Joan Hickson

Joan Bogle Hickson, OBE (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series Miss Marple. She also narrated a number of Miss Marple stories on audiobooks. Biography Born in Kingsthorpe, Northampton, Hickson was a daughter of Edith Mary (née Bogle) and Alfred Harold Hickson, a shoe manufacturer. After boarding at Oldfield School in Swanage, Dorset, she went on to train at RADA in London. 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 of See How They Run at the Q Theatre in 1944, and then at the Comedy Theatre in January 1945. She made her first film appearance in 1934. The numerous supporting roles she played during her career included several in Carry On films, notably Sister in Carry On Nurse and Mrs May in Carry On Constable. In the 1940s she appeared on stage in Appointment with Death, a play by Agatha Christie, who wrote in a note to her, "I hope one day you will play my dear Miss Marple."