New from McFarland: History of Dial M for Murder.

Hot off the presses at McFarland and Co. is Frederick Knott and Dial M for Murder, in which playwright Richard Weill traces the history of the Edgar-winning play. Included are discussions of Knott's great difficulties in writing Dial M, the Alfred Hitchcock and Andrew Davis films, international productions, and other works by Knott such as Wait Until Dark and Write Me a Murder.

Wait until Dark (1982).

This 1982 TV version of the play by Frederick Knott (Dial M for Murder, etc.) features Katharine Ross as a blind woman terrorized by criminals who want something that is in her possession. Stacy Keach takes on several roles in this production. Other costars include Joshua Bryant and Edward Winter.

Dial M for Murder (1981).

In 1981, Christopher Plummer took on the Ray Milland role, and Angie Dickinson the Grace Kelly role, in a TV movie of Frederick Knott's Dial M for Murder. Inspector Hubbard is played by Anthony Quayle and the would-be killer by Ron Moody.

Happy birthday, Frederick Knott.

Richard Crenna in
Wait until Dark
(1967)

Frederick Knott, playwright of the Edgar-winning Dial M for Murder (1952; two films and four TV productions; soon to be staged in Utah), the Edgar-winning Write Me a Murder (1961; Broadway production with Denholm Elliot and Kim Hunter), and Wait until Dark (1966), was born today in China in 1916. He died in 2002.