Skip to main content

Every Actress Who Played Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, Ranked

Author Agatha Christie's Miss Marple is one of the most iconic and celebrated literary sleuths of all time. The amateur investigator was first introduced in the 1930 novel Murder at the Vicarage, appearing in 11 subsequent novels up until 1976. The character has been portrayed on the stage, on radio, and for our purposes, on the big and small screen several times since the character's screen debut in 1961.

Over the past 60 years, Miss Marple has been portrayed by several actresses, many of whom hail from different parts of the world. To see who did Miss Marple the most justice on screen, scroll below.

Updated July 21st, 2022 by George Chrysostomou: Agatha Christie's works are still influencing the industry today and Miss Marple is among her most famous creations. With the Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion, taking the audience back to the genre, it's well worth checking out these classic portrayals of one of the best detectives out there featuring some fantastic Miss Marple actresses. 

10 Inge Langen

Murder At The Vicarage (1970)

Having starred as Miss Marple in a single German production of Murder at the Vicarage in 1970, Inge Langen is the most obscure actress to play the legendary role.

RELATED: 10 Underrated Murder Mysteries That Make Viewers Feel Like Master Detectives, According To Ranker

Directed by Hans Quest, the film finds Marple investigating the mysterious murder of a local official who has drawn out two false confessions from innocent suspects. Once Marple clears the married couple who confessed, she works her way through a throng of motivated suspects to solve the murder.

9 Julia McKenzie

Marple (2008-2013) & Masterpiece Mystery (2014)

In 2004, ITV adapted a series titled Agatha Christie's Marple, which ran for six seasons and a total of 23 episodes. In 11 of those episodes, Miss Marple was played by British actress Julia McKenzie with a much softer and self-deprecating side.

While McKenzie is no replacement for Geraldine McEwan, who played Marple in the first three seasons and 12 episodes, she owns brings her own trademark to the role in such exciting chapters as They Do it With Mirrors and Murder is Easy.

8 Yunjin Kim

Ms. Ma, Nemesis (2018)

Korean actress Yunjin Kim brings a refreshing wrinkle to the character of Miss Marple in the Agatha Christie mash-up series, Ms. Ma, Nemesis. So far, Kim has played Marple in 32 episodes and counting.

In addition to Christie's novel Nemesis, the show pulls various storylines from such other works as The Body in the Library, A Murder is Announced, The Moving Finger and The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side. Kim plays Ms. Ma, a younger international spinoff of the character.

7 Ita Ever

Secret Of The Blackbirds (1983) & Miss Marple Stories (1990)

Estonian screen and stage actress Ita Ever became the third person to portray Miss Marple in a feature film. She first starred in the role in the Russian adaptation of A Pocket Full of Rye in 1983, which went by a different name.

RELATED: 10 Most Common Tropes in Murder Mystery Movies

Ever acquitted herself well enough to be asked to reprise the role in a 1990 TV adaptation called Miss Marple Stories. In 2005, Ever played Marple for the final time on stage in the translation of The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side.

6 Kaoru Yachigusa

Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot And Marple (2004-2005)

In 39 episodes produced between 2004 and 2005, Japanese actress Kaoru Yachigusa voiced the role of Miss Marple in the animated TV series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Marple and Poirot. Yachigusa excels with her experience and ability to breathe new life into the role.

Among the various novel and short stories adapted in the series include Strange Jest, Sleeping Murder, The Blue Geranium, Ingots of Gold, The Tape Measure Murder, and several others.

5 Helen Hayes

A Caribbean Mystery (1983) & Agatha Christie's Murder with Mirrors (1985)

American actress Helen Hayes plays Marple twice on a pair of made-for-television Christie adaptations. The first came in the 1983 telling of A Caribbean Mystery and the second came in a 1985 redo of Murder with Mirrors.

Hayes's performance as Marple was noted for being cheery and anodyne, rather than the snarky and sarcastic crank some of the others played the character with. In 1986, Hayes also appeared in Murder is Easy, a non-Marple mystery in which she plays Lavinia Fullerton.

4 Geraldine McEwan

Marple (2004-2007)

Geraldine McEwan brought a caustic bite to her depiction of Marple on three seasons and 12 episodes of ITV's Agatha Christie's Marple from 2005 to 2009.

