Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.

History

The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766. However, other sources note that James Christie rented auction rooms from 1762, and newspaper advertisements of Christie's sales dating from 1759 have also been traced.

Christie's soon established a reputation as a leading auction house, and took advantage of London's new found status as the major centre of the international art trade after the French Revolution.

Christie's was a public company, listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1973 to 1999, after which it was taken into private ownership by Frenchman François Pinault.

On 28 December 2008, ''The Sunday Times'' reported that Pinault's debts left him "considering" the sale of Christie's and that a number of "private equity groups" were thought to be interested in its acquisition. In January 2009, Christie's was reported to employ 2,100 people worldwide, though an unspecified number of staff and consultants were soon to be cut due to a worldwide downturn in the art market; later news reports said that 300 jobs would be cut. With sales for premier Impressionist, Modern, and contemporary artworks tallying only $US248.8 million in comparison to $US739 million just a year before, a second round of job cuts began after May 2009 when the auction house was still reported to employ 1,900 people worldwide. One of the auction house's "rainmakers" in the sale of Impressionist and Modern art, Guy Bennett, resigned from the auction house just prior to the beginning of the summer 2009 sales season. Although the economic downturn has encouraged some collectors to sell art, others are unwilling to sell in a market which may yield only bargain prices.

The Christie's New York sign was created by Nancy Meyers during the production of ''Something's Gotta Give'' for an exterior shot. The auction house liked the sign so much that they requested the production leave it after shooting finished.

In September 2010, former Rodale President Steven Pleshette Murphy assumed the title of CEO, becoming the first American CEO in the auction house’s history.

Locations

Christie's main London salesroom is on King Street in St. James's, where it has been based since 1823. It has a second London salesroom in South Kensington which opened in 1975 and primarily handles the middle market. Christie's South Kensington is one of the world's busiest auction rooms.

As of January 2009, Christie's had 85 offices (not all are salesrooms) in 43 countries, including New York City, Los Angeles, Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam, Moscow, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Rome, South Korea, Milan, Madrid, Japan, China, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Houston, and Mexico City. In 1995, Christie's became the first international auction house to exhibit works of art in Beijing, China.

Price-fixing scandal

In 2000, allegations surfaced of a price-fixing arrangement between Christie's and Sotheby's, another major auction house. Executives from Christie's subsequently alerted the Department of Justice of their suspicions of commission-fixing collusion.

Christie's gained immunity from prosecution in the United States as a longtime employee of Christie's confessed and cooperated with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Numerous members of Sotheby's senior management were fired soon thereafter, and A. Alfred Taubman, the largest shareholder of Sotheby's at the time, took most of the blame; he and Dede Brooks (the CEO) were given jail sentences, and Christie's, Sotheby's and their owners also paid a civil lawsuit settlement of $512 million.

Notable auctions

In 1987, during the Royal Albert Hall auction, Christie's famously auctioned off a Bugatti Royale automobile for a world record price of £5.5 million.

In May 1989, Pontormo's ''Portrait of a Halberdier'' was sold to the J. Paul Getty Museum for $35.2 million, more than tripling the previous auction record for an Old Master painting.

In 1998, Christie's in New York sold the famous Archimedes Palimpsest after the conclusion of a lawsuit in which its ownership was disputed.

In November 1999, a single strand necklace of 41 natural and graduated pearls, which belonged to Barbara Hutton, was auctioned by Christie's Geneva for $1,476,000.

In June 2001, Sir Elton John sold 20 of his cars at Christie's, saying he didn't get the chance to drive them because he was out of the country so often. The sale, which included a 1993 Jaguar XJ220, the most expensive at £234,750, and several Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and Bentleys, raised nearly £2 million.

In 2006, a single Imperial Qing Dynasty porcelain bowl, another item which belonged to Barbara Hutton, was auctioned by Christie's Hong Kong for a price of $22,240,000.

16 May 2006, Christie's auctioned a Stradivarius called ''The Hammer'' for a record US$3,544,000. It was, at that time, the most paid at public auction for any musical instrument.

In October 2006, Christie's auctioned 1,000 lots of official ''Star Trek'' contents from the CBS Paramount Television studios. A model of the starship Enterprise-D, used in ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and ''Star Trek Generations'' sold for $500,000.

In November 2006, four celebrated paintings by Gustav Klimt were sold for a total of $192 million, after being restituted by Austria to Jewish heirs after a lengthy legal battle.

In December 2006, The black dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the film ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'' was sold for £467, 200 at Christie's South Kensington.

