Joan Hickson was splendid as Miss Marple. Not only did she act well she also fitted the description. Just as I imagined Miss Marple reading the books. To most of my fellow Germans however Margaret Rutherford is THE Miss Marple. But then the Marple TV-Series with Joan Hickson isn’t really known here. And many people didn’t read the books and therefore don’t realize that Margaret Rutherford‘s representation of the character is quite different from the books.
Ive seen probably all the actresses who ever played Miss Marple as Miss Marple, but Joan IS Miss Jane Marple. And the very first time i watched her as Miss Marple, i knew no one else would ever hold a candle to her.
My opinion also. I Love, love, love Joan Hickson's Miss Marple. I just don't understand any other actress in that part. And I do watch them all periodically. What a joy she is.
When they started the newer ‘Marple’ we watched 10 minutes before switching back to the DVD of Joan Hickson. For us the newer series had a harder edge that missed the point of Miss Marples’ quiet understanding of human weaknesses and strength. Thank you so much for this short film about Joan Hickson. She has given our whole family hours of gentle entertainment in a changing world.
Dear Puppet, I noticed the change in quality, too, in the next Marple. There was a sharper edge, less subtlety, more darkness, and an excessive cutesyness that never belonged. Thank you. Richard.
I have loved Miss Marple since I was a 12 year old girl and Joan Hickson personified her to a 'T'. No one else will ever be able to play that part as well.
Thank you for your affectionate tribute to Joan Hickson, the definitive Miss Marple. And thank the Lord for inspiring the BBC for recording them for posterity. For anyone interested in Agatha Christie's fine creation, they are a MUST.
A most excellent Miss Marple !! One would watch Joan and wait & stare at her and wait to see what was going on in her brain, and then listen to what she was going to say about the murder scene, then she would come up with clues the murderer left behind and stlill, further dissect the clues, one by one, then she stopped and went cold, and left the audience in the air..... just brilliant !!
It really is terrific production, a wonderful testament to her character, her long career and making her role as Miss Marple so convincing that we can't imagine anyone else equaling it. This video was very well thought out.
I like them all, they all bring something to the role but this is THE Miss Marple. Fact. I am so glad she managed to do all the novels. I believe there were plans to do some of the short stories but JH ruled herself out agreeing to complete the novel adaptations but leaving it there. She did read the audiobooks for the other Marple stories so it’s pretty close to having her doing the complete Agatha Christie works which is nice to have.
I would concur with your appraisal of Joan Hickson, Marina - a fine actress with a comprehensive knowledge in character portayal - & the ultimate Miss Marple; I own the BBC box set, & never tire of watching her rendition of one of Christie's most enigmatic (yet understated) detectives. In my opinion, Hickson outshone Margaret Rutherford's 'Marple', because Rutherford seemed to overdo the eccentrities of this village resident - to the point where it became absurd. Both my Grandmother & Great Aunt were born around the same time as Hickson, & (also) being stage actors, knew her quite well. Your (correct) assertion that Hickson never sought the limelight is proven without a doubt. In fact, the actor, Anthony Hopkins also worked to the same life ethos: Solid, hard work, without all the frills & furbelows - or indeed, 'preciousness' that many, shall we say, more aesthetically pleasing thespians seem to adopt, then as now; & in that regard, perhaps being the secret to longevity, in what is universally understood as a most precarious career - all governed, prejudicially, by the producers & directors of (any) performing enterprise. No-one prior to, or subsequent, has managed to capture Hickson's essence for the quintessential Jane Marple, & I consider that Christie's desire for this lady to play St. Mary Mead's one woman tour de force was a decided portent, realised. Thank you so much for this presentation - delivered with aplomb, Best, Andrew.
You are, dear lady, most welcome ! On the strength of this presentation alone, I have become a subscriber - I look forward to viewing more of your biopics on the good & the great. Enjoy the day ahead ! Regards, Andrew.
Throughout her career, Joan Hickson had the brilliant ability to play low-status, high-status, and everything in between. Her film appearances ranged from wonderful blink-and-you'll miss cameos (see 1956's Lost, in which she has an amusing scene with a young Barbara Windsor early in the film), to more substantial roles (see 1958's Law and Disorder, and the extraordinary A Day In The Death of Joe Egg from 1972). Anyone only familiar with her definitive Miss Marple portrayal should dig out anything from her long film and tv career and enjoy her range!
I don't watch any other Miss Marple because for me nobody will ever replace Joan Hickson. I saw her first in an adaptation of Why Didn't They Ask Evans? and when I saw my first Miss Marple episode I had to buy the DVD box set. I love the fact that Agatha told Joan that she hoped she'd play Miss Marple one day. I can see why.
A very nicely done documentary on Joan Hickson, thank you. She was an excellent Miss Marple and brought to life other characters in her long career. Pity I never saw her on stage and have only seen a few films with her on her pre Miss Marple work. Even the few minutes she is on camera can be memorable, as when she played the landlady to Stephen Boyd's spy character in The Man Who Never Was - a true story from WWII adapted into an excellent film.
