Biography for
Joan Hickson (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

5 August 1906, Kingsthorpe, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England, UK

Date of Death

17 October 1998, Colchester, Essex, England, UK (natural causes)

Mini Biography

Joan Hickson was born in 1906 at Kingsthorpe, Northampton. Her stage career began with provincial theater in 1927, going on to a long series of West End comedies, usually playing the part of a confused or eccentric middle-age woman. She performed at the Regent's Park Open Air Theater at the time London was subject to World War II bombing. Her work gradually included screen roles: The Guinea Pig (1948), The Card (1952), The 39 Steps (1959) - over 80 movies in all - but her stage career continued, with parts in three Peter Nichols plays, Coward's "Blithe Spirit" (1976) and and a Tony award supporting actress performance in Ayckbourn's "Bedroom Farce" (1977). Her first Agatha Christie role was Miss Pryce in the play "Appointment With Death" (1946), which prompted Christie herself to write "I hope you will play my dear Miss Marple." She began playing this, her best known part, in her late 70s, in a BBC television series which ran from 1984 to 1992. A Miss Marple fan, Queen Elizabeth, awarded her the Order of the British Empire in 1987. After the series closed Joan recorded audio books of the Christie mysteries. She died, aged 92, in hospital at Colchester, Essex, survived by a son and daughter (her physician husband Eric Butler died in 1967).

IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan

Spouse

Eric Butler

(1932 - 1967) (his death) 2 children

Trivia

Agatha Christie saw Ms. Hickson in the 1946 play of the Christie novel "Appointment With Death." Christie sent Ms. Hickson a note that read, "I hope one day you will play my dear Miss Marple."

Awarded the OBE for services to acting [1987]

Received 2 BAFTA nominations as Best TV actress for playing Miss Marple.

After appearing in the play Appointment with Death, Agatha Christie wrote Joan a letter telling her she hoped that she would one day play Miss Marple. Nearly 40 years later, Joan did just that, and ended up being considered the closest to the character Christie created in her portrayal.

Won Broadway's 1979 Tony Award as Best Actress (Featured Role - Play) for "Bedroom Farce."

Appeared with Margaret Rutheford as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's "Murder, She Said," as Mrs. Kidder. She later remade the same film as "4:50 from Paddington" playing Miss Marple.

Personal Quotes

"I was lucky not to have been born pretty."

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