1973 Israel FILM POSTER Movie ENDLESS NIGHT Hebrew AGATHA CHRISTIE Hayley MILLS

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Seller: judaica-bookstore ✉️ (2,803) 100%, Location: TEL AVIV, IL, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 285616435542 1973 Israel FILM POSTER Movie ENDLESS NIGHT Hebrew AGATHA CHRISTIE Hayley MILLS. But he remains haunted by ghostly images of Ellie and a devious murder plot—and another death—are revealed in the finale. The score was by Bernard Hermann. Ellie's singing in the film was dubbed by Shirley Jones.

DESCRIPTION : Here for sale is an EXCEPTIONALY RARE and ORIGINAL POSTER for the ISRAEL 1973 PREMIERE release of the British HORROR and CRIME film " ENDLESS NIGHT " , Based on AGATHA CHRISTIE NOVEL , Starring HAYLEY MILLS , BRITT EKLAND and GEORGE SANDERS in the small rural town of NATHANYA in ISRAEL. The cinema-movie hall " CINEMA SHARON" , An Israeli local version of "Cinema Paradiso" was printing manualy its own posters , And thus you can be certain that this surviving copy is ONE OF ITS KIND.  Fully DATED 1973 . Text in HEBREW and ENGLISH . Please note : This is NOT a re-release poster but PREMIERE - FIRST RELEASE projection of the film , A year after its release in 1972 in the USA and worldwide . The Jewish - Judaica ISRAELI distributors of the film have given it a quite archaic and amusing HEBREW text  And also somewhat revised name " The ETERNAL NIGHT" . GIANT size around 28" x 38" ( Not accurate ) . Printed in red and blue . The condition is very good . 2 folds . Clean ( Pls look at scan for accurate AS IS images ) Poster will be sent rolled in a special protective rigid sealed tube. AUTHENTICITYThe POSTER is fully guaranteed ORIGINAL from 1973 ( dated )  , It is NOT a reproduction or a recently made reprint or an immitation , It holds a with life long GUARANTEE for its AUTHENTICITY and ORIGINALITY.   PAYMENTS : Payment method accepted : Paypal & All credit cards. SHIPPMENT : SHIPP worldwide via registered airmail is $ 25  . Poster will be sent rolled in a special protective rigid sealed tube. Handling around 5-10 days after payment.   

Endless Night is a 1972 British horror and crime film directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Hayley Mills, Britt Ekland, Per Oscarsson, Hywel Bennett and George Sanders.[1] Based on the novel Endless Night by Agatha Christie, the plot follows a newlywed couple are threatened after building their dream home on cursed land. Contents 1 Plot2 Cast3 Production4 Reception5 See also6 References7 External links Plot Michael Rogers (Bennett), a young drifter currently employed as a chauffeur, has a chance meeting with the lovely Ellie Thomsen (Mills). He dreams of building a magnificent house on a particular spot of land along the Devon coast. Unknown to him, she is actually a wealthy heiress and can make his dream come true. With the help of her efficient German companion, Greta (Ekland), they marry and build a memorable home designed by noted architect Santonix (Oscarsson), much to the disapproval of Ellie's family, who try to buy off Michael. However, the land the couple purchased is known as "Gypsy's Acre" and is said to carry a curse. Mysterious accidents pile up, a self-proclaimed gypsy haunts the grounds, and after a midnight accident, Greta moves in with the couple to nurse Ellie back to health, to the resentment of Michael. A further equestrian accident results in the death of Ellie, and Michael is shattered. With the aid of her lawyer "Uncle" Andrew (Sanders) and Greta, Michael pulls together. But he remains haunted by ghostly images of Ellie and a devious murder plot—and another death—are revealed in the finale.[2] Cast Hayley Mills as Fenella 'Ellie' ThomsenHywel Bennett as Michael RogersBritt Ekland as GretaPer Oscarsson as SantonixGeorge Sanders as Andrew LippincottDavid Bauer as Uncle FrankPeter Bowles as Reuben BrownPatience Collier as Miss TownsendWindsor Davies as Sergeant ReeneMischa de la Motte as MaynardHelen Horton as Aunt BethLois Maxwell as Cora Walker BrownAubrey Richards as Dr. PhilpottAnn Way as Mrs. PhilpottPaul Boross as Young MichaelLeo Genn as Psychiatrist Production Shooting locations included Christie's Auction House, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, as well as the West Country and Albergo San Pietro, Positano, Italy. The Philpotts' estate (Mike and Ellie's neighbors) was filmed at Grim's Dyke. The score was by Bernard Hermann. Ellie's singing in the film was dubbed by Shirley Jones. Reception The film received mixed reviews. Although reasonably faithful to the novel, it is "An example of the sort of thing Christie was writing in her later years: moody psychological studies very different from, and not so much fun as, her early thrillers."[3] Contemporary critics have noted "Nice performances all around, with special admiration for Oscarsson's role as the dying architect."[4] Christie herself was displeased by the "lacklustre" adaptation of one of her favorite novels, although she had been initially pleased by the choice of Director-writer and cast. Further, she disliked the (admittedly brief) erotic nudity by Ekland in the film's final sequences.[5] After an unsuccessful run in Britain, UA did not release the film in the United States,[6] although there were runs in Denmark and Finland in 1973. Film Review: “Endless Night” (1972) Posted by therebelprince under Other | Tags: agatha christie, britt ekland, crime fiction, hayley mills, hywel bennett, lois maxwell | [10] Comments Agatha Christie’s Endless Night is one of her most intriguing works – whether you like the novel or not, there’s something undeniably haunting and adult about her tale of the tragic young couple, and in the growing sense of unease that surrounds their new home, Gypsy’s Acre. With its youthful protagonists and non-formulaic structure, it’s no surprise that the novel was filmed just four years after its release, and in the early 1970s at that. Film review: “Endless Night” (1972) with Hywel Bennett (Michael Rogers), Hayley Mills (Fenella ‘Ellie’ Thomsen), Britt Ekland (Greta), George Sanders (Andrew Lippincott), Patience Collier (Miss Townsend), Lois Maxwell (Cora walker Brown) and Per Oscarsson (Santonix) written and directed by Sidney Gilliat Like the novel that preceded it, Endless Night is an aformulaic film which doesn’t reach any kind of climax until the final half-hour. Instead, we follow the life of moody drifter Michael Rogers (Hywel Bennett): a working-class chauffeur who enjoys nothing more than to put on airs above his ‘station’, visiting art galleries and acting dismissively toward his superiors, to the concern of his mother (Madge Ryan). From the outset, Michael is an intriguing protagonist, since he’s hardly warm. Admittedly, he may have been more of an anti-hero in the ’70s – at a time when scenes such as Jack Nicholson’s infamous diner rant from Five Easy Pieces were all the rage – but still, the opening scenes display only his misanthropy; his iciness only melts when he has a chance run-in with beautiful young Ellie (Hayley Mills) on the empty land known as Gypsy’s Acre. Michael holds nothing back, confessing straight away that he is only a chauffeur, and that his dreams of building a grand home on the Acre are just that: dreams. So when he learns that Ellie is in fact heiress Fenella Thomsen – a fact that she kept from him as they courted – there is the inevitable class divide although, again, the script steers away from that. Ellie refuses to accept any differences, and forces her family to accept Michael against their reservations. Any time we think Endless Night is going to go in one direction, it rather emphatically veers the other way. Hywel Bennett as Michael and Hayley Mills as Ellie in "Endless Night" The film – made, after all, in the early ’70s – is a blissful amalgamation of the film styles prevalent in the decade just passed and the one to come. The moody opening sequence sold me, with its angry waves crashing against the rocks, set to music by the inimitable Bernard Herrmann, and recalls Herrmann’s lush work on Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Most of the film, however, is directed in a far more ’70s vein, with the slightly bleached palette of the era, and dialogue scenes that feel natural rather than blocked. As Ellie’s family – who, ultimately, prove rather inconsequential to the plot (besides their money) – Lois Maxwell, Peter Bowles and George Sanders are wonderfully uncomfortable. Bowles is pleasant but restricted by his class; Maxwell is cold as ice; Sanders radiates that creepy avuncular nature. The scenes with Ellie and Michael with her family suggest we’re going to enter a standard Christie murder mystery, only… that’s not what happens. With the help of an architect friend, Santonix (the captivating Per Oscarsson), Michael and Ellie build and move into a grand/grotesque modern home on Gypsy’s Acre. The house is amazing with its one-way windows, irregularly cornered walls, and modernist touches such as indoor pools with remote-controlled covers. I understand why to some it’s a nightmare of ’70s modernism, but I kind of envy Michael and Ellie. It’s fab! The house at Gypsy's Acre The movie’s greatest trick – and one used in other Christie novels such as At Bertram’s Hotel – is that it appears, on first viewing, a triumph of style over substance. Sure, we’re aware that Michael is more screwed up than he presents, and we know that various characters have ulterior motives: Ellie’s family dislike Michael, Ellie’s uncle seems most unusual, and Ellie’s friend and assistant is feared by all. There’s also the creepy, reassured Miss Townsend (Patience Collier) – a strange townswoman who claims to be the last survivor of a family curse that will claim our young lovers if they settle on Gypsy’s Acre. But it all feels like set-up (we know, after all, that Endless Night is an Agatha Christie film, thus we expect a death), and what’s more, we’re fairly certain it will be Ellie who dies. So when she finally does, with less than 30 minutes to go in the film, it feels like a long overdue climax. Before we discuss the film’s ending, though, some stray observations. The cast are all pretty damn good, particularly the smaller roles. (Ann Way and Aubrey Richards are lovely as a neighbouring couple, and Nicholas Courtney – Doctor Who‘s Brigadier – is a glorified extra as the second auctioneer, which would have been filmed just as his role got started but before it became iconic.) As Ellie, Hayley Mills is quite effective. I haven’t seen much of her adult work and I confess her line readings are very similar to those she gave in the sublime film Pollyanna but – taken on its own – her performance is the most effective of the core trio. (Unfortunately her singing of the eponymous song was dubbed by Shirley Knight who – while lovely – has an operatic soprano voice that in no way sounds realistic timed to Mills’ miming.) ’60s sexpot Britt Ekland – famous at the time for her stormy, and recently dissolved, relationship with Peter Sellers – is quite passable as Greta, Ellie’s assistant and friend. Greta is a character whom we don’t meet until halfway through the film, instead she is discussed by all the other characters – all of whom, except