Tony Award-winner Joan Hickson, known to TV viewers for the "Miss Marple" mysteries, but also for her lauded Broadway role in Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce in 1979, died Oct. 17, 1998, outside London. She was 92. Tony Award-winner Joan Hickson, known to TV viewers for the "Miss Marple" mysteries, but also for her lauded Broadway role in Alan Ayckbourn's Bedroom Farce in 1979, died Oct. 17 outside London. She was 92.

British-born Hickson, who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, played Delia in the Ayckbourn comedy, earning a Tony as Best Actress in a Featured Role. Among her countless stage credits are Peter Nichols' A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (she played Grace) at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway in 1968, and Nichols' The Freeway in London in the 1974-75 season. She appeared in about 100 movies.

She is best known, however, for the role she earned at age 78: Agatha Christie's pesky, matronly sleuth, Miss Marple, in the popular BBC series seen widely in the U.S. on the A&E cable channel. Her mannish looks and arched eyebrows in the series made her an indelible presence. She played the role until she was 90.

Her husband, Eric Butler, a doctor, predeceased her in 1967, according to the Associated Press. She is survived by two children. The cause of her death was not announced, the AP reported.