Joan Hickson | |
---|---|
Born | Joan Bogle Hickson [1] 5 August 1906 Kingsthorpe, Northamptonshire, England |
Died | 17 October 1998 92) Colchester, Essex, England | (aged
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1927–1993 |
Spouse | Eric Butler (m. 1932;died 1967) |
Children | 2 |
Awards | Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play 1979 Bedroom Farce |
Joan Bogle Hickson OBE (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple . She also narrated a number of Miss Marple stories on audiobooks.
Born in Kingsthorpe, Northampton, Hickson was a daughter of Edith Mary (née Bogle) and Alfred Harold Hickson, a shoe manufacturer. After boarding at Oldfield School in Swanage, Dorset, she went on to train at RADA in London. [2] She made her stage debut in 1927, then worked for several years throughout the United Kingdom, achieving success playing comedic, often eccentric characters in the West End of London. She played the role of the cockney maid Ida in the original production of See How They Run at the Q Theatre in 1944, and then at the Comedy Theatre in January 1945. [3]
She made her first film appearance in 1934. The numerous supporting roles she played during her career included several in Carry On films, notably Sister in Carry On Nurse and Mrs May in Carry On Constable .
In the 1940s she appeared on stage in Appointment with Death , a play by Agatha Christie, who wrote in a note to her, "I will call you to play my 'Miss Marple' one day, if I can find the time to write another play". [4]
In 1961 Hickson played the housekeeper in the film Murder, She Said , based on Agatha Christie's novel 4.50 From Paddington and starring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. From 1963 to 1966 Hickson played Mrs Peace, housekeeper to the Reverend Stephen Young, played by Donald Sinden, in the highly rated TV series Our Man at St Mark's . From 1970 to 1971 she played Mrs Pugsley in Bachelor Father . She also played Mrs Chambers in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? . In 1986 she played the part of Mrs Trellis in the film Clockwise. Also in 1986 she appeared in episode 2 of the drama series ScreenPlay .
Her stage career included roles in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit , the musical The Card (1975), adapted by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent from the novel by Arnold Bennett; and Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce , for which she won a 1979 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. In 1980 she appeared as Mrs Rivington in Why Didn't They Ask Evans? , yet another production based on a novel by Agatha Christie.
The BBC began filming the works of Agatha Christie in the mid-1980s, and set out to remain faithful to the plotlines and locales of Christie's stories, and to represent Miss Marple as written. Hickson played the role of Miss Marple in all 12 adaptations, which were produced from 1984 to 1992; she received two BAFTA nominations for Best TV Actress, in 1987 and 1988. When the OBE was bestowed on Hickson in June 1987 [5] Queen Elizabeth II was reported to have said, "You play the part just as one envisages it." [6] When Hickson retired from the role, believing that she should stop while the programme was still at the peak of its popularity, she stated that she had no intention of retiring from acting altogether. [7]
From 1958, Hickson lived at 2 Rose Lane, Wivenhoe, along the River Colne 43 miles (69 kilometres) from London in Essex, until her death in 1998. A plaque now marks the house where she lived for 40 years. [8]
Hickson married Dr Eric Norman Butler (born 2 September 1902 in Westbury, Wiltshire), a physician, at Hampstead Parish Church, Hampstead, Northwest London, on 29 October 1932. They had two children. [9] Her husband died in Colchester, Essex, in June 1967. [10]
Hickson died of a stroke at Colchester General Hospital in 1998 at the age of 92. [11] [12] She is interred under her married name, Joan Bogle Butler, at Sidbury Cemetery in Devon.
