Honey West lives busily on though the actress Anne Francis, who portrayed the sensual private detective Honey West on the ABC television series in the ‘60s, died this week.
Nevertheless, longtime Laguna resident Glori Fickling says the world famous character she created with her late husband, Forrest E. “Skip” Fickling, continues to solve crimes.
Many people know of Anne Francis’ TV portrayal of Honey. But fewer people know Honey West was quoted by Encyclopedia Brittanica as “the most famous female, fictional character in the world” soon after the publication of the paperback series of 11 private detective novels, written under the pseudonym G.G. Fickling.
The series was published by Pyramid Books from 1958 to 1971, and 10 million copies were sold worldwide. Two novels, “This Girl For Hire” and “Kiss For A Killer”, were reprinted in 2005 by Overlook Press.
While women were inspired by Frances’ portrayal of a sensual beauty with smarts, Honey West continues to inspire contemporary women as the subject of a sophisticated comic book series by Moonstone Books.
Fickling says because movie rights were recently returned to her from Miramax, she is now pursuing a Honey West motion picture franchise elsewhere.
Photo courtesy of Glori Fickling
Actress Anne Francis with Skip and Glori Fickling.