Ellie, absoutely distrust her, while Ellie trusts her ultimately. The contemporary audience, of course, would have known that Ekland was in the film, and would have been waiting for her appearance. Mills had to shed her goody-two-shoes “Disney” image as she grew older, but Ekland had no such problem to deal with, and her run of casting in this era was greatly helped by her stunning beauty. Here, she serves her role as the suspicious friend satisfactorily, but to be honest, she doesn’t stand out. The role – one of those murder-mystery classics where we’re set up to be suspicious from early on – means that Ekland has to play things ambiguously, and it mostly comes across as coldhearted. Only in the final reels, when we learn whether Greta is guilty or innocent, is she allowed to find a true personality, and a spark shows through. A scene midway through the film, where the core trio fight and then the crying turns to laughter is not particularly well-done. Unfortunately, on the cusp of studio acting and the ‘modern’ film acting era, a few scenes do show the seams where the actors – young and experienced, but all products of the film world – can’t quite live up to the script’s naturalistic desires. Britt Ekland as Greta in "Endless Night" Still, Hywel Bennett is ultimately quite good as Michael. He’s an incredibly challenging character, someone who has pretensions and ambitions that make him an unpleasant lead, yet is a straight-talker, an unlikely sex symbol, and the man with whom we empathise when confronted with the host of unpleasant people in Ellie’s life. Bennett has a fascinating face, expressive and concerning. Although I don’t think he’s the greatest actor in the world, he suitably carries the role. Michael’s slow collapse as Miss Townsend’s prophecies, the encroachment of the family and Greta, and finally Ellie’s accident, all encompass him is very well portrayed. Gilliat’s direction is quite effective in portraying this: the scene where Michael comes across a stock-still, unblinking ghost of Ellie (who doesn’t even move to face him as he walks around her) is damn terrifying. However, in my opinion, not enough is made of the supernatural elements: it’s only late in the film that these come into play, even though Miss Townsend’s initial prophecy was made so early on. So, the ending. Without spoiling anything, the film is quite faithful to the novel, and the grand twist occurs with about fifteen minutes remaining. These days, the twist would be accompanied by shocking music and rapid flashbacks: instead, in a very ’70s way, the twist is underplayed, leaving us to think about the fascinating, disturbing connotations, and how so many of our assumptions have been incorrect. Everything makes sense – although, as often with these adaptations, it’s hard for me to truly gauge whether the twist is shocking or not to a newcomer – and casts each of the characters in a very different light in retrospect. The climax is well-acted by both people involved, leading to some very ’70s – but very effective – imagery and camera techniques in the closing reels. (One moment of brutality is a little bit ruined by the fact that “shut up, you silly cow” doesn’t sound nearly harsh enough for the feel of the moment.) Looking back, the mystery is very well-constructed: to my mind there are no flaws in the plot. It’s risky, sure, but a believable plan on the part of the murderer(s). So, how does it rate? Reading reviews of Endless Night is a very enjoyable experience: there are many who think that the film redeems a subpar book that Christie – in her old age – could never pull off. Others seem to think the movie is lacking in substance and not even much style, and that the novel is deservedly one of Christie’s own favourites. For me, I think both work on their own merits. The film may at times be dated, and it almost feels somewhat nonchalant about its own twists, as if adapting a Christie mystery in the naturalistic ’70s meant ignoring such tiresome conventions as shock endings. However, I’m not sure that ‘shock’ inherently matters: the video cover of the film, which pictured each of the secondary characters with “victim…or killer?” makes one realise how easily we can forget about character and atmosphere in favour of simply having clue after clue after twist; it’s nice to see a film that relishes in the opposite. The decision to limit the pseudo-supernatural elements to the final reels doesn’t help the film strike a tone, but in retrospect, it is at least consistent with the characters. Christie herself apparently believed the film to be “lack-lustre”, and it was not successful enough to warrant a cinematic release in the US. And yet, I think it works: as an unsettling character-based film, faithfully adapted from an unsettling, character-based novel, Endless Night is a success. Endless Night (1972) Dame Agatha (Christie) doesn't get much of a show on this site, which is a surprise when you consider how bloody and shock-filled some of those old Poirot stories were (and how horrifically painful sitting through those bloody BBC Miss Marple episodes used to be). Endless Night is a Christie, but not really a murder mystery. It's actually more of a psycho drama, but its inclusion on a horror films site is assured by some determinedly spooky set pieces. There are several scenes which linger in the mind long after the film has finished, and it may well have been seen by a lot of you on some late night TV slot and then been half forgotten. The film starts with one of them, a weird dream sequence involving a woman with a blank face. Enter Hywell Bennet as our fresh faced narrator. He's in Christie's (clever, eh?) bidding on an expensive painting. Luckily, he doesn't get it (he's a penniless chauffeur) but he does display a remarkably original view on auctions which every Ebayer should take to heart: "Between my bid and the next, I owned that picture..." ("No you didn't!" explains the rest of the world, patiently) On a driving job in Europe, he meets with an architect and explains his lifelong dream - to build a house in a place called Gypsy's Acre. After being approached by someone (or something) in an art gallery, our baby faced hero develops an attitude problem, travels down to Gypsy's Acre and meets an American girl called Ellie (Hayley Mills, playing against type as a sweet and innocent blonde popsy without a worldy bone in her body). After explaining to her about his dream house (he just won't bloody shut up about it) they meet a spooky old woman and her cats, who intimates that something horrible has happened in the past, and more horrible things will occur. This is breezily brushed off by Bennett with the immortal line "Nutcase. We breed 'em in England". As if that wasn't enough, it turns out that Ellie is the "sixth richest girl in the world" and the two marry and build Bennett's dream house on Gypsy's Acre. The plot wastes no time in introducing several more shady characters, the most important of which is Britt Ekland (also playing against type, as an annoying bint with an impenetrable middle European accent), who is Ellie's best friend Greta. (Greta is basically Ekland's character Lucy from Asylum - a not-very-nice girl who seems to rule Ellie with a rod of iron) The others are Peter Bowles as a caddish uncle (natch) and his wife Miss Moneypenny. As rocks get chucked at the window and a murder appears to take place, without the help of any Belgian detectives it's left to the audience to sort it out. Who is the murderer? According to the cinema posters, only one in 10 people get it right. Filmgoers must have been stupider back in the 70s, but Endless Night is still an entertaining hour and a half. The temptation with any film that has the word "endless" in its title is to be cruel, in fact I had a whole "Endless Shite" routine worked out before watching it. But the truth is it's not a bad little movie, and worth keeping an eye out for in the late night schedules. Especially for Bennett and Mills' excellent taste in James Bond-style 70s pads, complete with swimming pool under the sliding floor. Last updated: February 22, 2010 Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills (born 18 April 1946) is an English actress. The daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell, and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, Mills began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promising newcomer, winning the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for Tiger Bay (1959), the Academy Juvenile Award for Pollyanna (1960) and Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress in 1961. During her early career, she appeared in six films for Walt Disney, and is perhaps best known for her dual role as twins Susan and Sharon in the Disney film The Parent Trap (1961). During the late 1960s she began performing in theatrical plays, and played in more mature roles. The age of contracts with studios soon passed. Although she has not maintained the box office success or the Hollywood A-list she experienced as a child actress, she has continued to make films and TV appearances. From 2007 to 2012, Mills played Caroline, a main character in the ITV1 Series Wild at Heart. From 28 May 2015, Mills will tour Australia with her brother-in-law Maxwell Caulfield and her sister Juliet Mills in the comedy Legends! by Pulitzer Prize winner James Kirkwood. Contents 1 Early life and career2 Post-Disney film career3 Television resurgence and reception4 Stage career5 Personal life6 Filmography 6.1 Film6.2 Box Office ranking6.3 Television7 Theatre8 Awards and nominations9 References10 External links Early life and career Mills was born in London. She was 12 when she was discovered by J. Lee Thompson, who was initially looking for a boy to play the lead role in Tiger Bay, which co-starred her father, veteran British actor Sir John Mills. Bill Anderson, one of Walt Disney's producers, saw her performance and suggested that she be given the lead role in Pollyanna.[1] The role of the orphaned "glad girl" who moves in with her aunt catapulted Mills to stardom in the United States and earned her a special Academy Award (the last person to receive the Juvenile Oscar). Because Mills was not able to be present to receive the trophy, Annette Funicello accepted it for her.[2] Disney subsequently cast Mills as twins Sharon and Susan who reunite their divorced parents in The Parent Trap. In the film, Mills sings "Let's Get Together" as a duet with herself. She made four additional films for Disney in a four-year span, including In Search of the Castaways and Summer Magic. Her final two Disney films, The Moon-Spinners and That Darn Cat!, did very well at the box office.[3] During her six-year run at Disney, Mills was arguably the most popular child actress of the era. Critics noted that America's favourite child star was, in fact, quite British and very ladylike. The success of "Let's Get Together" (which hit No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and No. 17 in Britain) also led to the release of a record album on Disney's Buena Vista label, Let's Get Together with Hayley Mills, which also included her only other hit song, "Johnny Jingo" (Billboard No. 21, 1962). In 1962 British exhibitors voted her the most popular film actress in the country.