Gentleman Thief - Television Tropes & Idioms

The male version of the Classy Cat Burglar may lack the cat jokes and themes, but he makes up for it with roguish good looks coupled with a breeding and style that manifests as a suave and debonair manner. He's usually a charmer, too - think James Bond without the government authorization. Cary Grant used to play this type of character frequently.

He steals for the challenge/pleasure of the job and generally avoids violence while restricting his targets to those who can afford the loss. More importantly for plots, the character will often go out of their way to stop more serious crimes - especially with lives at stake - either on their own or with the help of the police.

Like the Classy Cat Burglar, the Gentleman Thief usually regards the police with a certain amount of disdain and condescension, and frequently leaves behind "calling cards" announcing who performed the crime; especially confident versions may announce their targets in advance to ensure a challenge. With a Worthy Opponent, they may have a less adversarial relationship, verging at times on friendship (and when the Opponent is of the opposite gender, fraught with UST of the Dating Catwoman variety).

Compare Phantom Thief.

Examples:

Anime

Lupin III: The classic modern anime gentleman thief. In fact, in the show he's an actual descendant of Arsène Lupin listed below under Literature.
Ijyuin Akira, the Man of Twenty Faces, in CLAMP School Detectives: A young gentleman thief, he steals according to the direction of his two mothers. This character is based on Japanese mystery author Edogawa Ranpo's "Fiend With Twenty Faces" character.
- This character also reappears as "Twenty Faces" in The Daughter Of Twenty Faces, who among other things steals national treasures that have been mislocated due to war, to return them to their rightful place.
Kaitou Kid (aka Kaito Kuroba), a young thief and magician. Main character of a manga and by Gosho Aoyama (also known for "Detective Conan"), and relative anime.
Sorata Muon from the anime/manga Mouse.
The Title Character in From Eroica With Love, the title is actually what he leaves on his calling cards.
Cobra from Cobra Space Adventure is a gentleman thief in a Space Opera setting. Despite being one of the most thought-after criminals of the galaxy, he ends up helping the Space Police and battling the Space Mafia more often than not.
Carson D. Carson from the Dirty Pair movie, Project EDEN.
Black Rose aka Keith Harcourt from Ashita No Nadja.
This one can't believe Dark from DN Angel hasn't been referenced. He's the epitome of the gentleman thief!
Jing from King Of Bandit Jing most definitely is.
Mamoru Chiba aka Tuxedo Kamen in the Live Action Adaptation of Sailor Moon.
From Detective Conan- the illustrious Kaitou Kid. However, his exploits are surprisingly somewhat mundane, using disguises to escape instead of stylishly flying with his cape/glider. At one point he even resorts to swimming all the way from a ship to the harbor to escape.
- And on a related note,Lupin The 3rd vs. Detective Conan,the anime special.

Comic Book

The Phantom Blot, a '40 Disney villain.
- Later turned into a sort of-Evil Genius character.
Gambit, from X-Men: Charms the ladies while taking their pocketbooks.
The Riddler from Batman, occasionally. His personality varies, actually.
- The Penguin started out this way but eventually settled into a role as a semi-legit restauranteur/arms dealer.
Zagar, by the Italian comic artist Jacovitti. This thief, master of disguises, is a very parody of this trope.
Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin.
Spider Man foe, the Black Fox.
Cattivik, by Bonvi (and others), is a very (very) rough and unlucky thief that clearly is not this trope.
DC subversion: the Gentleman Ghost may put on airs at times, but he's a highwayman through and through.
The Black Knight from Don Rosa's Disney comics, who is a rather obvious Captain Ersatz of Arsene Lupin.
Steve Ditko Deconstructed this Trope in the Mr. A story "Count Rogue".
Michael Baffle was a one-shot Golden Age for of Batman (and obvious Expy of Raffles).

