Marple Actors

Miss Marple is one of Christie’s most popular characters and indeed, she is one of the most well known sleuths known across the world along with the name Hercule Poirot. Just like Hercule Poirot, many actors have played this role and below we have listed out the actors who have played the iconic Miss Marple.

Every Christie fan has their own favourite Miss Marple – often it’s the one we grew up watching but sometimes an actor just captures something we love most about the character making them stand out amongst the rest for us. 

The first Miss Marple adaptation I ever saw was Helen Hayes in ‘A Caribbean Mystery’ and it’s my favourite for introducing me to the world of Miss Marple and inspired me to read the novels. I also love Julia McKenzie in the role as I find she evokes the most sympathy for other characters and I think she adds something different to the role. What about you? Are you a Rutherford fan or loyal to the heavenly Hickson? Is Geraldine McEwan your go-to Marple or are you addicted to June Whitfield? If you’re new to Agatha Christie what better excuse to watch them all – or if you’re familiar with the ladies above, why not look into the Japanese animated series to get some younger viewers excited? There’s a Marple for everyone!

Julia McKenzie (2009 - 2013)

  • A Pocket Full of Rye
  • Murder is Easy
  • Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
  • They Do It with Mirrors
  • The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side
  • The Secret of Chimneys
  • The Blue Geranium
  • The Pale Horse
  • A Caribbean Mystery
  • Greenshaw’s Folly 
  • Endless Night

Geraldine McEwan (2004 - 208)

  • The Body in the Library                   
  • The Murder at the Vicarage          
  • 4.50 from Paddington           
  • A Murder Is Announced           
  • Sleeping Murder                  
  • The Moving Finger                    
  • By the Pricking of My Thumbs          
  • The Sittaford Mystery                  
  • At Bertram’s Hotel                      
  • Ordeal by Innocence             
  • Towards Zero       
  • Nemesis                 

Yaoru Yachigusa (2004 - 2005)

Voiced Miss Marple in a Japanese animated series called Agatha Christie’s Great Detectives Poirot and Marple with 18 episodes from 2004-2005 with Kôtarô Satomi playing Poirot

June Whitfield (1993 - 2001)

June Whitfield has voiced Miss Marple in the 12 BBC 4 Radio adaptations of the Marple novels. The full list is as follows

Joan Hickson (1984 - 1992)

For many, just as Suchet is the Hercule Poirot, Joan Hickson is the Miss Marple..

  • The Body in the Library (1984)
  • The Moving Finger (1985)
  • A Murder is Announced (1985)
  • A Pocket Full of Rye (1985)
  • The Murder at the Vicarage (1986) – for which Hickson earned a BAFTA nomination
  • Sleeping Murder (1987)
  • At Bertram’s Hotel (1987)
  • Nemesis (1987) – BAFTA nomination
  • 4.50 from Paddington (1987)
  • A Caribbean Mystery (1989)
  • They Do It with Mirrors (1991)
  • The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side (1992)

Hickson also appeared in the Poirot murder mystery ‘Appointment with Death’ playing Miss Pryce on stage in 1945 and in a TV adaptation of ‘Why Didn’t They Ask Evans’ as Mrs Rivington in 1980.

Helen Hayes (1983 - 1985)

  • A Caribbean Mystery – 1983
  • Murder with Mirrors – 1985
Helen Hayes also played Lavinia Fullerton in a 1982 film of ‘Murder is Easy’.

Angela Lansbury (1980)

Angela Lansbury played Miss Marple in a film adaptation of ‘The Mirror Crack’d’ in 1980.

She also went on the play Salome Ottorbourne in the 1978 film of Death on the Nile alongside Peter Ustinov and her character Jessica Fletcher in ‘Murder, she wrote’, was apparently inspired by Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple.

Ita Evar (1983)

Ita Ever starred as Miss Marple in ‘Tayna chyornykh drozdov’ a Russian adaptation of ‘A Pocket Full of Rye’. 

Margaret Rutherford (1961 - 1964)

Appearing in four films based on novels by Agatha Christie – Christie even dedicated ‘The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side’ to Rutherford writing: ‘To Margaret Rutherford in admiration’. 

  • Alphabet Murders – 1965
  • Murder Ahoy – 1964
  • Murder Most Foul – 1964
  • Murder at the Gallop – 1963
  • Murder She Said – 1961