[4] In addition to her Disney films, Mills starred in several other films, notably Whistle Down the Wind 1961, (based on the book of the same title written by her mother, Mary Hayley Bell), with Alan Bates, The Truth About Spring (with her father, John Mills, cast as her father and James MacArthur as the love interest), and The Chalk Garden, 1964 from the play by Enid Bagnold. Mills was considered for the role of Lolita Haze in Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film version of Lolita. However, Walt Disney discouraged the casting, feeling the role was not up to Disney's wholesome standard, and the part eventually went to Sue Lyon. In 1962 Disney announced plans to film I Capture the Castle, from the novel by Dodie Smith, with Hayley Mills in the role of Cassandra. However, Disney never produced the film. Post-Disney film career After her contract with Disney, Mills scored a hit in The Trouble with Angels (1966), as a prankish Catholic boarding school girl with "scathingly brilliant" schemes, opposite screen veteran Rosalind Russell, and directed by another Hollywood veteran, Ida Lupino. Looking to break from her girl-next-door image, Mills returned to Britain to appear as a mentally challenged teenager in the film Sky West and Crooked, which was directed by her father and written by her mother. Shortly thereafter, Mills appeared alongside her father and Hywel Bennett in director Roy Boulting's critically acclaimed film The Family Way, a comedy about a couple having difficulty consummating their marriage, featuring a score by Paul McCartney and arrangements by Beatles producer George Martin. She eventually married Roy Boulting in 1971. She then starred as the protagonist of Pretty Polly, opposite famous Indian film actor Shashi Kapoor in Singapore, and appeared in the controversial horror thriller Twisted Nerve in 1968, along with her Family Way co-star Hywel Bennett. In 1972 she again acted opposite Hywel Bennett in Endless Night along with Britt Ekland, Per Oscarsson and George Sanders. It is based on the novel Endless Night by Agatha Christie. After her appearance in The Kingfisher Caper in 1975, Mills dropped out of the film industry for a few years.[5] Television resurgence and reception In 1981 Mills returned to acting with a starring role in the UK television mini-series The Flame Trees of Thika, based on Elspeth Huxley's memoir of her childhood in East Africa. The series was well received, prompting Mills to accept more acting roles. She then returned to America, and made two appearances on The Love Boat. Always welcomed at Disney, Mills narrated an episode of The Wonderful World of Disney, sparking renewed interest in her Disney work. In 1986 she reprised her roles as twins Sharon and Susan for a trio of Parent Trap television films: The Parent Trap II, The Parent Trap III, and The Parent Trap IV: Hawaiian Honeymoon. Mills also starred as the title character in the Disney Channel-produced television series Good Morning, Miss Bliss in 1987. The show was cancelled after 13 episodes and the rights were acquired by NBC, which reformatted Good Morning, Miss Bliss into Saved by the Bell. In recognition of her work with The Walt Disney Company, Mills was awarded the prestigious Disney Legends award in 1998.[6] Mills recalled her childhood in the 2000 documentary film Sir John Mills' Moving Memories which was directed by Marcus Dillistone and written by her brother Jonathan. In 2005 Mills appeared in the acclaimed short film, Stricken, written and directed by Jayce Bartok.In 2007 she began appearing as Caroline in the ITV1 African vet drama, Wild at Heart; her sister Juliet was a guest star in the drama. In 2010 Mills appeared in Mandie and the Cherokee Treasure, based on one of the popular Mandie novels of Lois Gladys Leppard. Stage career Mills made her stage debut in a 1966 West End revival of Peter Pan. In 2000 she made her Off Broadway debut in Sir Noël Coward's Suite in Two Keys, opposite American actress Judith Ivey, for which she won a Theatre World Award. In 1991 she appeared as Anna Leonowens in the Australian production of The King and I. In December 2007, for their annual birthday celebration of "The Master", The Noël Coward Society invited Mills as the guest celebrity to lay flowers in front of Coward's statue at New York's Gershwin Theatre, thereby commemorating the 108th birthday of Sir Noel. In 2012 Mills starred as Ursula Widdington in the stage production of Ladies in Lavender at the Royal & Derngate Theatre, before embarking on a national UK tour. Beginning May 2015, Mills will tour Australia with sister Juliet Mills and Maxwell Caulfield in the comedy Legends! by James Kirkwood. Personal life While filming The Family Way, the 20-year-old Mills met 53-year-old director Roy Boulting. The two married in 1971, and owned a flat in London's Kensington. They then went on to purchase Cobstone Windmill in Ibstone, Buckinghamshire. Their son, Crispian Mills, achieved recognition as the lead singer and guitarist for the raga rock band Kula Shaker. The couple divorced in 1977. Mills later had a second son, Jason Lawson, during a relationship with British actor Leigh Lawson. Mills' partner since 1997 is actor/writer Firdous Bamji, who is 20 years her junior.[7] Mills had involvement with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (the "Hare Krishna" movement).[8] She wrote the preface to the book, The Hare Krishna Book of Vegetarian Cooking, published in 1984. Mills has been a pescetarian (i.e., one who eats fish but not other meat) since the late 1990s.[9] However, in a 1997 article of People Magazine, Mills stated that "she is 'not a part of Hare Krishna,' though she delved into Hinduism and her own Christianity for guidance."[10] In 1988 Mills co-edited, with Marcus Maclaine, the book My God, which consisted of brief letters from celebrities on their beliefs (or lack thereof) regarding God and the life to come. On 18 April 2008, Mills was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had surgery and started, but quickly abandoned, chemotherapy after only three sessions due to the severity of side effects. Mills credits her survival to the alternative treatments she tried out, beating the disease into remission. She told Good Housekeeping magazine in January 2012 that she had fully recovered.[7] Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1959 Tiger Bay Gillie 1960 Pollyanna Pollyanna Won an Academy Juvenile Award 1961 The Parent Trap Susan Evers / Sharon McKendrick 1961 Whistle Down the Wind Kathy Bostock 1962 In Search of the Castaways Mary Grant 1963 Summer Magic Nancy Carey 1964 The Chalk Garden Laurel 1964 The Moon-Spinners Nikky Ferris 1965 The Truth About Spring Spring Tyler 1965 Gypsy Girl Brydie White 1965 That Darn Cat! Patricia "Patti" Randall 1966 The Trouble with Angels Mary Clancy 1966 The Daydreamer The Little Mermaid Voice role 1966 The Family Way Jenny Fitton 1967 Pretty Polly Polly Barlow Alternate title: A Matter of Innocence 1968 Twisted Nerve Susan Harper 1970 Take a Girl Like You Jenny Bunn 1971 Mr. Forbush and the Penguins Tara St. John Luke 1972 Endless Night Ellie 1974 What Changed Charley Farthing? Jenny Alternate title: The Bananas Boat 1975 The Kingfisher Caper Tracey Van Der Byl 1976 Deadly Strangers Belle Adams 1988 Appointment with Death Miss Quinton 1990 After Midnight Sally Ryan 1994 A Troll in Central Park Hillary Voice role 2004 2BPerfectlyHonest Terri 2005 Stricken Hildy Short film 2010 Mandie and the Cherokee Treasure Mary Elizabeth Taft 2011 Foster Mrs. Lange Box Office ranking This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. (April 2015) 1961 – most popular star at the UK box office1962 – 20th most popular star in the US, 5th most popular in the UK1963 – 5th most popular star in the UK Television Year Title Role Notes 1974 Thriller Samantha Miller Episode: "Only a Scream Away" 1979 The Love Boat Shirley Tyson 1 episode 1980 The Love Boat Leila Stanhope 1 episode 1981 The Flame Trees of Thika Tilly 7 episodes 1983 Tales of the Unexpected Claire Hawksworth Episode: "A Sad Loss" 1985 The Love Boat Dianne Tipton 2 episodes 1986 The Parent Trap II Susan Corey / Sharon Ferris Movie 1986 Murder, She Wrote Cynthia Tate Episode: "Unfinished Business" 1986 Amazing Stories Joan Simmons Episode: "The Greibble" 1987–89 Good Morning, Miss Bliss Miss Carrie Bliss Main role (14 episodes) 1989 The Parent Trap III Susan Evers / Sharon Grand Movie 1989 The Parent Trap IV: Hawaiian Honeymoon Susan Wyatt / Sharon Grand Movie 1990 Back Home Mrs. Peggy Dickinson Movie 2007–12 Wild at Heart Caroline Du Plessis Regular role (39 episodes) 2014 Midsomer Murders Lizzy Thornfield Episode: "Wild Harvest" Theatre This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately. (April 2015) Year Title Role Notes 1969 Peter Pan Peter Pan 1970 Three Sisters Irina 1970 The Wild Duck Hedvig 1972 Trelawny of the 'Wells' Rose Trelawny 1975 A Touch of Spring Alison 1977 Rebecca Mrs. De Winter 1978 My Fat Friend 1979 The Importance of Being Earnest Gwendolina 1980 The Summer Party 1982 Tally's Folly Sally 1983 Dial M for Murder Margot Wendice 1985 Toys in the Attic Carrie 1991 The Kidnap Game 1991 The King and I Anna 1992 Fallen Angels 1994 A Midsummer Night's Dream 1994 Hamlet Gertrude 1994 The Card Countess of Chell 1995 Dead Guilty Margaret 1997 The King and I Anna 2000 Two Can Play Awards and nominations This section of a biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2015) Year Association Category Work Result 1959 Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury Tiger Bay Won 1959 BAFTA Awards Most Promising Newcomer to Film Tiger Bay Won 1961 BAFTA Awards Best British Actress Pollyanna Nominated 1961 Laurel Awards Top Female New Personality[citation needed] Won 1961 Academy Award Juvenile Award[2] Pollyanna Won 1961 Golden Globe Award Most Promising Newcomer – Female[citation needed] Won 1962 Golden Globe Award Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy The Parent Trap Nominated 1962 BAFTA Awards Best British Actress Whistle Down the Wind Nominated 1964 Golden Globe Award Best Motion Picture Actress – Musical/Comedy Summer Magic Nominated Britt Ekland (born Britt-Marie Eklund; 6 October 1942) is a Swedish film, stage, and television actress, and singer. She appeared in numerous films in her heyday throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including critically acclaimed roles in William Friedkin's The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968), and the British crime film Get Carter (1971), which established her as a movie sex symbol. She also appeared as a Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), and starred in the British cult horror film The Wicker Man (1973). Her high-profile social life and her 1964 marriage to actor Peter Sellers attracted considerable press attention, leading to her being one of the most photographed celebrities in the world during the 1970s. Contents 1 Early life2 Film career 2.1 Early roles: 1960-19702.2 Sex symbol and horror roles: 1971-19882.3 Stage and television: 1989-present3 Personal life 3.1 Relationships and family3.2 Health problems4 Legacy5 Filmography 5.1 Film5.2 Television6 Discography7 References8 External links Early life Ekland was born Britt-Marie Eklund in Stockholm, Sweden to Maj Britt, a secretary, and Sven Axel Eklund, who ran an upscale clothing store in Stockholm and was captain of the Swedish national curling team.