La Main au collet
It was among the last of the series in the 1960s spy television genre, although "" continued for several more years. "It Takes a Thief" was inspired by, though not based upon, the 1955 motion picture "To Catch a Thief", directed by Alfred Hitchcock; both of their titles stem from the English proverb "Set a thief to catch a thief" (or as it is more often phrased, "It takes a thief to catch a thief"). According to Wagner's autobiography, Pieces of My Heart (2008) Wagner consulted with Cary Grant, who starred in "To Catch a Thief", on how to play Alexander Mundy.