Murder at the Gallop Murder at the Gallop Murder at the Gallop (1963) is the second of four Miss Marple films made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was based on the novel "After the Funeral" by Agatha Christie, and starred Dame Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple, Charles "Bud" Tingwell as Inspector Craddock and Stringer Davis (Rutherford's real-life husband) as Jane Marple's friend Mr. Stringer. The film changes both the action and the characters. The original novel featured Hercule Poirot rather than Miss Marple, and Christie's trademark suspense was replaced by light comedy. The film also stars Sir Robert Morley and Dame Flora Robson and was
Miss Marple in 1930. The character of Miss Marple is based on Christie's step grandmother/aunt (Margaret Miller, née West), and her cronies. Agatha Christie attributed the inspiration for the character of Miss Marple to a number of sources, stating that Miss Marple was "the sort of old lady who would have been rather like some of my step grandmother's Ealing cronies – old ladies whom I have met in so many villages where I have gone to stay as a girl". Christie also used material from her fictional creation, spinster Caroline Sheppard, who appeared in "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd". When Michael