@@bexp436 I didn’t realize there was a newer version but then again, I have not gone to the movies much in recent years. Ever since 2020, the movie complex close to home doesn’t put the names of the movies on the large street sign like before. Since I don’t see what is new, I don’t look for it. My interest in entertainment is not a priority. Thanks for the information, I’ll look up the information so I don’t loose touch with recent offerings.
Thank you for such a lovely presentation. Joan Hickson is the definitive Miss Marple, but Margaret Rutherford holds a special place in my heart because she was my first introduction to the character.
For me, Joan Hickson is/was the best Miss Marple. I have always spotted her in all the films in which she's played secondary roles, but I had NO IDEA that she was the same person as "my" Miss Marple. Thanks for this!!!!!!!
Warning: long comment! I really enjoyed this well researched and well edited video - excellent clips, brilliantly deployed to support the narration. My one reservation is that it presents Joan Hickson's career as something of an unjustly underrated one, finally crowned with belated success - at least at the beginning of the video. I think you underestimate the importance of character actors, especially in British media. A good character actor - and Hickson was always one of the best and most successful - is the backbone, as well as the "bread and butter" of the theatre and other media. Without them, nobody gets their bread and butter. It's not like a Hollywood "bit part" at all (and Hollywood also had its beloved character actors). The defining thing is that their roles don't have a "character arc" - they don't undergo deep transformation. They remain the loveable rogue, the sardonic housekeeper, the evil villain or the stalwart companion as established in their first few speeches, and that stability is an anchor. They may have fewer lines, or they may have plenty, but their presence is vital in moving the plot on, creating the atmosphere, making a connection with the audience and supporting the principal roles. As you pointed out, they have much longer careers than stars, and audiences come to love and trust them, because they reliably deliver. We may not always remember their names, but we never forget their best work. The crowning achievement of Joan Hickson's long and successful career was to become the perfect lead in a cast consisting entirely of character actors. She was perfect for Christie, and Christie was perfect for her, because AC wrote "characters", rather than people, and a good actor can give them some psychological depth, when required. The massive popularity of the BBC series shows how much an audience loves this kind of acting, especially when there is no stinting on the production values. You don't need to be rich and famous to be a success. That Joan Hickson also became a star is the icing on the cake - but without the cake, there's nothing to ice.
I so love Joan Hickson. I’ve rewatched over and over her Miss Marple videos. I see new things each time, the nuances of her. She is strong, focused, real, firm, intelligent with an iron grip on humility & reality. She is among my hero’s insofar as how to approach life & living. She’s a blueprint for a life well lived.
She was wrong. She was a great actress. Her enduring legacy is testament to this. You don't have to be the one center stage of a full cast making all the noise to be great. You can be supportive, creative, and a character in your own right. Example: I knew a Boston actress who once played a maid cleaning up after an in-home party. She had no lines, and all she was expected to do was pick up the empty drink glasses and take them elsewhere. This was live theater in the round. She appeared on stage, began collecting the drink glasses, some of which were unfinished. She entered stone cold sober but left staggering off quite tipsy. The audience loved it and lol avidly watching her gradual deterioration. A good actor can take any part and turn it into memorable.
This video appeared in my feed today. And I could not be happier to see it. I have recently been reading all of the Marple books and watching the series made in the early 2000s......I have only been able to find 2 or 3 of the Joan Hickson episodes so far. But I agree that she is clearly the perfect Miss Marple. Much as I love Margaret Rutherford, Hickson is the Marple of the books. ( And it certainly helps her episodes that the screenwriters actually atayed faithful to the brilliantly plotted books.) Thank you for this well researched, well presented appreciation of Joan Hickson.
For me, a great fan of Agatha Christie mysteries, Joan Hickson's performance as Miss Marple comes the closest to the real Jane Marple. Christie described Jane as a very ordinary-looking old English lady. She did not have the good looks of "Jessica Fletcher", the tiresome smiley face of the BBC's Marple #2, the earnest gravity of BBC's Marple #3, or the hilarious campiness of Margaret Rutherford. She played Miss Marple as millions of us readers got to know over the years, and through her delightful acting skills she told us much more than her speaking lines ever could. Thank you so much for this film!
I subscribe to British TV, Britbox & Acorn. I watch it far beyond anything American (vulgar). I wish British TV would do “ marathons” of a designated actor much more. Recently they did a great one on Cary Grant. I’d love to see films with the classics actors did. I rarely run into Joan Hickson films with exceptions to Agatha Christie. She just draws me into the story! Love her.
Agatha Christie said Joan Hickson brought to life her fictional creation. I concur, most actresses played her as quite silly supposedly hiding her sharp mind. Joan played her as a quiet but formidable old dear.
Thank you for such a well researched video. You presented it with a kind fondness. You may like to have a look at the career of Tom Walls, another great actor who was born a stones throw from Joan. A note to Kevineeley, I was born in Colwyn Road, the adjoining road to Hood Street where I think Joan lived. I was a few years late though. Would have loved to have told her how much her performance of Miss Marple will never be eclipsed.😃.
