Ebenezer Halliday

In the short story The Plymouth Express, Ebenezer Halliday was an extremely wealthy industrialist known as "the steel king of America". When his daughter Flossie Carrington was found murdered on a train journey from London to Plymouth, he asked Poirot to investigate.

Halliday was described as "a large stout man, with piercing eyes and an aggressive chin".

Portrayals
Halliday was played by John Stone in the film adaptation of The Plymouth Express in Series 3 of ITV's Agatha Christie's Poirot. His background is altered slightly. In the adaptation, he is not American but Australian and his first name is changed to "Gordon Halliday". Instead of steel, he is into mining and is the chairman of Yellow Creek Mines in Australia. In the film, he first asked Poirot to "run an eye over" his daughter's suitor Comte de la Rochefour. Later when his daughter was murdered, he asked Poirot to find her killer.

In NHK's anime adaptation The Plymouth Express, Halliday is portrayed in much the same way as he is described in the original story, as an American steel magnate. In this adaptation, he even sends an unnamed messenger, perhaps a secretary, to call on Poirot with a letter from Halliday requesting his help. The messenger has a car waiting and he takes Poirot, Hastings and Mabel to see Halliday. The tycoon's manner is less gruff and aggressive than in the original story. He is friendly to Poirot on meeting him, recalling the time they met a few years previously. Despite the number of lines he has, the voice actor behind the character is not credited.