Film

Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch A Thief follows John Robie (Cary Grant), a reformed Gentleman Thief, as he attempts to discover who has been framing him for a new spate of burglaries. It turns out to be a Classy Cat Burglar.
David Niven's character, "Sir Charles Phantom, the Notorious Lytton" in the Pink Panther movies.
- He also plays Colonel Matthews the titular character of The Brain where he, two petty crooks and the mafia attempt to hijack a train transporting the NATO millions to the new NATO headquarters. Hilarity ensues.
Pierce Brosnan plays a millionaire trying to be a Gentleman Thief in The Thomas Crown Affair. "It's just a game, love; it's just a game."
- Complete with literal calling card, a pencil with the name of his firm left plainly at the scene of the final caper!
- And of course the original 1968 film starring Steve McQueen.
Sean Connery's character in Entrapment is just the bearded Scottish version of Pierce Brosnan's Irish Thomas Crown. Except Connery shares his screen time with a Classy Cat Burglar and the infamous Laser Hallway.
Robert De Niro's character in Heat, Neil McCauley, is a somewhat more realistic version of the Gentleman Thief.
Basically every protagonist in Ocean's 11, Ocean's 12, and Ocean's 13, as well as the antagonist "Night Fox" Toulour, though Toulour to a lesser extent.
The film version of The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen boasts the cheeky Cockney rogue Rodney Skinner, 'Genn'lemun Thief', as the Invisible Man in lieu of the psychotic original Invisible Man Dr. Hawley Griffin. Skinner apparently stole Griffin's invisibility formula.
The title character of Jean-Pierre Melville's gangster movie Bob le Flambeur (Bob the Gambler) is incredibly well-dressed, stylish, debonair, and gentlemanly.