[2] Ekland's mother later died of Alzheimer's disease in the 1980s, which had a profound effect on her.[1][3] Ekland grew up with three younger brothers, and has said that she was overweight for much of her childhood: "I was very heavy. God, I was brutal-looking. I always tried to be funny to make up for the fact that I was fat and ugly."[2] As a teenager, Ekland left school to travel with a theater company, and was spotted by a talent agent in a coffee shop while in Italy, who sent her to London to audition for films.[2] Film career Early roles: 1960-1970 Ekland began her career with bit parts and uncredited walk-on roles, including her first onscreen role in G.I. Blues (1960). This was followed with a small supporting part in The Happy Thieves (1960). She had small roles in the Swedish films Kort är sommaren (1962) and Det är hos mig han har varit (1963), before landing her first major supporting part in the George Marshall Western Advance to the Rear (1964). In 1964, she appeared in the Christmas television film A Carol for Another Christmas, meeting her future husband, Peter Sellers, her co-star in the film. She followed this with After the Fox (1966), also starring Sellers; she made one more film with Sellers, The Bobo (1967). This was followed with a lead role as an Amish girl-turned New York City burlesque dancer in William Friedkin's musical The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968), which earned Ekland critical acclaim.[4] Next came Stiletto (1969), a crime drama, based on a novel by Harold Robbins, co-starring Alex Cord. She then starred in a string of Italian films, Machine Gun McCain (1969), The Conspirators (1969), and as Antigone in The Cannibals (1970). Ekland with Lee Majors in The Six Million Dollar Man (1973) Sex symbol and horror roles: 1971-1988 In 1971, she was cast as a leading lady and gun moll in the iconic crime film Get Carter, opposite Michael Caine, which firmly established her as a blonde bombshell. The 1970s also saw Ekland in several horror films, including What the Peeper Saw (1972) as a disturbed bride; the Agatha Christie adaptation Endless Night (1972), playing a mysterious relative to an heiress; and as a hallucinatory figure in the anthology film Asylum (1972) opposite Charlotte Rampling. Her most iconic horror role came in the 1973 cult horror film The Wicker Man, in which she played a Pagan villager and seductress; however, her voice was dubbed in the film to disguise her Swedish-accented English.[5] Other roles included in the thriller The Ultimate Thrill (1974) and the British drama Baxter! (1973). On television, she was cast in the TV film The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War (1973) opposite Lee Majors. Ekland's next prominent role came when she was cast as the lead Bond girl, Mary Goodnight, in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, which received mixed reviews but furthered Ekland's status as a sex symbol.[1][6] In 1976 she provided the French spoken part at the end of then boyfriend Rod Stewart's hit single "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)". Ekland also portrayed biographical characters, such as the one based on real-life actress Anny Ondra (boxer Max Schmeling's wife) in the television movie Ring of Passion (1978). Ekland was also featured in the horror pictures The Monster Club (1980) and Satan's Mistress (1982). Ekland had supporting roles in independent films, and appeared in the 1985 comedy Fraternity Vacation, followed by a role in the slasher film Moon in Scorpio (1988) and as prostitute Mariella Novotny in the feature film Scandal (1989) about the Profumo Affair. Stage and television: 1989-present She has guest-starred on various TV shows, including an appearance on the popular TV series Superboy, playing an alien disguised as Lara, Superboy's biological mother, during the show's second season in 1990. Ekland published a beauty and fitness book in 1984 Sensual Beauty: How to achieve it, followed by a fitness video in 1992. In the 1999 BBC television series I Love the '70s she hosted the 1971 episode in homage to her role as "Anna" in the film), and The Wicker Man. Ekland's later career has mainly consisted of stage and television, with her last feature film role being in The Children (1990). She appeared on stage as a cast member in Cinderella at the Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent in December 1999 and January 2000. She also appeared in Grumpy Old Women Live, participated in December 2007 in the Swedish reality show Stjärnorna på slottet (The stars at the castle) along with Peter Stormare, Arja Saijonmaa, Jan Malmsjö and Magnus Härenstam, and in December 2007 and January 2008 she starred again in Cinderella at the Wyvern Theatre, Swindon.[7] She appeared as a guest on the British daytime television show Loose Women, in January 2008. From December 2008 to January 2009, Britt starred in Cinderella at the Shaw Theatre in London. In a rare instance of her singing, she performed the song My Prince, originally recorded by Lara Pulver on the album Act One – Songs from the Musicals of Alexander S. Bermange. In 2009–10 she played the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at Princess Theatre, Torquay. In December 2010 she starred as the 'Fairy Pea Pod' in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Kings Theatre, Southsea. She starred in further Pantomimes at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, in 2011 and 2012. Ekland is currently one of the housewives of Svenska Hollywoodfruar (en:Swedish Hollywoodwives) on TV3 during the 2013 season. In 2010 Ekland took part in the reality TV show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! where she was fourth to be voted off. During the program she developed a close relationship with Stacey Solomon and Nigel Havers, while making an enemy of Gillian McKeith.[8] Personal life Ekland and Peter Sellers, 1964 Ekland is fluent in English, French, and German, in addition to her native Swedish. Relationships and family Ekland became famous overnight as a result of her 1964 whirlwind romance and marriage to English actor and comedian, Peter Sellers, who proposed after seeing her photograph in the paper and then meeting in London.[9][10] She stood by him after he suffered a series of massive heart attacks shortly after their marriage. Ekland was stepmother to Sellers' children Sarah and Michael (who died of a heart attack at about the same age as his father). In January 1965 they had a daughter, Victoria. The couple made three films together – A Carol for Another Christmas in 1964, After the Fox in 1966 and The Bobo in 1967 – before divorcing in 1968. In June 1973 she had a son, Nic Adler, with record producer Lou Adler. She also had a much publicised romance with rock star Rod Stewart; they were introduced in 1975 by Joan Collins and lived together for over two years, with Ekland giving up her career to focus on the relationship.[11] 1979–1981 she dated and became engaged to Girl frontman and future L.A. Guns singer Phil Lewis.[citation needed] In 1984 she married Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom, who was almost two decades her junior. They had a son, Thomas Jefferson (born in 1988), and divorced in 1992.[citation needed] A close friend of Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne, she is still a regular fixture on the rock'n'roll social scene. Health problems She was diagnosed with osteoporosis at the age of 53, which she attributes to yo-yo dieting and a low-calcium diet,[12] after falling at an awards show and fracturing her wrist and ankle. She has been associated with both Alzheimer's and osteoporosis organisations. Legacy In the 1970s Ekland was one of the most photographed and talked-about celebrities in the world and in 1980 her best-selling autobiography, True Britt, was published.[13] After years of being renowned for her fantastic figure, Ekland produced her own workout video 'Britt Fit' in 1993, at the age of 51. In 2004 Ekland was portrayed by Charlize Theron in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. Theron invited her to be her date at the Cannes Film Festival, where she became highly emotional when she saw the film.[14] Filmography Film Film Year Title Role Notes 1960 G.I. Blues Britta Uncredited 1962 The Happy Thieves Mrs. Pickett Kort är sommaren Edvarda's Friend 1963 Il comandante Iris Det är hos mig han har varit Li's Workmate The Devil Uncredited The Prize Nudist 1964 Advance to the Rear Greta A Carol for Another Christmas Mother 1965 Do Not Disturb Party girl Uncredited 1966 After the Fox Gina Romantica 1967 The Double Man Gina Too Many Thieves Claudia The Bobo Olimpia Segura 1968 The Night They Raided Minsky's Rachel Schpitendavel 1969 Stiletto Illeana Machine Gun McCain Irene Tucker The Conspirators Princess Spada 1970 The Year of the Cannibals Antigone Tintomara Adolphine 1971 Percy Dorothy Chiltern-Barlow Get Carter Anna The Stronger Woman 1 Television film 1972 A Time for Loving Josette Papillion Night Hair Child Elise Endless Night Greta Asylum Lucy 1973 Baxter! Chris Bentley The Wicker Man Willow The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War Katrina Volana Television film 1974 The Ultimate Thrill Michelle Parlay The Man with the Golden Gun Goodnight 1975 Royal Flash Dutchess Irma 1976 High Velocity Mrs. Andersen 1977 Casanova & Co. Countess Trivulzi 1978 Slavers Anna von Erken The Great Wallendas Jenny Wallenda Television film 1979 King Solomon's Treasure Queen Nyleptha 1980 The Monster Club Busotsky's Mother The Hostage Tower Leah 1981 Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls Françoise Mini-series 1982 Satan's Mistress Ann-Marie 1983 Dr. Yes: Hyannis Affair Susannah Dead Wrong Penny Lancaster Erotic Images Julie Todd 1984 Ecstasy Love Scenes Annie 1985 Fraternity Vacation Eyvette Marbella, un golpe de cinco estrellas Deborah 1986 Az aranyifjú Mrs. Pidlington Television film 1987 Moon in Scorpio Linda 1989 Scandal Mariella Novotny Cold Heat Jackie Mallon Beverly Hills Vamp Madame Cassandra 1990 The Children Lady Zinnia Wrench Television Television Year Title Role Notes 1965 Armchair Theatre Karen Episode: "A Cold Peace" 1966 The Trials of O'Brien Claudia Episodes: "The Greatest Game, Part 1; 2" 1971 Aquarius Strindberg's Stronger/LS.Lowry/Liverpool's Kop 1972-77 McCloud Tatiana Krasnavian / Vicki Erickson Episodes: "The Barefoot Stewardess Caper," "The Moscow Connection" 1978 Battlestar Galactica Tenna Episodes: "Gun on Ice Planet Zero: Part 1; 2" 1979 Return of the Saint Laura Episode: "The Murder Cartel" Skeppsredaren 1980-82 The Love Boat Alice Robbins / Karen Ellison Episodes: "Vicki's First Love/The High Cost of Loving/Accident Prone," "Doc Take the Fifth/Safety Last/A Business Affair" 1982 Matt Houston Vera Martin Episode: "Deadly Fashion" 1980-83 Fantasy Island Linda / Clarissa Bevis / Berniece Williams / Aphrodite Four episodes 1985 Simon & Simon Samantha Blake Episode: "Love and/or Marriage" 1990 Superboy Lara Episodes: "Escape to Earth," "Abandon Earth" Grand Viveca Episode: "Blow Off" 1992 Bara med Britt Herself/Host 2002 Lexx Dulcibella Sternflanks Episode: "Prime Ridge" 2010 I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! Herself 20 episodes 2013 Astrid in Wonderland Herself Episode #5.8 2013-2015 Svenska Hollywoodfruar Herself Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, DBE (née Miller; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English crime novelist, short story writer and playwright. She also wrote six romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best known for the 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections that she wrote under her own name, most of which revolve around the investigative work of such characters as Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, Parker Pyne, Harley Quin/Mr Satterthwaite and Tommy and Tuppence Beresford. She wrote the world's longest-running play, a murder mystery, The Mousetrap.