Editing Eliot Ness (section)

=== Art, entertainment, and media ===
Numerous media works have been developed based on Eliot Ness's life and the legend surrounding his work in Chicago. The first of these resulted in Ness's last years in collaboration with [[Oscar Fraley]] in writing the book ''[[The Untouchables (1957 book)|The Untouchables]]'' (1957), which was published after Ness's death<ref name="ask.yahoo.com" /> and went on to sell 1.5&nbsp;million copies.<ref name=NYT>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E4D61731F93AA35752C0A962958260 |work=[[The New York Times]]|title= Oscar Fraley, 79, 'Untouchables' author obituary|date= January 9, 1994|access-date= April 14, 2008}}</ref> Although the historical veracity of this book has been questioned, later research suggests that it is broadly accurate.<ref name="Collins & Schwartz" />{{Rp|xii, 531-532, 588, 593, 608-610, 622, 627, 631-634, 640, 645, 649}}<ref name="Pearl VF" /> A 21-page manuscript that Ness wrote for the book is housed in the archives of the Western Reserve Historical Society in [[Cleveland, Ohio]].<ref name="McFarland" />

[[File:Robert Stack Eliot Ness 1960.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Actor [[Robert Stack]] portraying Ness in the series ''[[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]'' (1959)]]
The book was adapted in multiple media and inspired many additional works. The best-known adaptations include the 1959 TV series ''[[The Untouchables (1959 TV series)|The Untouchables]]'', which starred [[Robert Stack]] as Ness and was narrated by [[Walter Winchell]], and the 1987 film ''[[The Untouchables (film)|The Untouchables]]'', directed by [[Brian De Palma]], which starred [[Kevin Costner]] as Ness, [[Sean Connery]] and [[Robert De Niro]] as Al Capone. These two fictionalized portrayals, more than actual history, have inspired numerous novels; a [[TV-movie]], ''The Return of Eliot Ness'', in which Stack returned to the role; a second, short-lived 1993 TV series titled ''[[The Untouchables (1993 TV series)|The Untouchables]]'', which starred [[Tom Amandes]] as Ness and [[William Forsythe (actor)|William Forsythe]] as Capone; stage plays such as Peter Ullian's ''In the Shadow of the Terminal Tower''; and comic books such as ''[[Torso (Image Comics)|Torso]]''. Ness was portrayed by actor [[Jim True-Frost]] in the fifth-season episode "The Good Listener" of the [[HBO]] television series ''[[Boardwalk Empire]]''.

[[Max Allan Collins]] used Ness as the "police contact/best friend" character in his series of historical private eye novels featuring Chicago detective Nate Heller. Later he spun Ness off into his own series, set during his tenure as Cleveland's Public Safety Director. The first book, ''The Dark City'' (1987), depicted Ness's getting hired and undertaking a cleanup of the graft-ridden police force; the second, ''Butcher's Dozen'' (1988), his pursuit of the serial killer known as the [[Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run]]. ''Bullet Proof'' (1989) pitted Ness against labor racketeers intent on taking over Cleveland's food service industry. Ness is mentioned in many hip hop and rap tracks ("[[California Love]]", for example). ''Murder by the Numbers'' (1993) depicted Ness's investigation of the numbers racket in Cleveland. All of these novels, while fictionalized, were closely based on actual cases investigated by Ness and the Cleveland Police. Collins also wrote a one-man stage play, ''Eliot Ness – An Untouchable Life'', which was nominated for an [[Edgar Awards|Edgar Award]]. Collins wrote Ness into his graphic novel ''[[Road to Perdition (comics)|Road to Perdition]]''.<ref>New York: Pocket Books, trade paperback printing, 2002: pp.194ff</ref>

In 2018, Collins collaborated with historian A. Brad Schwartz on a nonfiction dual biography of Ness and Capone entitled ''Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago.''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062441942/scarface-and-the-untouchable/|title=Scarface and the Untouchable – Max Allan Collins – Hardcover|access-date=November 27, 2018}}</ref> Collins's and Schwartz's second volume about Ness's years in Cleveland, entitled ''Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher, was published in 2020.''<ref>{{cite magazine|url = https://www.mysterytribune.com/a-conversation-with-max-allan-collins-on-graphic-novel-the-night-i-died/|title = A Conversation With Max Allan Collins On Graphic Novel "The Night I Died"|access-date = October 9, 2019|magazine = MysteryTribune}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/eliot-ness-and-the-mad-butcher-review-an-untouchable-second-act-11596149379 | title='Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher' Review: An Untouchable Second Act | work=Wall Street Journal | date=July 30, 2020 | last1=Nolan | first1=Tom }}</ref>

In ''[[The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles]]'', Frederick Weller portrayed a young Elliot Ness in the eleventh episode ''The Mystery of the Blues''. In the episode, he is portrayed as the roommate of Indiana Jones at the University of Chicago.

The video game called ''[[The Untouchables (video game)|The Untouchables]]'' was released in 1989 by [[Ocean Software]] for [[ZX Spectrum]], [[Amstrad CPC]], [[Commodore 64]], [[MSX]], [[Atari ST]], [[Amiga]], [[MS-DOS]], [[Nintendo Entertainment System]], and [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super NES]].

Ness is mentioned by FBI agent [[Jimmy Woo]] as his idol growing up in episode 4 of ''"[[We Interrupt This Program]]"'' (release date: January 29, 2021) of [[Disney+]] miniseries [[WandaVision]].