I started this post some time ago and now that I’m at home 23 hours a day, I’m afraid it’s got longer and longer! So, if you find it too long, you  can always come back to it at some other time!

 

She may  not be everybody’s favourite Miss Marple, but I love Margaret Rutherford (1892 – 1972) in her 4 Agatha Christie 1960s films, all made by MGM in England.

Miss Marple was the unlikely sleuth who was always observing and evaluating events in the village of St. Mary Mead which was somewhere in the south of England.

She appeared in 12 Agatha Christie books and  20 short stories.

Margaret Rutherford  hardly fitted Agatha Christie’s description of her amateur detective, Jane  Marple who was described as tall , thin, demure – but Margaret’s warm personality and energetic style gave us an engaging Miss Marple.

 

• Margaret insisted that her husband, Stringer Davis appear in the Marple films. He played librarian Jim Stringer in Murder She Said. His kindly, quiet character played well against the boisterous Margaret.( and his character was not in the novels.)
• She also wore capes and cloaks which she was comfortable in .

 

After Murder She Said, the following three films seemed to embrace Margaret Rutherford’s comic persona –  far removed from  the Agatha Christie dramas.

It would appear that once Mrs. Christie sold the film rights, and as we know happened in Hollywood, the studio felt no obligation to remain faithful to the novels.

Of the four Margaret Rutherford films, only Murder She Said was based on a Miss Marple story, 4.50 From Paddington.

Both Murder Most Foul and Murder At The Gallop were actually Poirot stories, and Murder Ahoy wasn’t even a Christie story!

Australian actor Charles Tingwell  appeared in all four Miss Marple films, playing Inspector Craddock who relied on Miss Marple quite a lot.

Does anyone remember the TV series Emergency Ward 10? Charles Tingwell was one of the stars and I was a big fan!

 

 

 

 

One story of how Agatha Christie came up with the name,Marple was explained by a Christie fan who quoted Agatha,

“I was at a sale in Marple Hall in Cheshire. I was wanting a name for my old maid character and I  called her Jane Marple.”

 

 

 

Before her many comedy roles, Margaret had played the part of ‘Mrs. Danvers’ in REBECCA, with Celia Johnson in London’s  West End.

After 2000 performances on stage in Noel Coward’s BLYTHE SPIRIT, Margaret’s performance as Madame Arcati was preserved in the film version in 1941.

Margaret was in the film version of The Importance of Being Earnest in 1952. She played “Miss Prism” alongside Edith Evans as Lady Bracknell. Both Margaret and Dame Édith has been in the original stage production in 1939.

 

Whatever Agatha Christie thought of the Miss Marple  films, she did get on well with Margaret. In 1962,  her latest book “The Mirror Crack’d “ had the dedication, “To Margaret Rutherford with admiration.”

 

In the middle of her four Miss Marple films, Margaret managed to garner an Oscar for her performance as the funny and touching Duchess of Brighton in THE V.I.P.s.

Margaret kept her Oscar above her fireplace.

 

 

Margaret’ s portrait by artist Michael Noakes. It hangs in the Gielgud Theatre in London.

 

A little background on Margaret Rutherford.

It’s no surprise that Margaret was a teacher of elocution. Her voice was always clear and concise. She  was also a talented pianist and gave lessons. And she liked swimming.

Margaret’s childhood was very traumatic. Her father spent 7 years in the mental hospital Broadmoor after he killed his father. When he was released , he changed his surname from Benn to Rutherford and took his wife and baby to India.

When Margaret was three, her mother committed suicide and Margaret was brought back to England and left in the care of her aunt Bessie who raised her in Wimbledon. Margaret’s father ended up back in Broadmoor.

When her aunt died, Margaret had an inheritance which enabled her to go to drama school.

Politician Tony Benn was a second cousin and regarded Margaret like an old aunt.

Margaret made her stage debut in 1925 and joined the Old Vic company in 1933.

I remember enjoying the 1979 film,Agatha  about the period in 1926 when Agatha Christie disappeared from her family home.

What happened to Agatha has never really been established. At the time she was 35 , married to Archie Christie and with a seven year old daughter, Rosalind.

Archie Christie had asked for a divorce in order to marry his secretary. Did Agatha have a nervous breakdown or memory loss?
her car was found abandoned and her disappearance was headline news. ( Her first book , The Mysterious Affair at Styles had come out in 1920 and introduced the world to that famous Belgian detective,Hercule Poirot.)

When found in Harrogate, her husband told the press she had suffered a loss of memory.
She made no mention of the events in her autobiography and was divorced  in 1928.

 

 

A young Agatha Christie

 

Agatha remarried in  1930 to archaeologist  Max Mallowen.

 

Miss Marple continued to be a popular figure in radio and on TV and film.

 

An unlikely Miss Marple was Gracie Fields who played the role in a 1956 GoodYear TV Playhouse production of A Murder Is Announced.

And Gracie played the amateur detective with a Scottish accent!
Also in the cast were Roger Moore and Jessica Tandy.

Would love to see it.

 

Helen Hayes was Miss Marple in 1983 and 1985. Helen looked the part but couldn’t quite lose her American accent. It was sad to see Bette Davis in “Murder With Mirrors”, in a supporting role not long after Bette had endured a debilitating stroke.

 

Angela Lansbury  took on the role in the 1980 film, The Mirror Crack’d, but was somewhat overshadowed by the star cast including Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and Kim Novak.

Then, in 1984, the actress who became the definitive Miss Marple, took the stories back to television – Joan Hickson [1906-1998) played the role through to 1992 and was just what we expected Miss Marple to be like from the books.

Joan had been in films since 1934, generally playing landladies, barmaids , and had done lots of TV roles,  but when she landed the part of Miss Marple, all the years of experience made her a star.

Joan actually had a small part in Margaret Rutherford’s Murder She Said in 1961! Little did she know……….

Other Miss Marples on TV were Geraldine McEwan (2004 – 2007) and Julia McKenzie (2008 – 2013).

 

 

I’ll be listening to June Whitfield  who played Miss Marple on BBC radio. I’ve no doubt that June will be excellent.

 

 

 

Margaret Rutherford loves wearing capes and shawls, so I think her Miss Marple should be called The Caped Crusader”!

She really was a British institution.

 

And who can forget Ron Goodwin’s theme for the film series.