Raymond Chandler to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

One of Los Angeles’ greatest noir writers will be getting a permanent place in the sun: on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Raymond Chandler is one of 30 people who will get such stars in 2015.

Most of the stars on the Walk of Fame honor people we see on the screen; others in the class of 2015 include Will Ferrell, Julianna Margulies and Daniel Radcliffe. There are also many stage actors, radio stars and film directors. When it comes to writers, there are few.

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FOR THE RECORD

June 26, 10:25 a.m.: An earlier version of this post said that Elliott Gould played Marlowe in an adaptation of “The Big Sleep.” It was in “The Long Goodbye.”

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Ray Bradbury, Dr. Seuss, Adela Rogers St. Johns and Ogden Nash are among the handful of authors who have stars on the Walk of Fame.

Chandler was a novelist and then a screenwriter, the man who created the private detective Philip Marlowe. Chandler began writing for the pulps after losing his executive job at an oil company -- something to do with drinking and an affair with a girl on staff (a very noir dismissal).

He first wrote short stories, then moved on to novels, publishing his first in 1939. His books include “The Big Sleep,” “Farewell My Lovely,” “The Long Goodbye,” “The Lady in the Lake,” “The Litttle Sister” and “The High Window.”

The material -- about a semi-successful private eye who had a way with women and a stronger moral code than the wealthy and corrupt denizens of Los Angeles -- was too delicious for Hollywood to resist. “The Big Sleep” was made into an iconic film not once but twice, first with Humphrey Bogart as Marlowe.

In the many film adaptations of his work, several actors played Marlowe, including Elliott Gould, Dick Powell, Robert Montgomery, James Garner and Robert Mitchum.

But Chandler didn’t have much to do with his books being made into films -- he was a screenwriter on other projects. The greatest of those were adaptations of other novelists’ work: “Strangers on a Train” by Patricia Highsmith, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and “Double Indemnity,” written by James M. Cain.

Chandler, who died in 1959, made just one film appearance -- an uncredited, non-speaking role that had remained unnoticed for decades. It was discovered by two different film experts around the same time in 2007 -- he’s the man sitting outside Keyes’ office in this clip from “Double Indemnity.”

The announcement about the new Walk of Famers doesn’t include where their stars will be. But I have a suggestion: in front of Philip Marlowe’s office in the Cahuenga Building on Hollywood Boulevard near Ivar.

Like passing notes in class; I’m @paperhaus on Twitter