I Killed the Count is a 1937 play by Alec Coppel. Its success launched Coppel's career.[1]

I Killed the Count
Written byAlec Coppel
Date premiered10 December 1937
Place premieredWhitehall Theatre, London
Original languageEnglish
SettingLondon

1937 London production edit

Cast edit

1942 Broadway production edit

The play was produced on Broadway in 1942.[2][3]

1939 novelisation edit

A novelisation of the play was published in 1939.[4]

1939 film adaptation edit

Radio adaptations edit

 
Wireless Weekly 15 Feb 1941

The play was adapted for Australian radio in 1941. Max Afford did the adaptation.[5][6]

It was also adapted for BBC radio in 1938, 1945,[7] 1950 (with Jack Hulbert), and 1962.

1948 BBC TV adaptation edit

A second adaptation I Killed the Count was made by the BBC in 1948.[8] It was directed by Ian Atkins.

  • Freda Bamford as Polly
  • Philip Leaver as Count Victor Mattoni
  • Frederick Bradshaw as Detective Sergeant Raines
  • Frank Foster as Detective Inspector Davidson
  • Erik Chitty as Martin
  • Diarmuid Kelly as P.C. Clifton
  • Olga Edwardes as Louise Rogers
  • Mildred Shay as Renee la Lune
  • Val Norton as Samuel Diamond
  • Howard Douglas as Johnson
  • Arthur Goulett
  • Guy Kingsley Poynter as Bernard K. Froy
  • Bruce Belfrage as Viscount Sorrington

1956 ITV TV adaptation edit

The play was adapted by ITV in 1956.[9] The cast included Terence Alexander and Honor Blackman.

1957 Alfred Hitchcock Presents version edit

The play was also adapted by Francis M. Cockrell and directed by Robert Stevens as a three-parter on TV's Alfred Hitchcock Presents.[10][11]

1959 Belgian TV version edit

The play was adapted for Belgian TV in 1959.[12]

References edit

  1. ^ Stephen Vagg, "Alec Coppel : Australian playwright and survivor", Australasian Drama Studies, 56, April 2010, 219-232
  2. ^ "I Killed the Count". IBDB. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  3. ^ Review of 1942 Broadway production at Variety
  4. ^ Novel version at AustLit
  5. ^ 1941 radio adaptation at AustLit
  6. ^ "I KILLED THE COUNT". Barrier Daily Truth. Vol. XXXIII, no. 9888. New South Wales, Australia. 21 February 1941. p. 6. Retrieved 11 June 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ 1945 Radio adaptation at AustLit
  8. ^ 1948 TV Adaptation at AustLit
  9. ^ 1956 TV Version at AustLit
  10. ^ Hal Erickson. "I Killed the Count (1939) - | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  11. ^ 1957 TV Version at AustLit
  12. ^ 1959 Belgian TV version at AustLit

External links edit