Gloria Grahame

Gloria Grahame has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures, at 6522 Hollywood Boulevard. Joan Hickson died in Colchester, England. She is interred in Oakwood Memorial Park Cemetery in Chatsworth, California. Queen Elizabeth II, said to be a fan of both Miss Marple, and of Hickson, bestowed the latter award. In 1981 Grahame collapsed during a rehearsal for a British stage play, and returned to New York City where she died soon after from cancer. Hickson played the role in all 12 adaptations of the novels produced from 1984 to 1992, and received a BAFTA nomination and an OBE from the British Government. Often regarded as a difficult actress, Grahame's career began to wane after her role in Oklahoma! (1955), although she continued to play supporting roles for the rest of her life in the United States, and also in the United Kingdom, where she resided for many years. In making a new series, the makers determined to remain faithful to the plotlines and locales of Christie's stories, and most importantly to represent Miss Marple as written.

She received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination for Crossfire (1947), and won the same award for The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). Though admired, Rutherford's Marple bore little resemblance to the character as written, and the plots of the early Christie film versions varied sharply from the author's carefully constructed plotlines. MGM was not able to develop her potential as a star and her contract was sold to RKO Studios in 1947. The BBC began filming the works of Agatha Christie in the early 1980s, and were conscious of the criticism that had been levelled at the most famous portrayal of Miss Marple given by Margaret Rutherford. Changing her name to Gloria Grahame, she made her film debut in Blonde Fever (1944) and scored her most widely praised MGM role as the small town girl Violet, who is saved from a life of shame by George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life (1946). In 1980 she appeared in yet another Agatha Christie production, as Mrs Rivington in Why Didn't They Ask Evans. Mayer saw her performing on Broadway. Her stage career included roles in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit and Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce, for which she won a Tony Award in 1977.

She was signed to a contact with MGM Studios after Louis B. She also appeared opposite Margaret Rutherford in the Marple film Murder, She Said (1961). Born Gloria Hallward in Los Angeles, California, her mother Jean Grahame was a stage actress and acting teacher who taught Gloria acting during her childhood and adolescence. In the 1940s she appeared on-stage in an Agatha Christie play, Appointment with Death, which was seen by Christie who wrote to her "I hope one day you might play my dear Miss Marple". Gloria Grahame (November 28, 1923 - October 5, 1981) was an American film actress. She made her first film appearance in 1934, and the numerous supporting roles of her career included several Carry On films. Born in Kingsthorpe, Northampton, England, she made her stage debut in 1927, and for several years worked throughout the United Kingdom and achieved success playing comedic, often eccentric characters in London's West End.

Joan Hickson ( August 5, 1906 – October 17, 1998) was an English actress of theater, film and television, who achieved fame in her old age playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. The Mirror Crack'd (1992). They Do It With Mirrors (1991). A Caribbean Mystery (1989).

4.50 from Paddington (1987). Nemesis (1987). At Bertram's Hotel (1987). Sleeping Murder (1987).

The Murder at the Vicarage (1986). A Pocket Full of Rye (1985). A Murder is Announced (1985). The Moving Finger (1985).

The Body in the Library (1984) - BAFTA nomination.