Book to screen: Hits and misses

HALLIE EPHRON: I’m sure I’m not the only mystery reader who’s been variously delighted or dismayed by the different actors who’ve portrayed iconic fictional sleuths. My all time favorites include Leo McKern as Rumpole of the Bailey, Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, and John Thaw as the quintessential Morse. I also love the entire cast of detective on NEW TRICKS. Until they changed up the actors and it went downhill.

Also less than a rousing success was Katherine Heigl’s Stephanie Plum. Tom Cruise felt violently miscast as Jack Reacher. Hopefully Amazon’s new Jack Reacher show will be truer to the character with Alan Ritchson in the role -- at least he’s got the height and he once played a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

A ton of actors have played Hercule Poirot, including:
- Peter Ustinov
- Albert Finney
- Kenneth Branagh
- David Suchet
- John Malkovich

… and Miss Marple has been portrayed numersouly by:
- Margaret Rutherford
- Angela Lansbury
- Joan Hickson
- Julia McKenzie
- Geraldine McEwan)

And then Sherlock Holmes who has probably been portrayed more times than any fictional character by, among others:
- Basil Rathbone
- Christopher Plummer
- Michael Caine
- Jeremy Brett
- Robert Downey Jr.
- Benedict Cumberbatch)

What have been the hits and misses for you when it comes to seeing an actor play a favorite fictional detective, and what made the difference? I know whom I’d give stars and who’d get raspberries.