Watching A Miss Marple Repeat On One Of The Cable Stations, The Thought Struck Me...

[sandyRoe]

...will this role ever take on the stature that Lear has for male actors in their later years of their careers

[sandyRoe]

* in the later years^

[janbee]

I always preferred the Margaret Rutherford version of this character. She was nicely "dotty" but still smart.

[woofgang]

I doubt it Sandy, its not "shakespeare" By me the best Miss Marple was Joan Hickson, she really nailed it, no one else has come close.

[janbee]

I went off Joan Hickson when I sat next to her once on a plane coming back from Athens. She delayed the flight, we missed our slot by 3 hours, she didn't apologise, was snippy to the Monarch cabin crew and .... she had dirty feet ! Ok ok , it's a silly reason but ... there you go. xx

[mata hati]

Margaret Rutherford was in her seventies when she played Miss Marple in the sixties - insisting on wearing her own clothes and also that her real life husband ("Mr Stringer" in the films) worked beside her - Dotty as they come but eclipsing all others in her portrayal of the detective IMO - Indeed Agatha Christie whilst not approving of her interpretation the heroine actually dedicated "The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side" to Her.

[woofgang]

but i don't think she did eclipse all others, I think Joan Hickson did

[sandyRoe]

I liked Margaret Rutherford. Of the relatively more modern interpretations it has to be Joan Hickson.

[mata hati]

Yes Sandy - I agree, she does have that bit of dotty-ness about her. Though Geraldine McEwan looks more the part I thought. Didn't like the "Fresh Field" actress in the part at all!