Series 1
Series 2
Stand-alone feature length episodes
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1934 | Trouble in Store | Mabel | Short |
1935 | Widow's Might | Burroughs | |
1936 | The Man Who Could Work Miracles | Effie | |
1937 | Love from a Stranger | Emmy | |
The Lilac Domino | Katrina, school dustmaid | ||
1938 | Second Thoughts | Ellen | |
1940 | Sailors Don't Care | Woman Carried Ashore | Uncredited |
1941 | Freedom Radio | Katie | |
1943 | The Saint Meets the Tiger | Mary (Aunt Agatha's Maid) | Uncredited |
1944 | Don't Take It to Heart | Mrs Pike | |
1945 | The Rake's Progress | Miss Parker | |
1946 | The Trojan Brothers | Ada | |
I See a Dark Stranger | Manx Hotel Manageress | ||
1947 | So Well Remembered | Mother | Uncredited |
1948 | This Was a Woman | Miss Johnson | |
Just William's Luck | Hubert's Mother | ||
Bond Street | Blanche – Seamstress | Uncredited | |
The Guinea Pig | Mrs Read | ||
It's Hard to Be Good | Mending Woman | Uncredited | |
1949 | Marry Me! | Mrs Pearson | |
Don't Ever Leave Me | Mrs Pearson | Uncredited | |
Celia | Mrs Haldane | ||
1950 | Seven Days to Noon | Mrs Peckett | |
The Magnet | Mrs Ward | ||
1951 | Hell Is Sold Out | Hortense, the housekeeper | |
High Treason | Mrs Ellis | ||
The Magic Box | Mrs Stukely | ||
1952 | Blind Man's Bluff | Mrs Kipps | |
The Card | Mrs Codleyn | ||
The Tall Headlines | Waitress | ||
Curtain Up | Harry's Landlady | ||
No Haunt for a Gentleman | Mme Omskaya | ||
Hindle Wakes | Mrs Hawthorn | ||
1953 | Deadly Nightshade | Mrs Fenton | |
Shoot First | Woman Station Announcer | ||
Sailor of the King | Hotel Manager | Uncredited | |
Love in Pawn | Woman in Telephone Box | Uncredited | |
1954 | The Million Pound Note | Maggie | Uncredited |
Doctor in the House | Mrs Groaker | ||
The House Across the Lake | Mrs Hardcastle | ||
What Every Woman Wants | Polly Ann | ||
Dance, Little Lady | Mrs Matthews | ||
The Crowded Day | Mrs Jones | ||
To Dorothy a Son | Pub Landlady | Uncredited | |
Mad About Men | Mrs Forster | ||
1955 | As Long as They're Happy | Barmaid | |
Doctor at Sea | Mrs Thomas | ||
Value for Money | Mrs Perkins | ||
The Woman for Joe | Publican's Wife | Uncredited | |
A Time to Kill | Miss Edinger | ||
Simon and Laura | Barmaid | ||
An Alligator Named Daisy | Piano Customer | Uncredited | |
1956 | Lost | Pharmacist | Uncredited |
Jumping for Joy | Lady Emily Cranfield | ||
The Man Who Never Was | Landlady | ||
Port of Escape | Rosalie Watchett | ||
The Extra Day | Mrs West | ||
The Last Man to Hang | Mrs Prynne | ||
Child in the House | Cook | ||
1957 | Carry On Admiral | Mother | |
No Time for Tears | Sister Duckworth | ||
Barnacle Bill | Mrs Kent | ||
1958 | Happy Is the Bride | Mrs Bowels | |
Law and Disorder | Aunt Florence | ||
Chain of Events | Barmaid | ||
Behind the Mask | Lady | Uncredited | |
The Horse's Mouth | Woman in queue at Tate Gallery | Uncredited | |
1959 | Carry On Nurse | Sister | |
The 39 Steps | Miss Dobson | ||
Upstairs and Downstairs | Rosemary | ||
Please Turn Over | Saleswoman | ||
1960 | Doctor in Love | Nurse | Uncredited |
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver | Patient at Dr Gulliver's Surgery | Uncredited | |
Carry On Constable | Mrs May | ||
No Kidding | Cook | ||
Carry On Regardless | Head Matron | ||
1961 | His and Hers | Phoebe | |
Raising the Wind | Mrs Bostwick | ||
Murder, She Said | Mrs Kidder | ||
1962 | Crooks Anonymous | Lady | |
In the Doghouse | Miss Gibbs | ||
I Thank a Fool | Landlady | ||
1963 | Nurse on Wheels | Mrs Wood | |
Heavens Above! | Housewife | ||
1965 | The Secret of My Success | Mrs Pringle | |
1968 | Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter | Landlady | |