[1] In 1971 she was made a Dame for her contribution to literature.[2] Christie was born into a wealthy upper-middle-class family in Torquay, Devon. She served in a hospital during the First World War before marrying and starting a family in London. She was initially unsuccessful at getting her work published, but in 1920 The Bodley Head press published her novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles, featuring the character of Hercule Poirot. This launched her literary career.[citation needed] The Guinness Book of World Records lists Christie as the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels have sold roughly 2 billion copies, and her estate claims that her works come third in the rankings of the world's most-widely published books,[3] behind only Shakespeare's works and the Bible. According to Index Translationum, she remains the most-translated individual author – having been translated into at least 103 languages.[4] And Then There Were None is Christie's best-selling novel, with 100 million sales to date, making it the world's best-selling mystery ever, and one of the best-selling books of all time.[5] Christie's stage play The Mousetrap holds the record for the longest initial run: it opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End on 25 November 1952 and as of 2015 is still running after more than 25,000 performances.[6][7] In 1955 Christie was the first recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's highest honour, the Grand Master Award, and in the same year Witness for the Prosecution received an Edgar Award by the MWA for Best Play. In 2013, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was voted the best crime novel ever by 600 fellow writers of the Crime Writers' Association.[8] On 15 September 2015, coinciding with Agatha Christie's 125th birthday, And Then There Were None was voted as the "World's Favorite Christie", followed closely by Murder on the Orient Express and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.[9] Most of her books and short stories have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics, and more than thirty feature films have been based on her work. Contents 1 Life and career 1.1 Childhood: 1890–19101.2 Early literary attempts and the First World War: 1910–191.3 First novels: 1919–231.4 Disappearance1.5 Second marriage and later life2 Death 2.1 Agatha Christie's estate and subsequent ownership of works3 Writings 3.1 Works of fiction 3.1.1 Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple3.1.2 Formula and plot devices3.1.3 Character stereotypes3.2 Non-fiction writings3.3 Critical reception4 Interests and influences 4.1 Archaeology4.2 Spirituality4.3 Use of archaeology and spirituality in her writing5 Portrayals of Christie6 See also7 Notes8 References9 Sources10 Further reading 10.1 Articles10.2 Books11 External links Life and career Childhood: 1890–1910 Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born on 15 September 1890 into a wealthy upper middle-class family in Ashfield, Torquay, Devon.[10]:1 Her mother, Clara Boehmer, was an Englishwoman who was born in Belfast in 1854 to Captain Frederick Boehmer and Mary Ann West, the couple's only daughter. She had four brothers, one of whom died young. Captain Boehmer was killed in a riding accident while stationed on Jersey in April 1863, leaving Mary Ann (Agatha Christie's grandmother) to raise her children alone on a meagre income. Under financial strain, she sent Clara (Christie's mother) to live with her aunt Margaret Miller (née West), who had married a wealthy American, Nathaniel Frary Miller, in 1863. The couple lived in Prinsted, West Sussex. Clara stayed with Margaret, and there she met her future husband, an American stockbroker named Frederick Alvah Miller, who was the son of Nathaniel.[10]:2–4 Christie's father Frederick was a member of the small and wealthy American upper class, and had been sent to Switzerland for his education. He was considered personable and friendly by those who knew him. He soon developed a romantic relationship with Clara, and they were married in April 1878.[10]:4–5 Their first child, Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), was born in Torquay, where the couple were renting lodgings, while their second, Louis "Monty" Montant (1880–1929), was born in the U.S. state of New York, where Frederick was on a business trip. Clara soon purchased a villa in Torquay named "Ashfield" in which to raise her family, and it was here that her third and final child, Agatha, was born.[10]:6–7 Agatha Christie as a girl, date unknown Christie described her childhood as "very happy".[11]:3 She was surrounded by a series of strong and independent women from an early age.[10]:14 Her time was spent alternating between her home in Devon, her step-grandmother and aunt's house in Ealing, West London, and parts of Southern Europe, where her family would holiday during the winter.[10]:15, 24 Agatha was raised in a household with various esoteric beliefs and, like her siblings, believed that their mother Clara was a psychic with the ability of second sight.[10]:13 Her mother insisted that she receive a home education, and so her parents were responsible for teaching her to read and write and to be able to perform basic arithmetic, a subject that she particularly enjoyed. They also taught her about music, and she learned to play both the piano and the mandolin.[10]:20–21 Christie was a voracious reader from an early age. Among her earliest memories were those of reading the children's books written by Mrs Molesworth, including The Adventures of Herr Baby (1881), Christmas Tree Land (1897), and The Magic Nuts (1898). She also read the work of Edith Nesbit, including The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1903), and The Railway Children (1906). When a little older, she moved on to reading the surreal verse of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll.[10]:18–19 Much of her childhood was spent largely alone and separate from other children, although she spent much time with her pets, whom she adored. She eventually made friends with a group of other girls in Torquay, and she noted that "one of the highlights of my existence" was her appearance with them in a youth production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeomen of the Guard, in which she played the hero, Colonel Fairfax.[10]:23–27 This was her last operatic role for, as she later wrote, "an experience that you really enjoyed should never be repeated."[12]:125 Her father was often ill, suffering from a series of heart attacks, and he died in November 1901, aged 55. His death left the family devastated and in an uncertain economic situation. Clara and Agatha continued to live together in their Torquay home, Madge had moved to the nearby Cheadle Hall with her new husband, and Monty had joined the army and been sent to South Africa to fight in the Boer War. Agatha later claimed that her father's death, occurring when she was eleven years old, marked the end of her childhood.[10]:32–34 In 1902, Agatha was sent to receive a formal education at Miss Guyer's Girls School in Torquay, but found it difficult to adjust to the disciplined atmosphere. In 1905, she was sent to Paris where she was educated in three pensions – Mademoiselle Cabernet's, Les Marroniers, and then Miss Dryden's – the last of which served primarily as a finishing school.[10]:22–23, 37 Early literary attempts and the First World War: 1910–19 Agatha returned to England in 1910 and found that her mother Clara was ill. They decided to spend time together in the warmer climate of Cairo, then a popular tourist destination for wealthy Britons; they stayed for three months at the Gezirah Palace Hotel. Agatha – always chaperoned by her mother – attended many social functions in search of a husband. She visited such ancient Egyptian monuments as the Great Pyramid of Giza, but did not exhibit the great interest in archaeology and Egyptology that became prominent in her later years.[10]:40–41 Returning to Britain, she continued her social activities, writing and performing in amateur theatrics. She also helped put on a play called The Blue Beard of Unhappiness with female friends. Her writing extended to both poetry and music. Some early works saw publication, but she decided against focusing on either of these as future professions.[10]:45–46 Christie wrote her first short story, The House of Beauty (an early version of her later-published story The House of Dreams[13]), while recovering in bed from an undisclosed illness. This was about 6,000 words on the topic of "madness and dreams", a subject of fascination for her. Biographer Janet Morgan commented that, despite "infelicities of style", the story was nevertheless "compelling".[10]:48–49 Other shorts followed, most of them illustrating her interest in spiritualism and the paranormal. These included "The Call of Wings" and "The Little Lonely God". Various magazines rejected all her early submissions, made under pseudonyms, although some were revised and published later, often with new titles.[10]:49–50 Christie then set her first novel, Snow Upon the Desert, in Cairo, and drew from her recent experiences in that city, written under the pseudonym Monosyllaba. She was perturbed when various publishers all declined.[10]:50–51 Clara suggested that her daughter ask for advice from a family friend and neighbour, writer Eden Philpotts, who obliged her enquiry, encouraged her writing, and sent her an introduction to his own literary agent, Hughes Massie, who rejected Snow Upon the Desert, and suggested a second novel.[10]:51–52 Christie continued searching for a husband, and entered into short-lived relationships with four separate men and an engagement with another. She then met Archibald Christie (1889–1962)[14] at a dance given by Lord and Lady Clifford at Ugbrooke, about 12 miles (19 kilometres) from Torquay. Archie was born in India, the son of a judge in the Indian Civil Service. He was an army officer who was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps in April 1913. The couple quickly fell in love. Upon learning that he would be stationed in Farnborough, Archie proposed marriage, and Agatha accepted.