My dirty secret is that I’m not actually a huge fan of Agatha Christie. However, even within that, I do have preferences. I’m not a big fan of the Margaret Rutherford movies; she rather reminds me of the description of the gym teacher in Soul Music, by Terry Pratchett, who would refer to people as big girls’ blouses and so forth. Angela Lansbury wasn’t bad at the role. But the best Miss Marple was Geraldine McEwan. Julia McKenzie, who took over the role, isn’t terrible at it, but she’s always going to suffer from comparison.

In fact, though, McEwan herself was fairly matter-of-fact on the subject of taking over a role with such history behind it. After all, she’d essentially gotten her start in acting by taking elocution as a child. She said that her assigned monologue, one of Lady Macbeth’s, was probably inappropriate. But I would imagine that starting with her means it wouldn’t stress you much to take over a role that’s only about a century old. And Miss Marple is less challenging to boot.

But, okay, I’m a woman of my generation, and the answer to the “where do I think of her” challenge is Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. A movie I’m not sure I’ve seen in years. And, okay, it’s where I think of Kevin Costner on those rare occasions where I think of Kevin Costner, but there are at least half a dozen people in that movie who are considerably better than Costner, and she’s one of them. She even manages to briefly steal a scene from Alan Rickman; her delivery of “something vexes thee?” is probably the best line reading in the movie.

I do rather wonder if some of her stage acting has been recorded. She seems to have done all the great Shakespearean women’s roles, and that’s just for starters. She’s a talented enough actress in what I’ve seen of hers that I’d love to see more of those, and I don’t know if there’s any chance of that. Any woman who played a psychic computer on Red Dwarf and the nurse in Julie Taymor’s Titus has had a fascinating and wide-ranging career.

And, of course, she’s one of those people I’ve gotten to and have discovered is someone I wish I just could’ve had dinner with. She was a lifelong socialist, and she is rumoured to have turned down both an OBE and the honor of Dame, though she refused to say whether she had or not. She played the role of Olivia in Twelfth Night and apparently changed the portrayal of the character from always being a serious figure to being a young woman hot for Viola. She did some directing. All in all, she was a fascinating and talented woman.

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