A British character actress who became one of the world’s leading stage and screen stars, Dame Margaret Rutherford was perhaps best known for her portrayal of Agatha Christie’s super-sleuth, Miss Marple.

It was a role for which she remained much-loved until her death on 22 May 1972.

Her appearances in Oscar award-winning ‘The V.I.P.s’ and Noel Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirit’ also earned her great acclaim and a rare combination of dazzling charm and impeccable comic timing secured her place in the hearts of generations.

In a recent survey of Best British Actresses conducted at the Old Vic theatre, she was voted in at number fourteen – not bad for a lady whose career ended almost forty years ago.

Margaret Rutherford was born on 11 May 1892, in the south London suburb of Balham. She was a late-comer to acting and initially chose to teach elocution. However, when she later began to develop an interest in the theatre, her guardian aunt paid for private acting lessons.

In 1925, she made her stage debut at the Old Vic Theatre. While her doughy face and dumpling shape almost entirely ruled out romantic heroines, she soon firmly established her name in comedy.

She made her screen debut in 1936 as Miss Butterby in the entertaining ‘Dusty Ermine’ and further roles in the West End such as Noel Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirit’ during the early forties were to make her a true star. Indeed, her role as Madame Arcati in ‘Blithe Spirit’ had been especially shaped for her by Coward.

She married actor Stringer Davis in 1945, with whom she often appeared on screen.

A film version of ‘Blithe Spirit’ followed the stage-play, as well another triumphant adaptation, ‘The Happiest Days of Your Life’, in 1950, which still holds up as one of the best slapstick movies of all time.

The advent of the sixties brought with it the role Dame Margaret was most often associated with in later life, Miss Marple. She brought a broad comic approach to Agatha Christie’s indomitable sleuth, in a series of polished films that thrilled viewers all over the globe.

She was honoured with an OBE in 1961 and later made a Dame. Three years later in 1964, she also won a host of awards for her performance in ‘The V.I.P.s’, including an much-deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Towards the end of her life, she suffered greatly from Alzheimer’s disease and succumbed to the illness in 1972 in Buckinghamshire, England.

Despite an obvious flair for comedy, Dame Margaret led a life filled with sadness as well as success. As she said herself, “Every great clown has been very near to tragedy.” During her childhood, her father, who had long suffered from a mental illness, brutally murdered his own father and was subsequently admitted to Broadmoor psychiatric hospital. Her mother died when she was only three years old.

In 1963, Agatha Christie dedicated her novel ‘The Mirror Crack’d From Side To Side’ to Dame Margaret in admiration of her portrayal as Miss Marple.

She published her autobiography in 1972, entitled ‘Blithe Spirit’

Today, she is remembered as one of the best-loved eccentric character actresses in the history of British cinema, whose performances on both screen and stage remain as vibrant and touching as ever.