Joan Hickson

Joan Hickson died in Colchester, England. They separated in 1997. Queen Elizabeth II, said to be a fan of both Miss Marple, and of Hickson, bestowed the latter award. In 1980 she married Jonathan Krane. 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. She married director Rick Edelstein in 1970 but subsequently divorced. 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. Kellerman supplements her ongoing film career with stints as a nightclub singer, television and radio narrator and voice-overs.

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. Altman said that her attitude and passion was exactly what he was looking for in the character. 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 was incensed about the way her would be character, "Hot Lips," was humiliated. In 1980 she appeared in yet another Agatha Christie production, as Mrs Rivington in Why Didn't They Ask Evans. She had an argument with M*A*S*H director Robert Altman after reading the script. 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 reportedly almost talked herself out of her most famous role.

She also appeared opposite Margaret Rutherford in the Marple film Murder, She Said (1961). Kellerman made her film debut in Reform School Girl (1959). 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". As a singer, Kellerman already had a recording contract with Verve Records when she was 18. She made her first film appearance in 1934, and the numerous supporting roles of her career included several Carry On films. Kellerman attended Hollywood High School where she was "bitten by the acting bug." She went on to Los Angeles City College. She also studied at the Actor's Studio in New York City. 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. Sally Claire Kellerman (born June 2, 1936 in Long Beach, California) is an American actress and singer most famous for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" O'Houlihan in the film M*A*S*H (1970) for which she was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

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. "Hotter than ever" (http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/arspopuli/music/music.html), article in the Pasadena Weekly. The Mirror Crack'd (1992). Sally Kellerman (http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800015771&cf=biog&intl=us) at Yahoo! Movies. They Do It With Mirrors (1991). Sally Kellerman (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm001419/) at the Internet Movie Database. A Caribbean Mystery (1989). Reform School Girl (1959).

4.50 from Paddington (1987). Star Trek: "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1966) (TV). Nemesis (1987). The Boston Strangler (1968). At Bertram's Hotel (1987). M*A*S*H (1970). Sleeping Murder (1987). Lost Horizon (1973).

The Murder at the Vicarage (1986). It Rained All Night the Day I Left (1980). A Pocket Full of Rye (1985). Back to School (1986). A Murder is Announced (1985). That's Life! (1986). The Moving Finger (1985).

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