[10]:54–63 With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Archie was sent to France to fight the German forces. They married on the afternoon of Christmas Eve 1914 at Emmanuel Church, Clifton, Bristol, which was close to the home of his parents, while Archie was on home leave.[15] Rising through the ranks, he was eventually stationed back to Britain in September 1918 as a colonel in the Air Ministry. Agatha involved herself in the war effort, joining the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) in 1914, and attending to wounded soldiers at a hospital in Torquay as an unpaid VAD nurse.[16] She was responsible for aiding the doctors and maintaining morale; she performed 3,400 hours of unpaid work between October 1914 and December 1916. She qualified as an "apothecaries' assistant" (or dispenser) in 1917 and, as a dispenser, she earned £16 a year until the end of her service in September 1918. After the war, the couple settled into a flat at 5 Northwick Terrace in St. John's Wood, northwest London.[10]:64–74 First novels: 1919–23 Christie had long been a fan of detective novels, having enjoyed Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White and The Moonstone as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's early Sherlock Holmes stories. She wrote her own detective novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles featuring Hercule Poirot, a former Belgian police officer noted for his twirly large "magnificent moustaches" and egg-shaped head. Poirot had taken refuge in Britain after Germany had invaded Belgium. Christie's inspiration for this stemmed from real Belgian refugees who were living in Torquay.[10]:75–79 The Styles manuscript was not accepted by such publishing companies as Hodder and Stoughton and Methuen. However, John Lane at The Bodley Head offered to accept it after keeping the submission for several months, provided that Christie change the ending. She did so and then signed a contract which she later felt was exploitative.[10]:79, 81–82 Christie meanwhile settled into married life, giving birth to her only child, daughter Rosalind Margaret at Ashfield in August 1919, where the couple spent much of their time, having few friends in London.[10]:79 Archie left the Air Force at the end of the war and started working in the City financial sector at a relatively low salary, though they still employed a maid.[10]:80–81 Christie's second novel, The Secret Adversary (1922), featured a new detective couple Tommy and Tuppence, again published by The Bodley Head. It earned her £50. A third novel again featured Poirot, Murder on the Links (1923), as did short stories commissioned by Bruce Ingram, editor of Sketch magazine.[10]:83 In order to tour the world promoting the British Empire Exhibition, the couple left their daughter Rosalind with Agatha's mother and sister. They travelled to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii.[10]:86–103 [17] They learned to surf prone in South Africa; then, in Waikiki, they were among the first Britons to surf standing up.[18] Disappearance In late 1926, Archie asked Agatha for a divorce. He was in love with Nancy Neele, who had been a friend of Major Belcher, director of the British Empire Mission, on the promotional tour a few years earlier. On 3 December 1926, the Christies quarrelled, and Archie left their house, Styles, in Sunningdale, Berkshire, to spend the weekend with his mistress at Godalming, Surrey. That same evening, around 9:45 pm, Christie disappeared from her home, leaving behind a letter for her secretary saying that she was going to Yorkshire. Her car, a Morris Cowley, was later found at Newlands Corner, perched above a chalk quarry, with an expired driving licence and clothes.[19] Her disappearance caused an outcry from the public. Home Secretary William Joynson-Hicks pressured police, and a newspaper offered a £100 reward. Over a thousand police officers, 15,000 volunteers, and several aeroplanes scoured the rural landscape. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle even gave a spirit medium one of Christie's gloves to find the missing woman. Dorothy L. Sayers visited the house in Surrey, later using the scenario in her book Unnatural Death.[20] Christie's disappearance was featured on the front page of The New York Times. Despite the extensive manhunt, she was not found for 10 days.[20][21][22][23] On 14 December 1926, she was found at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel (now the Old Swan Hotel[a]) in Harrogate, Yorkshire, registered as Mrs Teresa Neele (the surname of her husband's lover) from Cape Town. Christie's autobiography makes no reference to her disappearance.[12][20] Two doctors diagnosed her as suffering from amnesia, yet opinion remains divided as to why she disappeared. She was known to be in a depressed state from literary overwork, her mother's death earlier that year, and her husband's infidelity. Public reaction at the time was largely negative, supposing a publicity stunt or attempt to frame her husband for murder.[24][b] The 1979 Michael Apted film Agatha features a disclaimer in the opening credits stating that what follows is an imaginary solution to an authentic mystery. The film starred Vanessa Redgrave and Timothy Dalton as Agatha and Archie, and depicts Christie planning suicide in such a way as to frame her husband's mistress for her "murder". An American reporter, played by Dustin Hoffman, follows her closely and stops the plan. The film outraged Christie's heirs who fought two unsuccessful lawsuits in the United States to try to prevent it from being distributed.[citation needed] Author Jared Cade interviewed numerous witnesses and relatives for his sympathetic biography Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days, revised 2011.[25] He provided substantial evidence to suggest that she planned the event to embarrass her husband, never anticipating the resulting escalated melodrama.[26] The Christies divorced in 1928, and Archie married Nancy Neele. Agatha retained custody of daughter Rosalind and the Christie name for her writing. During their marriage, she published six novels, a collection of short stories, and a number of short stories in magazines.[citation needed] Second marriage and later life Agatha Christie's room at the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, where she wrote Murder on the Orient Express Blue plaque, 58 Sheffield Terrace, Holland Park, London In 1930, Christie married archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan, having met him during an archaeological dig. Their marriage was happy and lasted until Christie's death in 1976.[27] Mallowan introduced her to wine, which she never enjoyed – preferring to drink water in restaurants. She tried unsuccessfully to make herself like cigarettes by smoking one after lunch and one after dinner every day for six months.[28] Christie frequently used settings that were familiar to her for her stories. Her travels with Mallowan contributed background to several of her novels set in the Middle East. Other novels (such as And Then There Were None) were set in and around Torquay, where she was raised. Christie's 1934 novel Murder on the Orient Express was written in the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey, the southern terminus of the railway. The hotel maintains Christie's room as a memorial to the author.[29] The Greenway Estate in Devon, acquired by the couple as a summer residence in 1938, is now in the care of the National Trust. Christie often stayed at Abney Hall, Cheshire, owned by her brother-in-law, James Watts, basing at least two stories there: a short story "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding", in the story collection of the same name, and the novel After the Funeral. "Abney became Agatha's greatest inspiration for country-house life, with all its servants and grandeur being woven into her plots. The descriptions of the fictional Chimneys, Stoneygates, and other houses in her stories are mostly Abney in various forms."[30] During the Second World War, Christie worked in the pharmacy at University College Hospital, London, where she acquired a knowledge of poisons that she put to good use in her post-war crime novels. For example, the use of thallium as a poison was suggested to her by UCH Chief Pharmacist Harold Davis (later appointed Chief Pharmacist at the UK Ministry of Health), and in The Pale Horse, published in 1961, she employed it to dispatch a series of victims, the first clue to the murder method coming from the victims' loss of hair. So accurate was her description of thallium poisoning that on at least one occasion it helped solve a case that was baffling doctors.[31][32] Christie lived in Chelsea, first in Cresswell Place and later in Sheffield Terrace. Both properties are now marked by blue plaques. In 1934, she and Max Mallowan purchased Winterbrook House in Winterbrook, a hamlet in the ancient parish of Cholsey but adjoining Wallingford, then in Berkshire (Oxfordshire from 1974).[33] This was their main residence for the rest of their lives and the place where Christie did most of her writing. This house, too, bears a blue plaque. Christie led a very low-profile life despite being known in the town of Wallingford, where she was for many years President of the local amateur dramatic society. Around 1941–42, the British intelligence agency MI5 investigated Christie after a character called Major Bletchley appeared in her 1941 thriller N or M?, which was about a hunt for a pair of deadly fifth columnists in wartime England.[34] MI5 was afraid that Christie had a spy in Britain's top-secret codebreaking centre, Bletchley Park. The agency's fears were allayed when Christie commented to codebreaker Dilly Knox that Bletchley was simply the name of "one of my least lovable characters."[34] To honour her many literary works, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1956 New Year Honours.[35] The next year, she became the President of the Detection Club.[36] In the 1971 New Year Honours, she was promoted Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE),[37] three years after her husband had been knighted for his archaeological work in 1968.[38] They were one of the few married couples where both partners were honoured in their own right. From 1968, owing to her husband's knighthood, Christie could also be styled Lady Mallowan. Agatha Christie's gravestone at St. Mary's church, Cholsey From 1971 to 1974, Christie's health began to fail, although she continued to write. Recently, using experimental tools of textual analysis, Canadian researchers have suggested that Christie may have begun to suffer from Alzheimer's disease or other dementia.[39][40][41][42] Death Dame Agatha Christie died on 12 January 1976 at age 85 from natural causes at her Winterbrook House in the north of Cholsey parish, adjoining Wallingford in Oxfordshire (formerly part of Berkshire). She is buried in the nearby churchyard of St Mary's, Cholsey. She was survived by her only child, Rosalind Margaret Hicks. Agatha Christie's estate and subsequent ownership of works During Agatha Christie's life, she had set up a private company, Agatha Christie Limited, to hold the rights to her works, and around 1959 she had also transferred her 278-acre home, Greenway Estate, to her daughter Rosalind.