Joan Hickson was the best Miss Marple. This is an excellent video. The lovely woman making the video expresses herself better in English than many native English speakers.
Thank you so much, for this enthusiastic and well researched video. I really enjoyed it. I've no idea why some people disliked Marple or Joan's portrayal. Her portrayal was very book accurate and the character really was Nemesis, an almost inhuman force of nature pursuing justice relentlessly, but at the same time offering gentle advice and understated compassion.
When I think of Miss Marple, I see Joan Hickson's face. I love all her episodes because the adaptations didn't wander too far from the books. Although the actresses playing Miss Marple after her were wonderful, I didn't care for the adaptions that veered so far from the books. Even though I've seen these videos numerous times, I still enjoy watching Joan Hickson's Miss Marple periodically. Same with David Suchet's Poirot (early adaptations).
What a wonderful video! Thanks for all the fotos of earlier years. Made me wonder what was going on in the filmmakers' heads. I mean, she didn't look like a pin-up girl, but she certainly was pretty and - what's more - looked like a person, an individual as opposed to the lookalike actresses of the time. but maybe that was exactly the reason....
The first time I saw Miss Marple was with Geraldine McEwan that was just about a year ago and I love her! Then I went on to watch the episodes with Julia McKenzie love her. It has taken me a while to like Joan Hickson she’s just really low-key, and so quiet that it is taking me a while to adjust to her character. But I am giving her time to grow on me.
The woman who played the doctor's sister in the BBC production of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was not Joan Hickson, but another wonderful actress--Selina Cadell.
give me a timecode where I say she is, please? I speak about this type of amateur female sleuth and share Christie's own recollections of how this type was born in her oeuvre. There I talk about Dr Sheppard’s sister in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and show the respective episode as an illustration.@@ruthcollins2841
Joan Hickson was a scene stealing character actress of distinction long before Miss Marple came along, specialising in the slightly eccentric, even dotty. What made her characterisation of Miss Marple the greatest there has been was her capacity to show the astringency of the character's intellect behind the sweetness/vagueness of the old lady that she was. Agatha Christie said Miss Marple had a mind 'like a steel trap'. Joan Hickson showed us the trap shutting.
@@fionad9913 in one book Poirot said he can speak like an Englishman if he wants to, but it helps make people underestimate him if he sounds obviously foreign
Great video. Joan Hickson was the definitive Miss Marple and no one can take her place. And I miss an acting industry which had room for older actors and actresses without needing to shoehorn all of them, along with every other generation of actors, into “sexy” roles or characterizations. Believe it or not, there’s more to life, even a life quietly lived-I would know, being a widow in my 60s. Not to say that aspect of life isn’t important with the one you love but it’s not the be-all and end-all of life. I don’t know why, but 70s and 80s screen acting was especially good at recognizing this. British acting was almost always good at recognizing this until the last couple of decades. They had so many successful shows and films, in the past, with character parts instead of everyone having to be “sexy” and cookie cutter.
Your videos are so well done, and very enjoyable! It shows that you take time to research your material well. Much appreciated! And I like your unique accent that comes out of speaking 4 languages fluently. Impressive! Thanks again.
My favorite, she was Miss Marple! I always loved the ways carachters in the series run their mouths in front of her taking her for a senile woman who couldn't understand the world around her, just like many people did in front of my clever and always sharp grandmother, who was bright and alert to her 95th birthday when she suddenly passaed away.
Gracias for your lovely personality with such a great inspiring information! Greetings from Mexico, and yes, for me too Joan Hickson the one and only perfect Miss Marple, it was very cherished to know about her life. Thank you.
In an interview I watched conducted with Hickson for the benefit of viewers of the series when it was first being aired years back on the PBS Mystery program at the time being hosted by the great, late Diana Rigg the actress related how she was quite uncertain she could believably assail the part of Miss Marple when she was approached to play the part. She explained that she was actually friends with Cristie, and decided to directly sound her out about portraying her iconic character. She said Christie simply looked at her after hearing her relate all her doubts and concerns, and in reply merely stated ”My dear Joan I based Marple on you.” For me that revelation by Hickson fully explains why she was and will always forever be the definitive Miss Marple. I always found her quite endearing in the part, and I always have had to the present a very special soft spot in my heart for that “sweet old darling”!
In this excellent video the narrator says Agatha Christie has been deceased for, I think she said eight years, when Joan Hickson was approached to play the part in 1984.
I’m well aware of what was erroneously stated. I heard and watched Hickson in that interview plainly, and very clearly state what I described, and I’ve never forgotten it.
I’m a new subscriber and fan. I just had to ensure I took a moment to let you know I really appreciate your videos. Not only are they full of delicious content related to the shows that I love so much, but you do such a great job at preparing for them and putting together a wonderful visual as well as spoken package. It’s almost like to watch an episode that I had never seen before. Cheers!