1970 | Carry On Loving | Mrs Grubb | |
1971 | Friends | Lady in Bookstore | |
1972 | A Day in the Death of Joe Egg | Grace | |
1973 | Theatre of Blood | Mrs Sprout | |
Carry On Girls | Mrs Dukes | ||
1974 | Confessions of a Window Cleaner | Mrs Radlett | |
1975 | One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing | Mrs Gibbons | |
1979 | Yanks | Mrs Moody | |
1982 | Gandhi | Woman in court | Uncredited |
1983 | The Wicked Lady | Aunt Agatha | |
1986 | Clockwise | Mrs Trellis | |
1990 | King of the Wind | Duchess of Marlborough | |
1993 | Century | Mrs Whitweather | Final film role |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1946 | The Corn is Green | Mrs Watty | TV movie |
1947 | Busman's Honeymoon | Miss Twitterton | TV movie |
1950 | Over the Odds | Mabel Phelps | TV movie |
1956 | David Copperfield | Miss Lavinia Spenlow | 3 episodes |
1958 | The Invisible Man | Madame Dupont | Episode: "The Mink Coat" |
1960 | Barnaby Rudge | Mrs Varden | 10 episodes |
1963 | BBC Sunday-Night Play | Edith Swinney | Episode: "How to Get Rid of Your Wife" |
1963-66 | Our Man at St Mark's | Mrs Peace | 46 episodes |
1964 | Thursday Theatre | Mrs Jenkins | Episode: "The Cure for Love" |
1969 | Sinister Street | Mrs Cleghorne | 3 episodes |
Oh, Brother! | Mother Joan | Episode: "A Mother in Israel" | |
1970 | Bachelor Father | Mrs Pugsley | 8 episodes |
From a Bird's Eye View | Hilda Tuttle | Episode: "Family Tree" | |
1972 | ITV Saturday Night Theatre | Mrs Hope-Rising | Episode: "Just in Time for Christmas" |
1975 | Within These Walls | Edna Dewfall | Episode: "A Free Woman" |
1976 | Happy Ever After | Mrs Henderson | Episode: "Old Folks' Party" |
1981 | Great Expectations | Miss Havisham | |
1983 | The Outsider | Lillian Wrathdale | Episode: "The Homecoming" |
1984 | Poor Little Rich Girls | Lady Harriet | 5 episodes |
1985 | Time for Murder | Miss Wainwright | Episode: "Mister Clay, Mister Clay" |
1989 | Boon | Della | Episode: "One Reborn Every Minute" |
Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterized as an elderly spinster, she is one of Christie's best-known characters and has been portrayed numerous times on screen. Her first appearance was in a short story published in The Royal Magazine in December 1927, "The Tuesday Night Club", which later became the first chapter of The Thirteen Problems (1932). Her first appearance in a full-length novel was in The Murder at the Vicarage in 1930, and her last appearance was in Sleeping Murder in 1976.
Sleeping Murder: Miss Marple's Last Case is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1976 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed for £3.50 and the US edition for $7.95.
The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, a novel by Agatha Christie, was published in the UK in 1962 and a year later in the US under the title The Mirror Crack'd. The story features amateur detective Miss Marple solving a mystery in St. Mary Mead.
Joanna David is an English actress, best known for her television work.
Geraldine McEwan was an English actress, who had a long career in film, theatre and television. Michael Coveney described her, in a tribute article, as "a great comic stylist, with a syrupy, seductive voice and a forthright, sparkling manner".
The Mirror Crack'd is a 1980 British mystery film directed by Guy Hamilton from a screenplay by Jonathan Hales and Barry Sandler, based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1962). It stars Angela Lansbury, Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Curtis, Edward Fox, Rock Hudson, Kim Novak, and Elizabeth Taylor. Scenes were filmed at Twickenham Film Studios in Twickenham, London, and on location in Kent.