[43] In 1968, when Christie was almost 80 years old, she sold a 51% stake in Agatha Christie Limited (and therefore the works it owned) to Booker Books (better known as Booker Author's Division), a subsidiary of the British food and transport conglomerate Booker-McConnell (now Booker Group), the founder of the Booker Prize for literature, which later increased its stake to 64%.[when?] Agatha Christie Limited remains the owner of the worldwide rights for over 80 of Christie's novels and short stories, 19 plays, and nearly 40 TV films.[44] After Christie's death in 1976, her remaining 36% share of the company was inherited by her daughter, Rosalind Hicks, who passionately preserved her mother's works, image, and legacy until her own death 28 years later.[43] The family's share of the company allowed them to appoint 50% of the board and the chairman, and thereby to retain a veto over new treatments, updated versions, and republications of her works.[43][45] In 1993, Hicks founded the Agatha Christie Society and became its first president.[43] In 2004 her obituary in The Telegraph commented that Hicks had been "determined to remain true to her mother's vision and to protect the integrity of her creations" and disapproved of "merchandising" activities.[43] Upon Hicks' death, also at age 85 like her mother, on 28 October 2004, both this and the Greenway Estate passed to Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard. After his parents' deaths, Prichard donated Greenway - both the house and its contents - to the National Trust.[43][46] Christie's family and family trusts, including Prichard, continue to own the remaining 36% stake in Agatha Christie Limited,[44] and remain associated with the company. Prichard remains as the company's chairman,[44] and also in his own right holds the copyright to some of his grandmother's later literary works (including The Mousetrap).[47] In 1998, Booker sold a number of its non-food assets to focus on its core business.[45] As part of that, its shares in Agatha Christie Limited (at the time earning £2.1m annual revenue[45]) were sold for £10m to Chorion,[45] a major international media company whose portfolio of well known authors' works also included the literary estates of Enid Blyton and Dennis Wheatley. However, in February 2012, Chorion found itself in financial difficulties some years after a Management buyout, and began to sell off their literary assets on the market,[44] selling their stake in Christie’s estate (specifically, their 64% stake in Agatha Christie Limited) to the current owner Acorn Media UK (part of RLJ Entertainment, Inc. and the RLJ Companies, owned by American entrepreneur Robert L. Johnson) during that same month.[48] As of 2014, media reports state that the BBC had acquired the exclusive television rights to Christie's works in the UK (previously associated with ITV) and plans with Acorn's co-operation to air new productions for the 125th anniversary of Christie's birth in 2015.[49] Writings Main articles: Agatha Christie bibliography, List of short stories by Agatha Christie and Adaptations of Agatha Christie Works of fiction Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple Christie's first book The Mysterious Affair at Styles was published in 1920 and introduced the detective Hercule Poirot, who became a long-running character in many of Christie's works, appearing in 33 novels and 54 short stories. Miss (Jane) Marple was introduced in the short stories The Thirteen Problems in 1927 and was based on Christie's grandmother and her "Ealing cronies".[50] Both Jane and Gran "always expected the worst of everyone and everything, and were, with almost frightening accuracy, usually proved right."[11]:422 Marple appeared in 12 of Christie's novels. During the Second World War, Christie wrote two novels, Curtain and Sleeping Murder, intended as the last cases of these two great detectives, Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. Both books were sealed in a bank vault for over thirty years and were released for publication by Christie only at the end of her life, when she realised that she could not write any more novels. These publications came on the heels of the success of the film version of Murder on the Orient Express in 1974. Christie became increasingly tired of Poirot, just as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did with his character Sherlock Holmes. By the end of the 1930s, Christie wrote in her diary that she was finding Poirot "insufferable", and by the 1960s she felt that he was "an egocentric creep". However, unlike Conan Doyle, Christie resisted the temptation to kill her detective off while he was still popular. She saw herself as an entertainer whose job was to produce what the public liked, and the public liked Poirot.[51] She did marry off Poirot's companion Colonel Hastings in an attempt to trim her cast commitments.[11]:268 In contrast, Christie was fond of Miss Marple. However, the Belgian detective's titles outnumber the Marple titles more than two to one. This is largely because Christie wrote numerous Poirot novels early in her career, while The Murder at the Vicarage remained the sole Marple novel until the 1940s. Christie never wrote a novel or short story featuring both Poirot and Miss Marple. In a recording discovered and released in 2008, Christie revealed the reason for this: "Hercule Poirot, a complete egoist, would not like being taught his business or having suggestions made to him by an elderly spinster lady".[50] Poirot is the only fictional character to date to be given an obituary in The New York Times, following the publication of Curtain. It appeared on the front page of the paper on 6 August 1975.[52] Following the great success of Curtain, Christie gave permission for the release of Sleeping Murder sometime in 1976 but died in January 1976 before the book could be released. This may explain some of the inconsistencies compared to the rest of the Marple series — for example, Colonel Arthur Bantry, husband of Miss Marple's friend Dolly, is still alive and well in Sleeping Murder despite the fact that he is noted as having died in books published earlier. It may be that Christie simply did not have time to revise the manuscript before she died.[53] In 2013, the Christie family gave their "full backing" to the release of a new Poirot story, The Monogram Murders, which was written by British author Sophie Hannah.[54] Formula and plot devices Christie's reputation as "The Queen of Crime" was built upon the large number of classic motifs that she introduced, or for which she provided the most famous example. Christie built these tropes into what is now considered classic mystery structure: a murder is committed, there are multiple suspects who are all concealing secrets, and the detective gradually uncovers these secrets over the course of the story, discovering the most shocking twists towards the end. Culprits in Christie's mysteries have included children, policemen, narrators, already deceased individuals, and sometimes comprise no known suspects (And Then There Were None) or all of the suspects (Murder on the Orient Express). At the end, in a Christie hallmark, the detective usually gathers the surviving suspects into one room, explains the course of his deductive reasoning, and reveals the guilty party, although there are exceptions in which it is left to the guilty party to explain all (such as And Then There Were None and Endless Night, both rather nihilistic in nature).[55][56] Christie allows some culprits to escape earthly justice for a variety of reasons, such as the passage of time (retrospective cases), in which the most important characters have already died, or by active prescription. Such cases include The Witness for the Prosecution, Murder on the Orient Express, The Man in the Brown Suit, Elephants Can Remember, and The Unexpected Guest. There are instances in which a killer is not brought to justice in the legal sense but does die as a direct result of his plot, sometimes by his own hand at the direction or with the collusion of the detective (usually Hercule Poirot). This occurs in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Death on the Nile, Dumb Witness, Crooked House, The Hollow, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side, Cat Among the Pigeons, Peril at End House, Nemesis, Appointment with Death, The Secret Adversary, and Curtain. In the last of these (Curtain), no fewer than three culprits die during the course of the story. In The A.B.C. Murders, the murderer has killed four innocent people and attempted to frame an unstable man for the crimes. Hercule Poirot, however, prevents this easy way out, ensuring a trial and hanging. In And Then There Were None, the killer's own death is intrinsic to the plot; the red herring is when and how the killer actually died. However, stage, film, and television productions of some of these mysteries were traditionally sanitized with the culprits not evading some form of justice, for a variety of reasons – e.g., censors, plot clarity, and Christie's own changing tastes. (When Christie adapted Witness for the Prosecution into a stage play, she lengthened the ending so that the murderer was also killed; this format was followed in film and television productions, most famously the Charles Laughton/Marlene Dietrich film.) In Death Comes as the End, set in ancient Egypt, the culprit is killed in the act before he can claim another victim by one of the few surviving characters. In some stories, the question remains unresolved of whether formal justice will ever be delivered, such as Five Little Pigs, Endless Night, and Ordeal by Innocence. According to P. D. James, Christie often, but not always, made the unlikeliest character the guilty party. Savvy readers could sometimes identify the culprit by simply identifying the least likely suspect.[57] Seven stories are built around words from well known children's nursery rhymes: And Then There Were None (by Ten Little Indians), One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (by One, Two, Buckle My Shoe), Five Little Pigs (by This Little Piggy), Crooked House (by There Was a Crooked Man), A Pocket Full of Rye (by Sing a Song of Sixpence), Hickory Dickory Dock (by Hickory Dickory Dock), and Three Blind Mice (by Three Blind Mice). The titles of her novels are sometime drawn from literature, for example Sad Cypress (from "Come away, death" a song in Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night), There is a Tide (from Brutus' speech in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar), The Mirror Crack'd (from Tennyson's The Lady of Shallot) and Evil under the Sun (from Ecclesiastes 6:1). In such cases, the original context of the title is printed as an epigraph. On an edition of Desert Island Discs in 2007, Brian Aldiss claimed that Christie had told him that she wrote her books up to the last chapter, then decided who the most unlikely suspect was, after which she would go back and make the necessary changes to "frame" that person.[58] However, John Curran's Agatha Christie: The Secret Notebooks describes different working methods for every book in Christie's bibliography, contradicting the claim by Aldiss.