Your channel and videos are awesome. What makes your channel so wonderful is: you can tell you really like telling the stories of all these wonderful people. I am definitely a fan and thank you so much for the effort you put into each of these videos. Great Success.
I watched her growing up, loved British murder mysteries, even from childhood, and they played re-runs of this. Again, unlike many others, black and white didn’t bother me at all - I liked Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. Wonderful tribute. I learned so much! I want to see her older work too now!
I remember Joan Hickson as "Mrs Peace" in "Our Man at St Mark's". Filmed in Denham Village using our church (St Mary's - often seen in "Midsomer Murders ") and using the house across the roadc as "the vicarage".
Fascinating. I agree she was the best, the very image of, Miss Marple. .Always a joy. and I will be watching old films more closely to spot her younger self. Thank you so much!
The only thing wrong with her Miss Marple shows is there's not enough of her. In the books you get to read her mind as well as hear her speak!!! ...and what a mind! Like a sewer....O love the way she knows a legally married couple because they are so snarkey with each other but defend each other as well. Mere lovers aren't ever like that. Lotta wisdom in the old spinster!
I agree she is the best Miss Marple. Some of her moments were brilliant. Other actresses come close, but none meet her nuances and understanding of aging and ability
I was friends with Joan's niece a few years ago and she told me that Joan, Margaret Rutherford and Angela Lansbury (who all went on to play Miss Marple) all knew each other in the early days.
This Lady was always my favourite Miss Marple. In fact, I’ve just re-watched all the Miss Marple with Joan as main character
Lol. This is rather funny. I just re-watched all the Miss Marples too. Just watched the last one last evening.
My favorite too.
She's mine too, she matches miss maple in the books
Same actor plays Hercules Poirot (jus like book)
Me too! I’m rewatching and rationing myself to one every Sunday evening. . . Only one to go 😢🥺
My favorite Miss Marple too ❤️ Agatha Christie said she was perfect for Miss Marple !
She was most definitely the best Miss Marple I still watch the repeats of Miss Marple with Joan as Jane Marple. 😊😊❤x
Joan Hickson will always be (at least to me) the ultimate Miss Marple!
Joan Hickson was splendid as Miss Marple. Not only did she act well she also fitted the description. Just as I imagined Miss Marple reading the books.
To most of my fellow Germans however Margaret Rutherford is THE Miss Marple. But then the Marple TV-Series with Joan Hickson isn’t really known here. And many people didn’t read the books and therefore don’t realize that Margaret Rutherford‘s representation of the character is quite different from the books.
I totally agree!
Definitely the best Miss Marple ever.
she is the one true Miss Jane Marple
Joan Hickson was a remarkable, great actress, and like Miss Marple, a splendid person.
Couldn't agree more!
At 77 I understand how she thinks...everybody reminds her of somebody she once knew and if people are smart, they pay attention.
Ive seen probably all the actresses who ever played Miss Marple as Miss Marple, but Joan IS Miss Jane Marple. And the very first time i watched her as Miss Marple, i knew no one else would ever hold a candle to her.
The 80s had the best in British drama, Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, David Suchet as Hercules Poirot, & Joan Hickson the best Miss Marple EVER!
💯
I agree
Joan Hickson was a wonderful Miss Marple plus she was fun to watch in other works too. Lovely.
Wonderful video! Joan Hickson was my favorite Miss Marple!
Oh, thank you @arthurerickson5162 !
My opinion also.
I Love, love, love Joan Hickson's Miss Marple. I just don't understand any other actress in that part.
And I do watch them all periodically. What a joy she is.
I thought they were all lovely! Joan though has magnetism for me.
I just LOVED Joan….She WAS Jane Marple ❤
When they started the newer ‘Marple’ we watched 10 minutes before switching back to the DVD of Joan Hickson. For us the newer series had a harder edge that missed the point of Miss Marples’ quiet understanding of human weaknesses and strength. Thank you so much for this short film about Joan Hickson. She has given our whole family hours of gentle entertainment in a changing world.
Dear Puppet, I noticed the change in quality, too, in the next Marple. There was a sharper edge, less subtlety, more darkness, and an excessive cutesyness that never belonged. Thank you. Richard.
I have loved Miss Marple since I was a 12 year old girl and Joan Hickson personified her to a 'T'. No one else will ever be able to play that part as well.
As a huge Agatha Christie fan, I really enjoyed this, thank you! Joan Hickson was a wonderful Miss Marple😊
Thank you for your affectionate tribute to Joan Hickson, the definitive Miss Marple. And thank the Lord for inspiring the BBC for recording them for posterity. For anyone interested in Agatha Christie's fine creation, they are a MUST.
A most excellent Miss Marple !!
One would watch Joan and wait & stare at her
and wait to see what was going on in her
brain, and then listen to what she was
going to say about the murder scene, then
she would come up with clues the murderer
left behind and stlill, further dissect the clues,
one by one, then she stopped and went cold,
and left the audience in the air..... just brilliant !!