Literature

Robin Hood in his usual classic portrayals, robs from the rich and gives to the poor. In some versions, he is a former Noble, making him more literally a Gentleman Thief.
Raffles: A character who has been around in literary form since the 1890s. Invented by E. W. Hornung, who meant him to be a subversion of the trope: definitely not a nice guy, and stealing for profit rather than for fun or altruism. (See further discussion under Depraved Homosexual.) It was no use, though; Hornung's readers saw Raffles as glamorous anyway, and later incarnations of the character invariably make him into a hero.
- See the other Wiki for a list of works featuring Raffles. Also recently appeared as a minor character in the webcomic Scary-Go-Round.
Arsène Lupin in the series of short stories and books written by Maurice Leblanc between 1905 and 1939, and in five additional volumes written by Boileau-Narcejac in the 1970s, is a Gentleman Thief who moonlights as a detective. He was the precursor of Arsène Lupin III, and is pretty much is the Trope Namer, as the first collection of short story on the character is called Arsène Lupin: Gentleman Cambrioleur (Arsène Lupin: Gentleman Burglar).
Flambeau is a clever, strong, joking and very tall jewel thief of the "Father Brown" series by GK Chesterton. His name means "torch" in French. He liked to use paradoxical disguises (as in "The Queer Feet"). After several encounters with Father Brown, he gave up crime and reformed.
Subverted to pieces in the essay "Memoirs of a Private Detective" by Dashiell Hammett:
Second only to Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is Raffles in the affections of the daily press. The phrase "gentleman crook" is used on the slightest provocation. A composite portrait of the gentry upon whom the newspapers have bestowed this title would show a laudanum-drinker, with a large rhinestone-horseshow aglow in the soiled bosom of his shirt below a bow-tie, leering at his victim, and saying: "Now don't get scared, lady, I ain't gonna crack you on the bean. I ain't a rough-neck!"
The Saint AKA Simon Templar was such a Gentleman Thief in the original stories (and also mixed race as well, unusual in those days) The TV series cleaned him up a lot, though not entirely.
- The Saint doesn't quite fit the trope, in that he was in the habit of murdering criminals as well as taking their money. On one occasion he tied the villains of the story up in an abandoned house, to which he then set fire, leaving them to burn alive. Granted, they were going to do the same to him and his cohorts, but still: not entirely gentlemanly behaviour.
Nobby Cranton from the Lord Peter Wimsey novel The Nine Tailors. The other characters find his schtick a little annoying, though.
Philip Collin aka Professor Pelotard from the various books & short-stories by Frank Heller. One thing that helps make Collin into one of the more memorable gentleman thieves is the fact that his first crimes are the same has is creator's, who before becoming an author was a swindler who went into self-imposed exile in order to escape the swedish police.
The Baron was John Creasy's (decidely inferior) version of The Saint.
Nick Velvet (from a series of short stories by Edward D. Hoch), is a professional thief for hire, with a peculiar specialty: For a flat fee, he steals only objects of negligible apparent value. Since his first appearance in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in September 1966, he has stolen such things as an old spiderweb (which he was then obliged to replace), a day-old newspaper, and a used teabag. His original fee for a theft was $20,000. In 1980 he raised it to $25,000 at the urging of his long-time girlfriend Gloria (who met Nick in 1965 when he was burgling her New York apartment); in the 21st century his fee has risen to $50,000. Unlike many fictional thieves, Nick usually works alone on his thefts—in fact, until 1979 Gloria believed that Nick worked for the U.S. government.
"Slippery" Jim diGriz, the protagonist of The Stainless Steel Rat. Living in a future where only a genius could ever make it as a crook, he considers himself a public benefactor by spicing up the lives of local police and keeping the money in circulation.
John ~~Smythe~~ Tregarth from Elizabeth Peters' Vicky Bliss series.
Silk, also known as Prince Kheldar, from The Belgariad/The Mallorean is an excellent example of this. Of course, he is also a spy.
George Cooper and Rosto the Piper, from two of Tamora Pierce's series, are both courteous and clever enough to qualify as gentlemen.
The Thieves Guild in Discworld is said to run special courses for Gentleman Thieves. It's one thing being robbed, but it's annoying to learn that your possessions were stolen by a man in a borrowed suit.
- The Discworld Assassins' Guild is entirely composed of gentlemen who kill instead of stealing. In fact, while the Thieves' Guild will take female and low-born trainees, the Assassins' Guild appears to be only male aristocrats.
  - More accurately, most of the Upperclass send their boys there because it's an outstanding school; most of the contracts that the school recieves go to graduates that got in through a scholarship - you know, the ones who only got in because they're really good at killing people
  - That's changed somewhat recently, though: At the beginning of Night Watch, Vimes is being watched by one Ms. Jocasta Wiggs.
  - Correct. There are now the Black Widow and Mantis houses, both of which are all-female.
Seregil (and Alec) in Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner books.
Nicholas Valiarde/Donatien in The Death Of The Necromancer by Martha Wells.
The titular character in the Montmorency series is an interesting twist on this. He is a gentleman and a thief at the same time, but not both at the same time at first. He often struggles about which one is his real self and ends up progressing from a common pickpocket to a spy for the British government, at which point he is truly a Gentleman Thief.
The series title of Scott Lynch's Gentleman Bastard sequence (The Lies of Locke Lamora, Red Seas Under Red Skies) gives a nod to this trope and to the nature of the central protagonists.
- Locke is pretty much a deconstruction of this trope: his deeds inspired the legend of the "Thorn of Camorr", who is a gentleman thief, but the real Lock Lamora will not hesitate to kick a few dogs to reach his goals even if he still have his standards (after all, he is also a priest of the 13th), hence the bastard (singular) in the sequence title. Because of his intelligence and education people may expect this of him, even knowing he is athief. He speculates this at one point after he punches out his elderly woman captor, who apparently never considered he would do such a thing to gain an antidote to her poisoning and escape.
Kelsier and his crew from Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