[citation needed] Character stereotypes Christie occasionally inserted stereotyped descriptions of characters into her work, particularly before the end of the Second World War (when such attitudes were more commonly expressed publicly), and particularly in regard to Italians, Jews, non-Europeans, and sometimes Americans, the last usually as impossibly naïve or uninformed. For example, she described "Hebraic men with hook-noses wearing rather flamboyant jewellery" in the first editions of the collection The Mysterious Mr Quin (1930), in the short story "The Soul of the Croupier"; in later editions, the passage was edited to describe "sallow men" wearing same. In The Hollow, published as late as 1946, one of the more unsympathetic characters is "a Whitechapel Jewess with dyed hair and a voice like a corncrake ... a small woman with a thick nose, henna red and a disagreeable voice". To contrast with the more stereotyped descriptions, Christie sometimes showed "foreigners" as victims or potential victims at the hands of English malefactors, such as, respectively, Olga Seminoff (Hallowe'en Party) and Katrina Reiger (in the short story "How Does Your Garden Grow?"). Jewish characters are often seen as un-English (such as Oliver Manders in Three Act Tragedy), but they are rarely the culprits.[59] Often, she is affectionate or teasing with her prejudices. After four years of war-torn London, Christie hoped to return some day to Syria, which she described as "gentle fertile country and its simple people, who know how to laugh and how to enjoy life; who are idle and gay, and who have dignity, good manners, and a great sense of humour, and to whom death is not terrible."[11]:187 She had trouble with an incompetent Swiss French nursery helper (Marcelle) for toddler Rosalind, and as a result she decided, "Scottish preferred... good with the young. The French were hopeless disciplinarians ... Germans good and methodical, but it was not German that I really wanted Rosalind to learn. The Irish were gay but made trouble in the house; the English were of all kinds".[11]:327 Non-fiction writings Christie published relatively few nonfiction works: Come, Tell Me How You Live, about working on an archaeological dig, drawn from her life with second husband Max Mallowan.The Grand Tour: Around the World with the Queen of Mystery, a collection of correspondence from her 1922 Grand Tour of the British empire, including South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.Agatha Christie: An Autobiography was published posthumously in 1977. Critical reception Agatha Christie is the world's best-selling mystery writer, often referred to as the "Queen of Crime", and considered a master of suspense, plotting, and characterisation.[60][61][62] Some critics, however, regarded Christie's plotting abilities as considerably greater than her literary ones. Novelist Raymond Chandler criticised her in his essay "The Simple Art of Murder", and American literary critic Edmund Wilson was dismissive of Christie and the detective fiction genre generally in his New Yorker essay, "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?"[63] Interests and influences Archaeology The lure of the past came up to grab me. To see a dagger slowly appearing, with its gold glint, through the sand was romantic. The carefulness of lifting pots and objects from the soil filled me with a longing to be an archaeologist myself. — [10]:389[11] Many years ago, when I was once saying sadly to Max it was a pity I couldn't have taken up archaeology when I was a girl, so as to be more knowledgeable on the subject, he said, "Don't you realize that at this moment you know more about prehistoric pottery than any woman in England?" — [10]:546[11] Christie had a lifelong interest in archaeology. She met her second husband, Sir Max Mallowan, a distinguished archaeologist, on a trip to the excavation site at Ur in 1930. But her fame as an author far surpassed his fame in archaeology.[64] Prior to meeting Mallowan, Christie had not had any extensive brushes with archaeology, but once the two married, they made sure to only go to sites where they could work together. Christie accompanied Mallowan on countless archaeological trips, spending 3–4 months at a time in Syria and Iraq at excavation sites at Ur, Nineveh, Tell Arpachiyah, Chagar Bazar, Tell Brak, and Nimrud. She wrote novels and short stories, but also contributed work to the archaeological sites, more specifically to the archaeological restoration and labelling of ancient exhibits, including tasks such as cleaning and conserving delicate ivory pieces, reconstructing pottery, developing photos from early excavations which later led to taking photographs of the site and its findings, and taking field notes.[65] Christie would always pay for her own board and lodging and her travel expenses so as to not influence the funding of the archaeological excavations, and she also supported excavations as an anonymous sponsor.[65] During their time in the Middle East, there was also a large amount of time spent travelling to and from Mallowan's sites. Their extensive travelling had a strong influence on her writing, as some type of transportation often plays a part in her murderer's schemes. The large amount of travel was reused in novels such as The Murder on the Orient Express, as well as suggesting the idea of archaeology as an adventure itself.[66] After the Second World War, she chronicled her time in Syria with fondness in "Come Tell Me How You Live". Anecdotes, memories, funny episodes are strung in a rough timeline, with more emphasis on eccentric characters and lovely scenery than on factual accuracy.[11]:1985 From 8 November 2001 to 24 March 2002, The British Museum had an exhibit named Agatha Christie and Archaeology: Mystery in Mesopotamia, which presented the life of Agatha Christie and the influences of archaeology in her life and works.[65] Spirituality Christie's life within the archaeological world shaped the settings and characters for her books, as well as the issues that she highlights. One of the stronger influences is her love of the mystical and mysterious. Many of Christie's books and short stories, set both in the Middle East and back in England, have a decidedly otherworldly influence in which religious sects, sacrifices, ceremony, and seances play a part. Such stories include "The Hound of Death" and "The Idol House of Astarte". This theme was greatly strengthened by those times which Christie spent in the Middle East, where she was consistently surrounded by the religious temples and spiritual history of the towns and cities that they were excavating during Mallowan's archaeological work.[citation needed] Use of archaeology and spirituality in her writing Many of the settings for Christie's books were directly inspired by the many archaeological field seasons spent in the Middle East on the sites managed by her husband Max. The extent of her time spent at the many locations featured in her books is apparent from the extreme detail in which she describes them. One such site featured in her work is the temple site of Abu Simbel, depicted in Death on the Nile. Also there is the great detail in which she describes life at the dig site in Murder in Mesopotamia. Among the characters in her books, Christie has often given prominence to the archaeologists and experts in Middle Eastern cultures and artifacts. Most notable are the characters of Dr. Eric Leidner in Murder in Mesopotamia and Signor Richetti in Death on the Nile, while many minor characters were archaeologists in They Came to Baghdad. Some of Christie's best known novels with heavy archaeological influences are: Murder in Mesopotamia (1936) – the most archaeologically influenced of all her novels, as it is set in the Middle East at an archaeological dig site and associated expedition house. The main characters include archaeologist Dr. Eric Leidner, his wife, multiple specialists and assistants, and the men working on the site. The novel is noted most for its careful description of the dig site and house, which showed that the author had spent much of her time in very similar situations. The characters in this book in particular are also based on archaeologists whom Christie knew from her personal experiences on excavation sites.Appointment with Death (1938) – set in Jerusalem and its surrounding area. The death itself occurs at an old cave site in Petra and offers some very descriptive details of sites which Christie herself could have visited in order to write the book.Death on the Nile (1937) – takes place on a tour boat on the Nile. Many archaeological sites are visited along the way and one of the main characters, Signor Richetti, is an archaeologist.They Came to Baghdad (1951) – inspired by Christie's own trips to Baghdad with Mallowan, and involves an archaeologist as the heroine's love interest. Portrayals of Christie Christie has been portrayed on a number of occasions in film and television. Several biographical programmes have been made, such as BBC television's Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures (2004), in which she is portrayed by Olivia Williams, Anna Massey, and Bonnie Wright; and Season 3, Episode 1 of ITV Perspectives: "The Mystery of Agatha Christie" (2013), hosted by David Suchet, who plays Hercule Poirot on television.[67][68] Christie has also been portrayed fictionally. Some of these portrayals have explored and offered accounts of Christie's disappearance in 1926, including the film Agatha (1979) (with Vanessa Redgrave, in which she sneaks away to plan revenge against her husband), and the Doctor Who episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (17 May 2008), with Fenella Woolgar, in which her disappearance is the result of her suffering a temporary breakdown owing to a brief psychic link being formed between her and an alien. Others, such as Hungarian film, Kojak Budapesten (1980; not to be confused with the 1986 comedy by the same name) create their own scenarios involving Christie's criminal skill.[69] In the TV play, Murder by the Book (1986), Christie herself (Dame Peggy Ashcroft) murdered one of her fictional-turned-real characters, Poirot. The heroine of Liar-Soft's visual novel Shikkoku no Sharnoth: What a Beautiful Tomorrow (2008), Mary Clarissa Christie, is based on the real-life Christie. Christie features as a character in Gaylord Larsen's Dorothy and Agatha and The London Blitz Murders by Max Allan Collins.[70][71] A fictionalized account of Christie's disappearance is the central theme of the Korean musical Agatha.[72] See also Book: Agatha Christie Novels portal Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures (Her life story in a 2004 BBC drama)Abney Hall (home to her brother-in-law; several books use Abney as their setting)Greenway Estate (Christie's former home in Devon. The house and grounds are now in the possession of the National Trust and open to the public)Agatha Christie indult (an oecumenical request to which Christie was signatory seeking permission for the occasional use of the Tridentine (Latin) mass in England and Wales)Agatha AwardAgatha Christie Award (Japan)     ebay3252

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