Yes no one who’s ever played the role of Miss Marple before or after could match her. She was amazing. She’s my all time favourite Marple.
A more exact representation of Miss Marple is unimaginable, and the producer of this documentary is due unrestricted kudos for this video.
oh, so happy to read this! I am the one woman behind this
I couldn't agree more, on both points! I have all the DVDs, and I never get tired of them.
It really is terrific production, a wonderful testament to her character, her long career and making her role as Miss Marple so convincing that we can't imagine anyone else equaling it. This video was very well thought out.
your words mean the world to me!@@johng4093
I like them all, they all bring something to the role but this is THE Miss Marple. Fact.
I am so glad she managed to do all the novels. I believe there were plans to do some of the short stories but JH ruled herself out agreeing to complete the novel adaptations but leaving it there. She did read the audiobooks for the other Marple stories so it’s pretty close to having her doing the complete Agatha Christie works which is nice to have.
Thank you for doing such a wonderful video about this great lady. Joan's Miss Marple is peerless. Agatha Christie was an absloute visionary.
Marina, thank you so much for making this video! Joan Hickson is my favorite Miss Marple.😊
I'm so glad!
I would concur with your appraisal of Joan Hickson, Marina - a fine actress with a comprehensive knowledge in character portayal - & the ultimate Miss Marple; I own the BBC box set, & never tire of watching her rendition of one of Christie's most enigmatic (yet understated) detectives. In my opinion, Hickson outshone Margaret Rutherford's 'Marple', because Rutherford seemed to overdo the eccentrities of this village resident - to the point where it became absurd. Both my Grandmother & Great Aunt were born around the same time as Hickson, & (also) being stage actors, knew her quite well. Your (correct) assertion that Hickson never sought the limelight is proven without a doubt. In fact, the actor, Anthony Hopkins also worked to the same life ethos: Solid, hard work, without all the frills & furbelows - or indeed, 'preciousness' that many, shall we say, more aesthetically pleasing thespians seem to adopt, then as now; & in that regard, perhaps being the secret to longevity, in what is universally understood as a most precarious career - all governed, prejudicially, by the producers & directors of (any) performing enterprise.
No-one prior to, or subsequent, has managed to capture Hickson's essence for the quintessential Jane Marple, & I consider that Christie's desire for this lady to play St. Mary Mead's one woman tour de force was a decided portent, realised.
Thank you so much for this presentation - delivered with aplomb,
Best,
Andrew.
Thank you for such a thoughtful comment, Andrew! And for your kind words too!
You are, dear lady, most welcome ! On the strength of this presentation alone, I have become a subscriber - I look forward to viewing more of your biopics on the good & the great. Enjoy the day ahead !
Regards,
Andrew.
Although I loved Joan Hickson, my sentimental favorite is Margaret Rutherford. I'm nearly 70 and she was always a joy to watch for me.
@@SusannaYeakelDominguezES Each to their own.
Throughout her career, Joan Hickson had the brilliant ability to play low-status, high-status, and everything in between. Her film appearances ranged from wonderful blink-and-you'll miss cameos (see 1956's Lost, in which she has an amusing scene with a young Barbara Windsor early in the film), to more substantial roles (see 1958's Law and Disorder, and the extraordinary A Day In The Death of Joe Egg from 1972). Anyone only familiar with her definitive Miss Marple portrayal should dig out anything from her long film and tv career and enjoy her range!
I don't watch any other Miss Marple because for me nobody will ever replace Joan Hickson. I saw her first in an adaptation of Why Didn't They Ask Evans? and when I saw my first Miss Marple episode I had to buy the DVD box set. I love the fact that Agatha told Joan that she hoped she'd play Miss Marple one day. I can see why.
This was masterfully done and a fitting tribute to the woman who will always be Miss Marple for me -- thank you! ❤❤❤
happy to hear that, thank you!
A very nicely done documentary on Joan Hickson, thank you. She was an excellent Miss Marple and brought to life other characters in her long career.
Pity I never saw her on stage and have only seen a few films with her on her pre Miss Marple work. Even the few minutes she is on camera can be memorable, as when she played the landlady to Stephen Boyd's spy character in The Man Who Never Was - a true story from WWII adapted into an excellent film.
glad you liked it, thank you!
Totally agree with you. I loved The Man Who Never Was. Great movie and the modern remake did not live up to it.
@@bexp436 I didn’t realize there was a newer version but then again, I have not gone to the movies much in recent years. Ever since 2020, the movie complex close to home doesn’t put the names of the movies on the large street sign like before. Since I don’t see what is new, I don’t look for it. My interest in entertainment is not a priority.
Thanks for the information, I’ll look up the information so I don’t loose touch with recent offerings.
Thank you for such a lovely presentation. Joan Hickson is the definitive Miss Marple, but Margaret Rutherford holds a special place in my heart because she was my first introduction to the character.
I also love Rutherford's take!
I agree Doris...