RELATED: 10 Best Whodunit Movies, According To Ranker

In addition to being given a rich backstory, McEwan's Marple is notable for how stern, sterile, and unfunny she is. In making a concerted effort to move away from the most memorable of screen performances of the character, the lack of camp and kitsch makes McEwan one of the most unique Marples of all.

3 Joan Hickson

Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: The Body In The Library (1984), The Moving Finger (1985), A Murder Is Announced (1985), A Pocket Full Of Rye (1985), Masterpiece Mystery (1986), The Murder At The Vicarage (1986), Sleeping Murder (1987), At Bertram's Hotel (1987), Nemesis (1987), 4.50 From Paddington (1987), A Caribbean Mystery (1989), They Do It With Mirrors (1991) & The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side (1992)

The BBC once adapted all 12 Christie novels about the character in a series simply titled Miss Marple. Joan Hickson, who first played the role on stage in 1940, played Marple in all dozen.

Given the sheer breadth of her performance over eight years and 12 feature-length episodes, Hickson branded the character as her very own. As a result, Hickson scored back-to-back BAFTA nods in 1987 and 1988 for Best Actress as Miss Marple. Hickson also won a 1987 UK Royal Television Award for Best Performance in the Marple series. She is easily one of the most iconic Miss Marple actresses to date.

2 Angela Lansbury

The Mirror Crack'd (1980)

Although Angela Lansbury only played Jane Marple once via the star-studded 1980 adaptation of The Mirror Crack'd, her acting choices made set her far apart from the pack.

Rather than a doddering elderly woman, Lansbury plays Marple with sharp-minded intelligence who doesn't suffer fools easily. Of course, her 264 episodes of Murder, She Wrote as the iconic Marple-like Jessica Fletcher only bolsters her silver medal status.

1 Margaret Rutherford

Murder She Said (1961), Murder At The Gallop (1963), Murder Most Foul (1964), Murder Ahoy (1964) & The Alphabet Murders (1965)

The first, best, and most definitive portrayal of Miss Marple belongs to Margaret Rutherford, the London-born actress who first played the part in the 1962 adaptation of The Mirror Crack'd Side to Side. With no one else to compare her performance, Rutherford owned the role in a way that was imitated for years.

Rutherford reprised the frumpy, dizzy, and quirky turn as Marple in several films, including Murder, She Said, Murder At the Gallup, Murder Most Foul, Murder Ahoy!, and The Alphabet Murders.

NEXT: 10 Most Common Tropes in Murder Mystery TV Shows



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines Interview — Makeup Head Annick Chartier On Subtle Horror & Era Recreation

Learn the origins of one of Stephen King's most memorable characters in Pet Sematary: Bloodlines . The movie centers on a younger Jud Crandall as he attempts to leave his hometown of Ludlow, though when a childhood friend returns from the Vietnam War in mysterious fashion, he learns of a dark secret those in the town have been guarding.

Which X-Men Character Are You, Based On Your MBTI® Type?

Even more so than other superhero teams in Marvel and DC, the X-Men offers a lot in the variety of characters who have served as members. Most mutants in Marvel have been X-Men, and these characters came in all shapes and sizes, many with overbearing personalities and others more recluse, traversing the  MBTI® Type scale. Led by Professor X, many of the members of the X-Men started there as kids while others joined as adults. There have been heroes and villains who worked on the team and on the island of Krakoa, every mutant lives there together in peace. With so much drama and complex personalities throughout the history of the X-Men, there is an MBTI® Type for everyone. 10 INTJ-A - Professor X Professor Charles Xavier is clearly an Architect when it comes to his MBTI® Type. Not only that, but he is an Assertive Architect. He is a self-assured man who values organization and rationality when solving problems. This started out when he created the X-Men and became more controllin

The 10 Best Westworld Characters, According To Ranker

With the return of Westworld for its long-awaited fourth season, fans are instantly becoming hooked once again to the sci-fi story. But while the compelling mystery is certainly a draw, it is the characters of Westworld that really bring this ambitious story to life. While everyone certainly will have their own personal favorites, Ranker has shared the most popular Westworld characters among fans. Some characters are easy to root for, some are more complex, and many of them have their own intriguing mysteries fans love exploring. 10 Felix Lutz It seems that the people working at Westworld fall into one of two categories, either being indifferent and cruel to the hosts or showing empathy for these creations. Felix falls into the latter category, making him a likable part of the team. His true compassion shows when Maeve recruits him to help her escape from the park. While Felix is a timid man, he seems to be inspired by Maeve's boldness and strength which pushes him to fo