The Murder at the Vicarage is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in October 1930 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.00.
4.50 from Paddington is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in November 1957 in the United Kingdom by Collins Crime Club. This work was published in the United States at the same time as What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw!, by Dodd, Mead. The novel was published in serial form before the book was released in each nation, and under different titles. The US edition retailed at $2.95.
A Caribbean Mystery is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 16 November 1964 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at sixteen shillings (16/-) and the US edition at $4.50. It features the detective Miss Marple.
Rosalind Marie Elliott was an English actress. Her career spanned 70 years on stage, screen, and television. Her film appearances include Blue Murder at St Trinian's (1957), Carry On Nurse (1959), Carry On Teacher (1959), Tom Jones (1963), and About a Boy (2002). Among her TV roles were playing Beryl in the BBC sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme (1999–2001) and Cynthia Goodman in Friday Night Dinner.
Murder She said is a 1961 comedy/murder mystery film directed by George Pollock, based on the 1957 novel 4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie. The production stars Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple, along with Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow, James Robertson Justice, and Stringer Davis.
Margaret Maud Tyzack was an English actress. Her television roles included The Forsyte Saga (1967) I, Claudius (1976), and George Lucas's Young Indiana Jones (1992–1993). She won the 1970 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the BBC serial The First Churchills, and the 1990 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage, opposite Maggie Smith. She also won two Olivier Awards—in 1981 as Actress of the Year in a Revival and in 2009 as Best Actress in a Play. Her film appearances included 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Prick Up Your Ears (1987) and Match Point (2005).
Julia Kathleen Nancy McKenzie is an English actress, singer, presenter, and theatre director. She has premièred leading roles written by both Alan Ayckbourn and Stephen Sondheim. On television, she is known for her BAFTA Award nominated role as Hester Fields in the sitcom Fresh Fields (1984–1986) and its sequel French Fields (1989–1991), and as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple (2009–2013).
Norma West is a British actress,
Agatha Christie's Marple is a British ITV television programme loosely based on the books and short stories by British crime novelist Agatha Christie. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the first to the third series, until her retirement from the role, and by Julia McKenzie from the fourth series onwards. Unlike the counterpart TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot, the show took many liberties with Christie’s works, most notably adding Miss Marple’s character to the adaptations of novels in which she never appeared. Following the conclusion of the sixth series, the BBC acquired the rights for the production of Agatha Christie adaptations, suggesting that ITV would be unable to make a seventh series of Marple.
Miss Marple, titled Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the series, is a British television series based on the Miss Marple murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie, starring Joan Hickson in the title role. It aired from 26 December 1984 to 27 December 1992 on BBC One. All twelve original Miss Marple novels by Christie were dramatised.
Appointment with Death is a 1945 play by crime writer Agatha Christie. It is based on her 1938 novel of the same name.
Juliette Mole is an English actress and artist, now based in London.
The Body in the Library is a 3-part 1984 television film adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1942 detective novel The Body in the Library, which was co-produced by the BBC and the A&E Network. The film uses an adapted screenplay by T. R. Bowen and was directed by Silvio Narizzano. Starring Joan Hickson in the title role, it was the first film presented in the British television series Miss Marple and premiered in three parts from 26 to 28 December 1984 on BBC One. In the United States the film was first broadcast on 4 January 1986 as a part of PBS's Mystery!. In his review in The New York Times, critic John J. O'Connor wrote:
Miss Christie would no doubt approve of Joan Hickson, the veteran British character actress who plays Miss Marple... This BBC/Arts & Entertainment co-production offers an especially good example of Agatha Christie in adaptation. The characters are nicely realized and the suspense holds. Miss Hickson is lovely, neither as awesome as Miss Rutherford nor as overly cute as Helen Hayes. And the supporting cast is admirable, particularly Gwen Watford as Dolly and David Horovitch as Inspector Slack. As someone notes about the case, "you'll have to admit it has all the bizarre elements of a cheap thriller." Once hooked, you won't be able to turn it off.
Jane P Booker is an English actress. She was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, and has over 40 television roles to her credit.