I loved Margaret Rutherford also in the original Miss Marple series.
For me, Joan Hickson is/was the best Miss Marple. I have always spotted her in all the films in which she's played secondary roles, but I had NO IDEA that she was the same person as "my" Miss Marple. Thanks for this!!!!!!!
Warning: long comment! I really enjoyed this well researched and well edited video - excellent clips, brilliantly deployed to support the narration. My one reservation is that it presents Joan Hickson's career as something of an unjustly underrated one, finally crowned with belated success - at least at the beginning of the video. I think you underestimate the importance of character actors, especially in British media. A good character actor - and Hickson was always one of the best and most successful - is the backbone, as well as the "bread and butter" of the theatre and other media. Without them, nobody gets their bread and butter.
It's not like a Hollywood "bit part" at all (and Hollywood also had its beloved character actors). The defining thing is that their roles don't have a "character arc" - they don't undergo deep transformation. They remain the loveable rogue, the sardonic housekeeper, the evil villain or the stalwart companion as established in their first few speeches, and that stability is an anchor. They may have fewer lines, or they may have plenty, but their presence is vital in moving the plot on, creating the atmosphere, making a connection with the audience and supporting the principal roles. As you pointed out, they have much longer careers than stars, and audiences come to love and trust them, because they reliably deliver. We may not always remember their names, but we never forget their best work.
The crowning achievement of Joan Hickson's long and successful career was to become the perfect lead in a cast consisting entirely of character actors. She was perfect for Christie, and Christie was perfect for her, because AC wrote "characters", rather than people, and a good actor can give them some psychological depth, when required. The massive popularity of the BBC series shows how much an audience loves this kind of acting, especially when there is no stinting on the production values.
You don't need to be rich and famous to be a success. That Joan Hickson also became a star is the icing on the cake - but without the cake, there's nothing to ice.
What a wonderful addition, thank you for taking time to write your comment, @londongael414
I so love Joan Hickson. I’ve rewatched over and over her Miss Marple videos. I see new things each time, the nuances of her. She is strong, focused, real, firm, intelligent with an iron grip on humility & reality. She is among my hero’s insofar as how to approach life & living. She’s a blueprint for a life well lived.
Thanks for sharing her life and career.🌹
She was wrong. She was a great actress. Her enduring legacy is testament to this.
You don't have to be the one center stage of a full cast making all the noise to be great. You can be supportive, creative, and a character in your own right.
Example: I knew a Boston actress who once played a maid cleaning up after an in-home party. She had no lines, and all she was expected to do was pick up the empty drink glasses and take them elsewhere.
This was live theater in the round. She appeared on stage, began collecting the drink glasses, some of which were unfinished.
She entered stone cold sober but left staggering off quite tipsy. The audience loved it and lol avidly watching her gradual deterioration.
A good actor can take any part and turn it into memorable.
I loved this! Joan is the only Miss Marple who truly fulfilled
Christie’s character.
There was only one Miss Marple! What great entertainment she afforded us.
This video appeared in my feed today. And I could not be happier to see it. I have recently been reading all of the Marple books and watching the series made in the early 2000s......I have only been able to find 2 or 3 of the Joan Hickson episodes so far. But I agree that she is clearly the perfect Miss Marple. Much as I love Margaret Rutherford, Hickson is the Marple of the books. (
And it certainly helps her episodes that the screenwriters actually atayed faithful to the brilliantly plotted books.) Thank you for this well researched, well presented appreciation of Joan Hickson.
Thank you, Ruth, so happy to read your feedback!
For me, a great fan of Agatha Christie mysteries, Joan Hickson's performance as Miss Marple comes the closest to the real Jane Marple. Christie described Jane as a very ordinary-looking old English lady. She did not have the good looks of "Jessica Fletcher", the tiresome smiley face of the BBC's Marple #2, the earnest gravity of BBC's Marple #3, or the hilarious campiness of Margaret Rutherford. She played Miss Marple as millions of us readers got to know over the years, and through her delightful acting skills she told us much more than her speaking lines ever could. Thank you so much for this film!
Vielen Danke! Excellent documentary.
Loved her! She was the best Marple yet!
Oh yes, she was the ultimate Miss Marple!
She’s the only miss Marple I will watch!
Just lovely, thank you.
Happy you enjoyed!
Yes. Joan Hickson was the best Miss Marple by far.
Well done to the lady introducing this video.
Thank you, Jennifer!
I subscribe to British TV, Britbox & Acorn. I watch it far beyond anything American (vulgar). I wish British TV would do “ marathons” of a designated actor much more. Recently they did a great one on Cary Grant. I’d love to see films with the classics actors did. I rarely run into Joan Hickson films with exceptions to Agatha Christie. She just draws me into the story! Love her.
Joan Hickson immortalised the role.
Absolutely astounding portrayal.
Agatha was so right! You were the perfect Miss Marple.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
This was fantastic
Thank you so much.
🙌 my pleasure!
