Gentleman Thief - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

Notable gentlemen thieves (and lady thieves) in popular culture include the following:

• Leslie Charteris's Simon Templar
• Thomas Crown from The Thomas Crown Affair
• John Robie in Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief,
• E. W. Hornung's A. J. Raffles
• Carmen Sandiego (character)
• Edward Pierce from The Great Train Robbery
• Selina Kyle (Catwoman)
• Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin
• Arsène Lupin III, from Lupin III (by Monkey Punch).
• Kaito Kuroba the Phantom Thief Kid from Magic Kaito and later Detective Conan (by Gosho Aoyama)
• Meimi Haneoka, who transforms into Saint Tail, a thief with acrobatic and magician skills, from Saint Tail (by Megumi Tachikawa)
• Dark Mousy the angel-like thief from D.N.Angel (by Yukiru Sugisaki).
• David Goldman in An Education

All are superb at stealing while maintaining a sophisticated front and/or a thief's code of honor: Raffles steals mostly when he is especially in need of money; Lupin steals more from the rich who don't appreciate art or their treasures and redistributes it (not unlike a modern Robin Hood); Saint Tail steals back what was stolen or taken dishonestly, or rights the wrongs done to the innocent by implicating the real criminals.