Dashiell Hammett gave us Sam Spade

It is the birthday of writer Dashiell Hammett (1894), who contributed Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles and the Continental Op to the pantheon of American detective fiction. He was called the dean of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction by The New York Times and is considered one of the best crime fiction writers of all time. Here is a short documentary about Hammett, which includes narration by his granddaughter.