This was very enjoyable, well done! And thank you😘
thank you for watching and taking time to say that!
Agatha Christie said Joan Hickson brought to life her fictional creation. I concur, most actresses played her as quite silly supposedly hiding her sharp mind. Joan played her as a quiet but formidable old dear.
I don't think Christie lived to see her as Miss Marple
No, she didn't, but I think she did think Joan would make a good Miss Maple.
Thank you for such a well researched video. You presented it with a kind fondness. You may like to have a look at the career of Tom Walls, another great actor who was born a stones throw from Joan.
A note to Kevineeley, I was born in Colwyn Road, the adjoining road to Hood Street where I think Joan lived. I was a few years late though. Would have loved to have told her how much her performance of Miss Marple will never be eclipsed.😃.
Thank you for these kind words and sharing your story, @sheilaleslie1323 !
I absolutely loved Joan as Miss Marple, no one has ever bettered her.
I enjoyed your video about Joan Hickson Miss Via !! Thank you
Thank you Marina! 😄👍👍👍
Joan Hickson was the best Miss Marple. This is an excellent video. The lovely woman making the video expresses herself better in English than many native English speakers.
Thank you so much, for this enthusiastic and well researched video. I really enjoyed it.
I've no idea why some people disliked Marple or Joan's portrayal. Her portrayal was very book accurate and the character really was Nemesis, an almost inhuman force of nature pursuing justice relentlessly, but at the same time offering gentle advice and understated compassion.
Thank you for taking time to write this comment: it made me so happy to read it!
When I think of Miss Marple, I see Joan Hickson's face. I love all her episodes because the adaptations didn't wander too far from the books. Although the actresses playing Miss Marple after her were wonderful, I didn't care for the adaptions that veered so far from the books. Even though I've seen these videos numerous times, I still enjoy watching Joan Hickson's Miss Marple periodically. Same with David Suchet's Poirot (early adaptations).
Wonderful video - thank you so much
Thank you, this is so charming.
💚🥰🥰🧡💛✨🐾
What a wonderful video! Thanks for all the fotos of earlier years. Made me wonder what was going on in the filmmakers' heads. I mean, she didn't look like a pin-up girl, but she certainly was pretty and - what's more - looked like a person, an individual as opposed to the lookalike actresses of the time. but maybe that was exactly the reason....
this!
The first time I saw Miss Marple was with Geraldine McEwan that was just about a year ago and I love her! Then I went on to watch the episodes with Julia McKenzie love her. It has taken me a while to like Joan Hickson she’s just really low-key, and so quiet that it is taking me a while to adjust to her character. But I am giving her time to grow on me.
A wonderful and kind documentary about THE Jane Marple - thank you. I watched this as a young man and was gripped by the dramatisation. Thank you!
The one and only Miss Marple!!
Just a little something to show my appreciation of the hard work you put into each of your videos. I am binge watching them all. Thank you.
Wow, this is my first ever tip like that! Feels so cool! Thank you so much, I'm so glad to learn that you like my work here!
@@marina_via Oh, I forgot to mention, I also subscribed to your channel and am clicking the like thumb.
Joan Hickson was my favorite Miss Marple, I also loved Margaret Rutherford.
The woman who played the doctor's sister in the BBC production of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was not Joan Hickson, but another wonderful actress--Selina Cadell.
of course, she's not
@@marina_viaThe one in the Poirot "Roger Ackroyd" was NOR Joan Hickson
😊
give me a timecode where I say she is, please? I speak about this type of amateur female sleuth and share Christie's own recollections of how this type was born in her oeuvre. There I talk about Dr Sheppard’s sister in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and show the respective episode as an illustration.@@ruthcollins2841
The definitive Miss Marple in my humble opinion. Christie herself said that Joan Hickson looked exactly like her mental image of the character.
Joan Hickson was a scene stealing character actress of distinction long before Miss Marple came along, specialising in the slightly eccentric, even dotty.
What made her characterisation of Miss Marple the greatest there has been was her capacity to show the astringency of the character's intellect behind the sweetness/vagueness of the old lady that she was. Agatha Christie said Miss Marple had a mind 'like a steel trap'. Joan Hickson showed us the trap shutting.
Miss Marple was never 'disorganised' in any Christie book.
But she often wanted to appear that way, on purpose. "Oh dear, I am just a silly old woman..." and then she gets some information out of someone...
@@fionad9913 in one book Poirot said he can speak like an Englishman if he wants to, but it helps make people underestimate him if he sounds obviously foreign
My favourite miss Marple ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
She was perfect!
Great video. Joan Hickson was the definitive Miss Marple and no one can take her place.
And I miss an acting industry which had room for older actors and actresses without needing to shoehorn all of them, along with every other generation of actors, into “sexy” roles or characterizations. Believe it or not, there’s more to life, even a life quietly lived-I would know, being a widow in my 60s. Not to say that aspect of life isn’t important with the one you love but it’s not the be-all and end-all of life. I don’t know why, but 70s and 80s screen acting was especially good at recognizing this. British acting was almost always good at recognizing this until the last couple of decades. They had so many successful shows and films, in the past, with character parts instead of everyone having to be “sexy” and cookie cutter.
