Stanley Morgan (born 10 November 1929 in Liverpool) is an English writer and actor.
Stanley Morgan writes fiction in the comedy and thriller genres and has published more than 30 books since 1968.
Biography
Originally an actor, Stanley Morgan had many jobs as a young man, including sewing machine salesman, debt collector and bank clerk. In 1951, Morgan emigrated to Canada where he spent some time working in the Bank of Nova Scotia.
In 1955, he emigrated again, this time to Southern Rhodesia. He resumed his acting career there, and was sponsored to return to London after winning a Best Actor award. Upon returning to London, Morgan featured mostly in voice-overs, although he did have a small role in the James Bond film Dr. No playing the Concierge in the casino who first introduces Sean Connery as James Bond.
Whilst between acting jobs in the late 1960s, Morgan began to write seriously and his first novel The Sewing Machine Man was published in 1968. Allegedly autobiographical, the novel revolved around the character Russ (sometimes known as Russell) Tobin.
Stanley Morgan has gone on to write a further eighteen novels in the Tobin series. These books were written by Morgan in the late 1960s through to the late 1970s. The latest of the Russ Tobin novels was published in 2005 after Morgan came out of retirement, mainly due to renewed interest in his work via the internet.
Russ Tobin is described as a good looking man, six feet tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. At the beginning of the first book, The Sewing Machine Man, he is reported to be 22 years old. He is a ladies’ man, often seducing as many as four women per book. Tobin does not want a serious relationship with any one particular woman; he prefers one night stands. He does meet one or two women that he briefly falls in love with, but his love of travel (and most certainly of meeting and conquering new women across the globe) means that he basically avoids serious, permanent or monogamous relationships.
Throughout the nineteen-book series, Russ Tobin has lots of different jobs. He starts out as a sewing machine salesman, goes on to become a debt collector, has a brief career in TV ads for selling washing powder, and then starts to work and travel overseas. He becomes a courier (tour guide) on the Spanish isle of Majorca; he works as a safari guide in Kenya; a Santa Claus in Canada; a male escort in Australia; a film star in Hollywood and a retirement home manager in Brighton, England.
Russ Tobin has several friends in the series, most notably an Australian tennis player called Buzz Malone. Frequently, Tobin gets into trouble with his friends, usually running from the police, or getting into a fight in a bar. They usually save one another from any scrapes they get into. Also, Tobin and his friends often pick up two girls in a bar or a nightclub.
The Russ Tobin series
The Sewing Machine Man (1968)
The Debt Collector (1970)
The Courier (1971)
Come Again Courier (1972)
Tobin Takes Off (1973)
Tobin On Safari (1973)
Tobin In Paradise (1974)
Tobin In Trouble (1974)
Tobin For Hire (1975)
Tobin in Las Vegas (1975)
Tobin In Tahiti (1975)
Tobin Down Under (1976)
Russ Tobin’s Bedside Guide to Smoother Seduction (1976)
Here Comes Tobin (1977)
Hard Up (1977)
Russ Tobin Up Tight (1977)
Russ Tobin In Hollywood (1978)
Tobin Among The Stars (1979)
Tobin Goes Cuckoo (2005)
Tobin’s exact global itinerary throughout the series of novels is Liverpool; London; Majorca; Nairobi; Nassau; Miami; New York; Toronto; Las Vegas; Tahiti; Sydney; Ireland; Los Angeles and Brighton.
Although several deals were discussed in 1970s to adapt the Russ Tobin novels for the screen, nothing was ever finalised.
Stanley Morgan’s Filmography
- The Sleepwalkers 1959
- The Clue Of The Twisted Candle 1960
- The Clue Of The Silver Key 1961
- Konga 1961
- The Silent Weapon 1961
- Partners In Crime 1961
- The Square Mile Murder 1961
- The Share Out 1962
- Hair of the Dog 1962
- Never Back Losers 1962
- The L-Shaped Room 1962
- Dr No 1962
- On the Beat 1962
- Doomsday At Eleven 1963
- The Invisible Asset 1963
- Night Train To Paris 1964
- Séance on a Wet Afternoon 1964
- The Return of Mr. Moto 1965
TV
- Sir Francis Drake 1962
- Crane 1963
- Gideon’s Way 1965
Website:
http://www.stanleymorgan.co.uk/
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Morgan_(author)
Stanley Morgan’s Russ Tobin Books
(c) R J Dent (2014)
R J Dent 