Live Action TV

Dennis Stanton, a Recurring Character in Murder She Wrote, was a Gentleman Thief in his first appearance, although in later appearances he uses his skills as an insurance investigator. He works by three rules: He never steals from anyone who can't afford it, he never steals anything with sentimental value, and he makes sure everything he steals is insured by the company who refused to pay for his late wife to have a lifesaving operation.
Jerry Fagin, an international jewel thief who made a single appearance in Cagney and Lacey, solely to challenge Cagney to a duel of wits. His first action is to pull a heist and plant evidence all over the scene that points to the police department itself. When this becomes clear, Cagney immediately says, "Jerry Fagin! Nobody else would do this with such unmitigated . . . style!"
Autolycus, the King of Thieves of Hercules The Legendary Journeys and Xena Warrior Princess fame.
The Cat from the Funky Squad episode "Diamond's Are a Cat's Best Friend".
Remington Steele was this kind of character before taking over his role as private investigator.
Hustle likes to play with this one. It's Albert's favourite character, despite him being a former cobbler. Mickey tends to be suave and debonair, as well. The others, not so much...
It Takes a Thief (1968 TV series) was about a second generation Gentleman Thief who was caught and given the choice of prison or help the government. He chose helping the government. Inspired by, though not based upon, the 1955 Cary Grant motion picture To Catch a Thief (see above). Notable for starring Robert Wagner as the thief and Fred Astaire!!! as his father who says at the start of every episode, "I've heard of stealing "from" the government, but stealing "for" the government?".
Subverted in the Psych episode "Extradition: British Colombia." Pierre Despereaux is a multimillionaire who buys valuable pieces of art, but asks the sellers to act like he stole them because he wants to be recognized as a master art thief.

Video Games

Sly Cooper is a cartoonish, raccoon, video game equivalent. He even brings his own Worthy Opponent in the form of Carmelita Fox, with whom the UST is a pronounced, recurring theme.
Carmen Sandiego is a rare female example. A fabulous Affably Evil Friendly Enemy, the original Sandiego, and a Magnificent Bastard all rolled into one red-trenched package.
Balthier from Final Fantasy XII is the embodiment of this trope.
Locke from Final Fantasy VI (though he prefers the term “treasure hunter”).
- Similarly, Rouge the Bat from Sonic Adventure 2 is a thief/treasure hunter and a government spy on the side, no less.
Mask*Demasque, from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, who carries out his thieving with Don Quixote-esque enthusiasm.
Trilby, from the excellent Chzo Mythos series of AGS-based adventure games( 5 Days a Stranger, 7 Days a Skeptic, etc.), as well as Spin Off stealth platformer Trilby: The Art of Theft. [1], all by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, of Zero Punctuation fame, who stole his hat. He doesn't like resorting to lethal force, he leaves his calling card with a picture of his hat, and in The Art of Theft even donates one of his prizes to science. He also earns upgrades not through money, but by "reputation points", which boost his self-esteem, allowing him to perform greater feats. He also automatically quits any heists if you taser too many guards.
The Gentleman Thief from Zork I, naturally.
Risque (yes, that's really his name), the thief from Dokapon Kingdom. He acts similar to Boo in the Mario Party series, but instead of a ghostly cackle, he has a roguish laugh and a Nice Hat.
Skye from Harvest Moon has - are you ready for this? - a "Maiden Chick Beam" that freezes women so that he can steal from them (of course, they're usually too busy swooning to stop him anyways). He also leaves a note before he steals, informing his targets of when he will arrive.
No mention yet of Sky Pirate Johnny from Guilty Gear?
Garrett from the Thief series.

Web Original

Jeremy Archer from Shadow Of The Templar. He uses non-lethal weapons to avoid killing people on his thefts, has sexual tension with Simon, the FBI agent chasing him in the first novel (which stops being tension soon after), and acts as an occasional consultant for Simon's team on cases including more dangerous criminals.
The Onion: Bad Boy Fencing Star Implicated In Daring Jewel Heist.

Western Animation

Stan's real father in American Dad.
The one-shot character Malloy from The Simpsons. After being caught at the end of the episode, he graciously returns the items he has stolen — immediately followed by tricking the entire town of Springfield into searching for his buried stash while he escapes their jail.
- Then again, there aren't that many smart people in Springfield, although some of them should have figured it out.
  - At least, they should have figured out it was a trick after finding a note that told them it was a trick.
  - To be fair most did leave after they found the note.
Phantom Limb from Venture Brothers is another example.
Barrack Obama, John Mc Cain and the rest of the thief club in the South Park episode About Last Night. Trey and Matt mention that Ocean's Eleven was their inspiration for their theft plot, so that helps.
Le Poodle from Teamo Supremo.