It's a great "Jeopardy" answer. "Bonita Granville, Pamela Sue Martin, Janet Julian, Emma Roberts."

Alex, who are four actresses who have played Nancy Drew?

	Pamela Sue Martin portrayed Nancy Drew in the '77 TV series. Click photo for larger image.

In the 1930s, Warner Bros. paid the Stratemeyer Syndicate $6,000 for the movie rights to the teen sleuth and cast Granville, 15, in the title role.

The first movie, "Nancy Drew: Detective," was released in 1938. In addition to Granville, it starred Frankie Thomas as Ted Nickerson (a variation of Ned Nickerson).

In her book "Girl Sleuth," subtitled "Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her," Melanie Rehak writes that the movie took some of its plot from the novel "The Password to Larkspur Lane."

"In it, Nancy comes off as both bossier and yet somehow more traditionally feminine than she does in her books. She has none of the gracious elegance that defines her in print and often makes faces to get a point across." Not only that, she's mean to Ned, er, Ted.

While Nancy announces every intelligent woman should have a career, "every time she gets excited, she talks so quickly, and with such babyish breathlessness, that it's hard to take her seriously," Rehak suggests.

Three more movies followed: "Nancy Drew: Reporter," "Nancy Drew: Trouble Shooter" and "Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase."

In her 2005 book, Rehak recounts some of the movie publicity pitches, designed to lure or satisfy an older audience: "Nancy's through playing with dolls! ... She'd rather play with danger!" And "Meet the toughest sleuth who ever captured ... your heart! It's none other than that master man hunter, that champ criminologist ... Nancy Drew Detective."

In their book, "The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boys," Carole Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman describe the movies as screwball B-movies. "Nancy's world did come alive in the short, 65-minute, black-and-white films. Moviegoers got to see her canopy bed, her speeding roadster, and [dad] Carson's rose garden," they write.

"If mystery elements were downplayed, plots simplified and the romance spiced up, if Ned Nickerson's name was changed to the more popular 'Ted,' if Bess and George were axed but song-and-dance numbers added to make Nancy Drew's world more entertaining, well, that's showbiz."

Showbiz brought Nancy back in 1977 in an hourlong ABC series that alternated on Sunday nights with Hardy Boys mysteries. Pamela Sue Martin was cast as Nancy, and Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson played the detective brothers.

Teenage sleuths helped adults solve mysteries involving robberies, haunted houses and blackmail attempts on a college football star. In addition to Martin, "The Nancy Drew Mysteries" starred William Schallert (dad to Patty Duke on her series) and George O'Hanlon Jr. as Ned, a law student and assistant to criminal lawyer Carson Drew.

Rehak writes that the producers ran into the same problem as the filmmakers. "No one wanted to accept another person's idea of what Nancy looked like or how she behaved. The show had made her a brunette, a huge mistake that was only one of many."

After crossover appearances, the shows were combined and Martin quit. Janet Julian replaced her, but the more popular Hardy Boys were the last detectives left standing. Martin subsequently posed on the cover of Playboy with a magnifying glass. "TV's Nancy Drew Undraped," the tease read.

Tracy Ryan portrayed Nancy in a 1990s syndicated show, but now the character is in the hands of Emma Roberts, daughter of actor Eric and niece of actress Julia.

This screen incarnation may shield her father from the truth about her sleuthing, but she believes in putting others before self. A heroine for our times. Or any time.