword and the Sorcerer, and recorded the audiobook edition of Lonesome Dove...
in the 1981 TV series Nero WolfeNero Wolfe (1981 TV series)Nero Wolfe is a television series based on the characters in Rex Stout's classic series of detective stories that aired January 16 – August 25, 1981, on NBC. William Conrad fills the role of the detective genius Nero Wolfe, and Lee Horsley is his assistant Archie Goodwin... - Don FrancksDon FrancksDonald Harvey Francks or Iron Buffalo is a Canadian actor, vocalist and jazz musician.- Life and work :Francks was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He is a drummer, poet, native nations champion, motorcyclist, author and peace activist...
in the 1982 Canadian radio series Nero Wolfe - Timothy HuttonTimothy HuttonTimothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
in the A&E TV movie The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe MysteryThe Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe MysteryThe Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a made-for-television film based on the 1953 novel by Rex Stout. Set in 1950s Manhattan, the A&E Network production stars Maury Chaykin as the heavyweight detective genius Nero Wolfe, and Timothy Hutton as Wolfe's assistant, Archie Goodwin, narrator of...
(2000) - Sergey Zhigunov in the 2001–2002 Russian TV movies
- Timothy HuttonTimothy HuttonTimothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
in the 2001–2002 A&E TV series A Nero Wolfe MysteryA Nero Wolfe MysteryA Nero Wolfe Mystery is a television series adapted from Rex Stout's classic series of detective stories that aired for two seasons on the A&E Network. Set in New York City in the early 1950s, the stylized period drama stars Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin...
Influence
- In the Bernie RhodenbarrBernie RhodenbarrBernie Rhodenbarr is the protagonist of the Burglar series of comic mystery novels by Lawrence Block. He first appeared in Burglars Can't Be Choosers, published in 1977; as of 2004, he has appeared in ten novels by Block, as well as three short stories Bernie Rhodenbarr is the protagonist of the...
series by Lawrence BlockLawrence BlockLawrence Block is an acclaimed contemporary American crime writer best known for two long-running New York–set series, about the recovering alcoholic P.I. Matthew Scudder and gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, respectively...
, Bernie's friend Carolyn Kaiser owns a cat named Archie Goodwin, named after the detective.
External links
- The Wolfe Pack, official site of the Nero Wolfe Society
- Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, site about Nero Wolfe in russian