Sam Spade is a fictional character and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon. Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett.
Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in the trailer for The Maltese Falcon
Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles, The Continental Op and the comic strip character Secret Agent X-9.
Photo portrait of Hammett from the cover of his final novel, The Thin Man (1934)
Building at 891 Post St., San Francisco, where Hammett lived while writing The Maltese Falcon: The character Sam Spade may have also lived in the building.
Lillian Hellman in 1935
Hammett's grave, in Arlington National Cemetery, (section 12, site 508)