Mike Mazurki as Moose Malloy Miles Mander as Mr. Grayle Douglas Walton as Lindsay Marriott Don Douglas as Police Lt. Randall Ralf Harolde as Dr. Sonderborg Esther Howard as Mrs. Jessie Florian John Indrisano as chauffeur (Amthor's henchman) Dewey Robinson as New Boss at 'Florian's' (uncredited) Production The rights to Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely were bought by RKO Radio Pictures for $2,000, and the novel provided the essentials of the plot for The Falcon Takes Over, released in 1942. Another of Chandler's novels had been purchased as well, but in 1944 no studio had yet used Chandler's antihero private detective Philip Marlowe as the protagonist of a film. RKO's studio boss, Charles Koerner, recognized the value of the character and of Chandler's style, and decided to use the rights RKO already owned to make a true adaptation of the novel. He was able to convince RKO's management to make a new version of the book so soon after the previous one by pointing out that the book did not need a great deal of adapting to create a screenplay. For Murder, My Sweet Koerner assembled a creative staff who were ready to make the move up from B-movies, specifically producer Adrian Scott and director Edward Dmytryk; for Scott, the film was his first as producer. Koerner also revitalized the career of Claire Trevor – who was making Westerns in which she had fourth or fifth billing – and intended the film to be a showcase for the actress, who played a femme fatale. At one point, the studio had considered Ann Dvorak for one of the female leads. Both Shirley and Trevor tried to convince the studio that they should both play "against type", with perennial good girl Shirley cast as the femme fatale Helen, and Trevor cast as the nice girl, Ann, but their pressure did not convince the studio. Koerner was also responsible for Dick Powell's transformation from a crooner to playing hard-boiled characters. Powell had been known in the 1930s and early 1940s for light comedies and musicals, but for ten years he had been trying to break away from that typecasting, which he felt he was too old for; he had wanted to play Fred MacMurray's part in Double Indemnity. Koerner wanted Powell under contract to RKO to do musicals, but Powell would only sign if he was allowed to do other kinds of roles, so