Dial M for Murder Characters and Cast
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We’ll go over all the Dial M for Murder characters, from Tony and Margot Wendice (Ray Milland and Grace Kelly) to Margot’s lover and the hired killer. (Robert Cummings and Anthony Dawson.)
If you haven’t yet seen Dial M for Murder, here’s a quick synopsis: Tony Wendice, a retired tennis star, finds out about his wife’s affair with an American novelist. Afraid of losing the lifestyle he’s become accustomed to, Tony elaborately plots Margot’s murder by hiring a killer. When the attempted murder goes wrong, Tony manipulates the situation to make his wife look like the guilty party.
We’ve also created a Dial M for Murder Synopsis that goes over the plot in detail. Be warned that both posts contain spoilers!
This video is based on a stage play, so although it is one of Hitchcock’s best works, it is a very dialogue-heavy movie, with one main action scene.
Ray Milland as Tony Wendice and Anthony Dawson as Charles Swann plan Margot’s murder in Dial M for Murder
This post is all about discussing the Dial M for Murder Characters.
Dial M for Murder characters: Ray Milland as Tony Wendice
Tony Wendice charmingly blackmails Charles Swann in Dial M for Murder
Probably the most colorful Dial M for Murder character is Tony Wendice. Alfred Hitchcock’s version of the play is mostly shown from Tony’s point of view, almost forcing the audience to identify more with him as a character even though he's the antagonist.
His personality comes across as somewhat vain and maybe even a bit lazy, who is as ruthless as he is charming. He decides to murder his wife when he finds out she’s having an affair and the idea of her leaving him makes him realize how much he enjoys their luxurious lifestyle which is due to her money. It’s interesting that he never seems to be jealous about the affair, but it’s the idea of losing the money that prompts him to want to kill her.
His vanity comes out a bit from the tennis trophys he has displayed around the apartment. Later, after the attempted murder when they are trying to make it look like the robbery, he even implies that the supposed intruder was after the tennis cups.
Tony’s character is witty and charming the entire time, perhaps even more so when he is being ruthless. When he is blackmailing Charles Swann into killing his wife, it’s done with humor and with a smile.
After the murder goes wrong, he’s charmingly protective of his wife, while at the same time arranging the evidence in an attempt to incriminate her.
Dial M for Murder Characters: Grace Kelly as Margot Wendice
Grace Kelly as Margot Wendice kisses her lover Mark Halliday in Dial M for Murder
The gorgeous and always stylish Grace Kelly plays Tony’s wife Margot.
Although we don’t know much about Margot’s background, we do get some insight as to why she had the affair.
In one of the opening scenes where she is talking to Mark, she describes how Tony has changed, and she doesn’t know if she could leave him. It’s implied that her husband used to be quite difficult and placed his tennis as a priority above her, which drove her to have an affair with Mark Halliday. Now that Tony has settled down to being a ‘full-time husband’ she feels torn between him and her lover.
Dial M for murder scissor scene
Of course, what she doesn’t know is that Tony decided to quit tennis when he found out about her affair with Mark Halliday and was afraid of losing—not her, but her money.
Margot’s character changes throughout the course of the film from being optimistic to more subdued as she is accused of murder. The stylist for the film also reflected this change in her clothes, as the only bright colors she wears are in the beginning before the attempted murder. Her wardrobe after consists of darker, more muted colors.
That splash of color in the beginning also seems to be the only glimpse of her real personality before the ill-fated event. After the event she is confused and frightened for her life, a shell of her former self.
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Grace Kelly’s 1950’s Fashion in Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder Characters: Robert Cummings as Mark Halliday
Mark Halliday is Margot’s devoted lover, a brilliant novelist who ultimately uncovers the Tony’s plot quite by accident.
He says in the beginning of the film that he writes his novels by putting himself into the characters shoes and imagines what he would do next. This ties into how he is ultimately able to figure out the plot in the end, by putting himself into Tony’s shoes and imagining the motives Tony could have.
He is devoted to Margot, even after she explains to him in the beginning of the film that she might not leave her husband for him.
Of course, we’re sure she changed her mind at the end of the movie when her husband turns out to have planned her murder.
Mark Halliday describes how he writes murder mysteries in Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder Characters: John Williams as Chief Inspector Hubbard
John Williams, the witty chief Inspector in Dial M for Murder
John Williams plays the witty Chief Inspector who, along with Mark’s help, discovers the real criminal at the end of the movie.
He has very proper manners (even reflected in the way he dresses!) which reflect his high moral standards.
His determination to see justice done drives him to go through a lot of trouble to continue investigating a case which is already considered solved and closed, with the perceived guilty person awaiting execution.
Dial M for Murder Characters: Anthony Dawson as Charles Swann
Charles Swann is a well-dressed ruthless criminal, who looks much more like a ruthless criminal than Tony Wendice. He is ruthless and only thinks about his future gain.
We learn from Tony’s story as he’s talking to him, that Charles was suspected of stealing money in college, then later was court-martialed during the war and spent a year in prison.
It seems that his activities continued to get worse from there…unpaid bills, aliases, even the disappearance of a woman he was seeing. It seems as though he, similar to Tony, wishes to marry for money rather than earn it. It’s not directly said, but it seems that he played a hand in the other woman’s death, otherwise he would not have agreed to killing Tony’s wife so easily.
Charles Swann sneaks into the apartment to kill Margot Wendice in Dial M for Murder
This post was all about Dial M for Murder Characters
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Who did you find yourself identifying with the most? Tony Wendice? Mark Wendice? Mark Halliday? Or even Charles Swann?
Let us know in the comments below!
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If you haven’t seen Dial M for Murder yet, keep in mind this movie was based on a play and although it’s suspenseful, is very dialogue-heavy except for one action scene.