Joan Hickson OBE
Hickson asMiss Marple
Born	Joan Bogle Hickson[1] (1906-08-05)5 August 1906 Kingsthorpe,Northamptonshire, England
Died	17 October 1998(1998-10-17) (aged 92) Colchester,Essex, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1927–1993
Spouse	Eric Butler ​ ​ (m. 1932; died 1967)​
Children	2
Awards	Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play 1979Bedroom Farce

Joan Bogle Butler (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998), known professionally asJoan Hickson, was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role asAgatha Christie'sMiss Marple in the television seriesMiss Marple. She also narrated a number ofMiss Marple stories onaudiobooks.

Born inKingsthorpe,Northampton, Hickson was a daughter of Edith Mary (née Bogle) and Alfred Harold Hickson, a shoe manufacturer. After boarding at Oldfield School inSwanage, Dorset, she went on to train atRADA in London.^[2] She made her stage debut in 1927, then worked for several years throughout the United Kingdom, achieving success playing comedic, often eccentric characters in the West End of London. She played the role of the cockney maid Ida in the original production ofSee How They Run at theQ Theatre in 1944, and then at theComedy Theatre in January 1945.^[3]

Hickson made her first film appearance in 1934. The numerous supporting roles she played during her career included several inCarry On films, notably Sister inCarry On Nurse and Mrs May inCarry On Constable.

In the 1940s Hickson appeared on stage inAppointment with Death, a play byAgatha Christie, who wrote in a note to her, "I will call you to play my 'Miss Marple' one day, if I can find the time to write another play".^[4]

In 1961, Hickson played the housekeeper in the filmMurder, She Said, based on Agatha Christie's novel4.50 From Paddington and starringMargaret Rutherford as Miss Marple.From 1963 to 1966 Hickson played Mrs Peace, housekeeper to the Reverend Stephen Young, played byDonald Sinden, in the highly rated TV seriesOur Man at St Mark's. From 1970 to 1971 she played Mrs Pugsley inBachelor Father. She also played Mrs Chambers inWhatever Happened to the Likely Lads? In 1986 she played the part of Mrs Trellis in the filmClockwise. Also in 1986 she appeared in episode 2 of the drama seriesScreenPlay.

Hickson's stage career included roles inNoël Coward'sBlithe Spirit, the musicalThe Card (1975), adapted byTony Hatch andJackie Trent from the novel byArnold Bennett; andAlan Ayckbourn'sBedroom Farce, for which she won a 1979Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play and had been nominated for theLaurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance in1977. In 1980 she appeared as Mrs Rivington inWhy Didn't They Ask Evans?, yet another production based on a novel by Agatha Christie.

TheBBC began filming the works of Agatha Christie in the mid-1980s and set out to remain faithful to the plotlines and locales of Christie's stories, as well as to represent Miss Marple as written. Hickson played the role of Miss Marple in all 12 adaptations, which were produced from 1984 to 1992; she received twoBAFTA nominations for Best TV Actress, in 1987 and 1988. When theOBE was bestowed on Hickson in June 1987^[5]Queen Elizabeth II was reported to have said, "You play the part just as one envisages it."^[6] When Hickson retired from the role, believing that she should stop while the programme was still at the peak of its popularity, she stated that she had no intention of retiring from acting altogether.^[7]

From 1958, Hickson lived at 2 Rose Lane,Wivenhoe, along theRiver Colne 43 miles (69 kilometres) from London inEssex, for 40 years until her death in 1998. A plaque now marks the house in which she lived.^[8]

Hickson married Dr Eric Norman Butler (born 2 September 1902 inWestbury, Wiltshire), a physician, atHampstead Parish Church,Hampstead,north-west London, on 29 October 1932. They had two children.^[9] Her husband died inColchester,Essex, in June 1967.^[10]

Hickson died of a stroke atColchester General Hospital in 1998, aged 92.^[11][12] She was interred atSidbury Cemetery inDevon.

Series 1

• The Body in the Library (1984)
• The Moving Finger (1985)
• A Murder Is Announced (1985)
• A Pocket Full of Rye (1985)

Series 2

• The Murder at the Vicarage (1986) – BAFTA nomination
• Sleeping Murder (1987)
• At Bertram's Hotel (1987)
• Nemesis (1987) – BAFTA nomination

Stand-alone feature length episodes

• 4.50 from Paddington (1987)
• A Caribbean Mystery (1989)
• They Do It With Mirrors (1991)
• The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1992)

• Joan Hickson at theInternet Broadway Database
• Joan Hickson atIMDb
• Joan Hickson atFind a Grave
• Performances by Joan Hickson in the Archive of the University of Bristol
• Joan Hickson OBE (1906–1998) at The Wivenhoe Encyclopedia

• 1906 births
• 1998 deaths
• Audiobook narrators
• English film actresses
• English stage actresses
• English television actresses
• Officers of the Order of the British Empire
• Actresses from Northampton
• Tony Award winners
• 20th-century English actresses
• Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

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