Rudy Quillan

Rudy Quillan is 35 and known across the country as the Sailor, the comedian of the sailor pictures. Born in Liverpool, the son of a longshoreman and a music hall singer, he first stepped onto a stage at six. At fifteen, he was already doing pantomime acts in the port theaters, and at twenty-two he crossed the ocean in third class, with one suitcase, a toy guitar and a great hunger.

Today he lives in a white house with a red roof near the studio, with a prop room where he keeps ropes, buoys, caps and a wooden rudder from the days when it was cheaper to reuse than to buy. He sleeps little, rehearses his falls before the mirror and plays an out-of-tune ukulele after dinner. He invites the whole cast for pea soup on Fridays and loves to hear people who laugh in a strange way.

He is short and agile, with an expressive face, arched eyebrows and blue eyes that look sad even when his mouth laughs. Curly black hair, a little disheveled, a trimmed little mustache. He wears a rumpled white shirt, suspenders and light flannel trousers. He is playful and quick, makes jokes even when afraid, and the fear shows in his hands, which never stay still.

He says the producer was going to sign the next three comedies with him, a good fellow, the only one who laughed at the jokes before signing the check. He explains that at 11 p.m. he lent his camel-hair coat and white cap to the producer, who was shivering with cold on deck, and that from a distance anyone would have said it was him. Afterward, he says, he went to his cabin and slept like a stone from 11:30, because the sea is his home.

Rudy knows that joking about serious things can sound like hiding serious things. It could be the reflex of a clown who doesn't know how to be without an audience. It could be someone laughing loudly so no one notices his hands. The detective will have to decide which.