Miss Marple
Her first appearance was in a short story published in The Royal Magazine in December 1927, "The Tuesday Night Club",[5] which later became the first chapter of The Thirteen Problems (1932).
Miss Marple solves difficult crimes thanks to her shrewd intelligence, and St. Mary Mead, over her lifetime, has given her seemingly infinite examples of the negative side of human nature.
In several stories, she is able to rely on her acquaintance with Sir Henry Clithering, a retired commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, for official information when required.
Her nephew, the "well-known author" Raymond West, appears in some stories, including The Thirteen Problems, Sleeping Murder, and Ingots of Gold (which also feature his wife, Joyce Lemprière).
Miss Marple employs young women (including Clara, Emily, Alice, Esther, Gwenda, and Amy) from a nearby orphanage, whom she trains for service as general housemaids after the retirement of her long-time maid-housekeeper, faithful Florence.
In They Do It with Mirrors (1952), it is revealed that Miss Marple grew up in a cathedral close, and that she studied at an Italian finishing school with American sisters Ruth Van Rydock and Caroline "Carrie" Louise Serrocold.
The effects of ageing are seen on Miss Marple, such as needing a holiday after illness in A Caribbean Mystery, but she is if anything more agile in Nemesis, set only 16 months later.
She has a very large family, including a sister, the mother of Raymond, and Mabel Denham, a young woman who was accused of poisoning her husband, Geoffrey (The Thumb Mark of St. Peter).
Miss Marple also appears in "Greenshaw's Folly", a short story included as part of the Poirot collection The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960).
The role then passed to Muriel Pavlow in June 1977[20] and to Gabrielle Hamilton late the following year; the production finally closed in October 1979.
[26] Murder at the Gallop (1963), based on the 1953 Hercule Poirot novel, After the Funeral (in this film, she is identified as Miss JTV Marple, though there was no indication as to what the extra initials might stand for).
The last film is not based on any Christie work but displays a few plot elements from They Do It With Mirrors (viz., the ship is used as a reform school for wayward boys and one of the teachers uses them as a crime force), as well as similarities to The Mousetrap.
In 1980, Angela Lansbury played Miss Marple in The Mirror Crack'd (EMI, directed by Guy Hamilton), based on Christie's 1962 novel.
The film featured an all-star cast that included Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Curtis, and Kim Novak.
[31] In October 2024, it was revealed that 20th Century Studios, which has produced the Hercule Poirot films with Kenneth Branagh, plans to adapt more of Christie's work, including unspecified Miss Marple titles.
[32] The first on-screen portrayal of Miss Marple was by British actress and singer Gracie Fields, playing her in a 1956 episode of the American series Goodyear TV Playhouse based on A Murder Is Announced, the 1950 Christie novel.
In 1970, the character of Miss Marple was portrayed by Inge Langen [de] in a West German television adaptation of The Murder at the Vicarage (Mord im Pfarrhaus).
She had earlier appeared in a television film adaptation of the non-Marple Christie story, Murder Is Easy, playing an elderly lady somewhat similar to Miss Marple.
[26] Hickson portrayed a maid in the 1937 film Love from a Stranger, which starred Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone, another Agatha Christie play adaptation.
In the Geraldine McEwan series, it is revealed that when she was young (portrayed by Julie Cox in a flashback), Miss Marple had an affair with a married soldier, Captain Ainsworth, who was killed in action in World War I, in December 1915.
Listing of the TV series featuring Geraldine McEwan and Julia McKenzie: In 2015, CBS planned a "much younger" version of the character, a granddaughter who takes over a California bookstore.
