Joan Hickson

Joan Hickson died in Colchester, England. She is married to Scottish Indy Racing League driver Dario Franchitti. Queen Elizabeth II, said to be a fan of both Miss Marple, and of Hickson, bestowed the latter award. Whenever her schedule allows, she is regularly at UK basketball games, and is frequently sought out for celebrity camera shots during televised games (much like Jack Nicholson with the Los Angeles Lakers or Spike Lee with the New York Knicks). 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. As a result she could play leading roles in films that were bound to be successful at the box office, but still required acting skills, like Double Jeopardy (1999) and Someone Like You (2001). 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. By the end of the 1990s she managed to achieve significant fame and success as an actress.

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. She found further critical acclaim in Smoke (1995) and publicity in Heat (1995). 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. She had a role in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, but all the scenes she played in were cut from the final version of the film. In 1980 she appeared in yet another Agatha Christie production, as Mrs Rivington in Why Didn't They Ask Evans. Her film debut was a small part in Kuffs (1992) and the first major role was in Ruby in Paradise (1993), a hit independent drama. 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 graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1990, majoring in French.

She also appeared opposite Margaret Rutherford in the Marple film Murder, She Said (1961). Her mother and sister are country singers, Naomi Judd and Wynonna Judd, respectively. 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". Ashley Judd (born April 19, 1968 in Granada Hills, California) is an American actress. She made her first film appearance in 1934, and the numerous supporting roles of her career included several Carry On films. Kuffs (1992). 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. Ruby in Paradise (1993).

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. Smoke (1995). The Mirror Crack'd (1992). Heat (1995). They Do It With Mirrors (1991). The Passion of Darkly Noon (aka Darkly Noon) (1995). A Caribbean Mystery (1989). A Time to Kill (1996).

4.50 from Paddington (1987). Normal Life (1996). Nemesis (1987). The Locusts (aka A Secret Sin) (1997). At Bertram's Hotel (1987). Kiss the Girls (1997). Sleeping Murder (1987). Simon Birch (aka Angels and Armadillos) (1998).

The Murder at the Vicarage (1986). Eye of the Beholder (1999). A Pocket Full of Rye (1985). Double Jeopardy (1999). A Murder is Announced (1985). Where the Heart Is (2000). The Moving Finger (1985). Someone Like You (aka Animal Attraction) (2001).

The Body in the Library (1984) - BAFTA nomination. High Crimes (2002). The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002). Frida (2002). De-Lovely (2004).