Thank you! I do understand what you feel, yeah
I was a big fan of Joan Hickson from her small but memorable roles in the 1960s British comedy film series, the "Carry Ons".
Her radio narration of the Miss Marple stories are great too.
Your videos are so well done, and very enjoyable! It shows that you take time to research your material well. Much appreciated! And I like your unique accent that comes out of speaking 4 languages fluently. Impressive! Thanks again.
Oh, that you so much for your support and kind words, Kate! Means the world to me!
My favorite🤗
My favorite Miss Marple! I love to hear her read the books also.
thank you, Marina
I agree! She is the only Miss Marple!
My favorite, she was Miss Marple! I always loved the ways carachters in the series run their mouths in front of her taking her for a senile woman who couldn't understand the world around her, just like many people did in front of my clever and always sharp grandmother, who was bright and alert to her 95th birthday when she suddenly passaed away.
Gracias for your lovely personality with such a great inspiring information! Greetings from Mexico, and yes, for me too Joan Hickson the one and only perfect Miss Marple, it was very cherished to know about her life. Thank you.
In an interview I watched conducted with Hickson for the benefit of viewers of the series when it was first being aired years back on the PBS Mystery program at the time being hosted by the great, late Diana Rigg the actress related how she was quite uncertain she could believably assail the part of Miss Marple when she was approached to play the part. She explained that she was actually friends with Cristie, and decided to directly sound her out about portraying her iconic character. She said Christie simply looked at her after hearing her relate all her doubts and concerns, and in reply merely stated ”My dear Joan I based Marple on you.” For me that revelation by Hickson fully explains why she was and will always forever be the definitive Miss Marple. I always found her quite endearing in the part, and I always have had to the present a very special soft spot in my heart for that “sweet old darling”!
In this excellent video the narrator says Agatha Christie has been deceased for, I think she said eight years, when Joan Hickson was approached to play the part in 1984.
I’m well aware of what was erroneously stated. I heard and watched Hickson in that interview plainly, and very clearly state what I described, and I’ve never forgotten it.
Best Miss Marple ever, loved every film she was in.
She was superb in ‘Clockwise’ as well.
I’m a new subscriber and fan. I just had to ensure I took a moment to let you know I really appreciate your videos. Not only are they full of delicious content related to the shows that I love so much, but you do such a great job at preparing for them and putting together a wonderful visual as well as spoken package. It’s almost like to watch an episode that I had never seen before. Cheers!
Oh, I'm touched, really! Thank you for taking time to write this to me, @CCTrubiak !
Your channel and videos are awesome. What makes your channel so wonderful is: you can tell you really like telling the stories of all these wonderful people. I am definitely a fan and thank you so much for the effort you put into each of these videos. Great Success.
Thank you so much for these kind words, means a lot to me!
Am now in the Miss Marple stage of my life .
Have the bicycle but need the hats!
I watched her growing up, loved British murder mysteries, even from childhood, and they played re-runs of this. Again, unlike many others, black and white didn’t bother me at all - I liked Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. Wonderful tribute. I learned so much! I want to see her older work too now!
I loved listening t her audios
I remember Joan Hickson as "Mrs Peace" in "Our Man at St Mark's". Filmed in Denham Village using our church (St Mary's - often seen in "Midsomer Murders ") and using the house across the roadc as "the vicarage".
Fascinating. I agree she was the best, the very image of, Miss Marple. .Always a joy. and I will be watching old films more closely to spot her younger self. Thank you so much!
She was real English❤❤❤❤❤❤
And this is why we non-British outside UK just love her. A fan from Paris❤
She was always the best Marple, although I enjoyed Angela Lansbury too. Joan is and always will be the Miss Marple
strange to find she lived 7 miles from me, i could have visited her when i was a kid of 14
Joan Hickson (Mrs Butler) lived in the same village as I did when I was growing up. Her house has a plaque on it .
😊
Joan Hickson IS Miss Marple. No other actress came close.
Totally agree, none other "got it"!
The only thing wrong with her Miss Marple shows is there's not enough of her. In the books you get to read her mind as well as hear her speak!!! ...and what a mind! Like a sewer....O love the way she knows a legally married couple because they are so snarkey with each other but defend each other as well. Mere lovers aren't ever like that. Lotta wisdom in the old spinster!
Nice video, thanks. xx
As Jeremy Brett is the definitive Sherlock, so Joan Hickson is the definitive miss Marple.
I enjoyed this video tremendously.
what a joy to read this!
I agree she is the best Miss Marple. Some of her moments were brilliant. Other actresses come close, but none meet her nuances and understanding of aging and ability
I was friends with Joan's niece a few years ago and she told me that Joan, Margaret Rutherford and Angela Lansbury (who all went on to play Miss Marple) all knew each other in the early days.