In 2006 Christie's list for auction artifacts known to be looted from Bulgaria and refuses to stop the sale despite strong evidence from the Bulgaria's culture ministry. Continuing to dominate the global market for fine arts, Christie's staged the five largest auctions of all time in November 2006, and May and June 2007. In May 2007, Christie's Paris auctioned 'L'Enfant et l'Art,' a Love & Art Children's Foundation collection created by children afflicted with cancer under the guidance of artist Alécia de Menezes Seidler. The art collection of 21 paintings auctioned by François Curiel, President of Christie's Europe, raised US$350,000 for the children of Les P'tits Cracks, a Parisian association dedicated to caring for children with cancer. Prior to the auction, the L'Enfant et l'Art collection exhibited at Les Arts Décoratifs in the Louvre Palace. In November 2007, an album of eight leaves, ink on paper, by China's Ming Dynasty court painter Dong Qichang was sold at the Christie's Hong Kong Chinese Paintings Auction for US$6,235,500, a world auction record for the artist. In 2008, the Ink and wash painting of Gundam drawn by Hisashi in 2005 was sold in the Christie's auction held in Hong Kong with a price of US$600,000.

On 24 May 2008, Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas by Claude Monet was sold for a price of $80.4 million, the highest price ever for a Monet.

Over a three-day sale in Paris in February 2009, Christie's auctioned the monumental private collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé for a record-breaking 370 million euros (US$490 million). It was the most expensive private collection ever sold at auction, breaking auction records for Brâncuşi, Matisse, and Mondrian. A "Dragons'" armchair by Irish furniture designer Eileen Gray sold for 21.9 million euros (US$28 million), setting an auction record for a piece of 20th century decorative art. The 2009 auction (for US$36 million) of two imperial bronze zodiac sculptures collected by Yves Saint Laurent, looted in 1860 from the Old Summer Palace of Beijing by French and British forces at the close of the Second Opium War caused controversy.

Christie's has auctioned off artwork and personal possessions linked to historical figures such as Pablo Picasso; Rembrandt; Diana, Princess of Wales; Leonardo da Vinci; Vincent van Gogh; Napoleon Bonaparte; Marilyn Monroe; and others.

Christie's Hong Kong, November 2009 sale of Fine Modern Chinese Paintings, sold a work by Fu Baoshi titled "Landscape inspired by Dufu's Poetic Sentiments", for HK$60,020,000 (US$7,780,105) -- a world record for the artist.

Christie's auctioned off Pablo Picasso's ''Nude, Green Leaves and Bust'' on May 4, 2010. The piece sold for US$106.5 million, making the sale among the most expensive paintings ever sold.

Christie’s International Real Estate

Christie’s clients who buy and sell works of art often request real estate services. To satisfy this demand, Great Estates, founded by Kay Coughlin in 1987, was acquired by the auction house in 1995. Christie’s International Real Estate is a wholly owned subsidiary of Christie's, and is the leading international network of real estate brokers dedicated to the marketing and sale of luxury properties. The network spans more than 40 countries worldwide, with 1,000 offices and approximately 34,000 sales associates.

Christie's Education Graduate Programmes

The educational arm of Christie's auction house is called Christie's Education. It has colleges in London and New York accredited by the University of Glasgow in the UK and the New York State Board of Regents in the USA. It offers Master's Degrees, Graduate Diplomas, Art Business Certificates and an Undergraduate Degree. Courses include: Arts of China; Early European Art (Antiquity, Middle Ages and Renaissance); Art, Style and Design (Renaissance to Modernism); Modern and Contemporary Art (all in London) and Modern Art, Connoisseurship and the History of the Art Market (in New York). Part-time, certificate and continuing education programmes are also offered in London and New York.

Ventures

Christie's Images is the picture library for the auction house and has an archive of several million fine and decorative art images representing items sold in its sale rooms around the world. With offices in New York and London, images are available for reproduction.

With Bonhams, Christie's is a shareholder in the London-based Art Loss Register, a privately owned database used by law enforcement services worldwide to trace and recover stolen art.

References

Bibliography

J. Herbert, ''Inside Christie’s'', London, 1990 (ISBN 978-0340430439)

P. A. Colson, ''The Story of Christie's'', London, 1950

H. C. Marillier, ''Christie's, 1766-1925'', London, 1926

M. A. Michael, ''A Brief History of Christie's Education... '', London, 2008 (ISBN 978-0955780707)

W. Roberts, ''Memorials of Christie's'', 2 vols, London, 1897

External links

Christie's official website

Christie's Education Graduate Programmes official website

Christie's Great Estates – Luxury Properties and Estates official website

Bill Brooks – ''Daily Telegraph'' obituary

Category:1766 establishments in England Category:London auction houses Category:New York auction houses Category:Rockefeller Center Category:Price fixing convictions Category:Companies established in 1766

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Name	Chris Christie
Order	55th
Office	Governor of New Jersey
Lieutenant	Kim Guadagno
Term start	January 19, 2010
Predecessor	Jon Corzine
Office2	United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey
Nominator2	George W. Bush
Term start2	January 17, 2002
Term end2	December 1, 2008
Predecessor2	Robert Cleary
Successor2	Ralph Marra (Acting)
Birthname	Christopher James Christie
Birth date	September 06, 1962
Birth place	Newark, New Jersey
Party	Republican Party
Spouse	Mary Pat Foster
Residence	Mendham
Alma mater	University of DelawareSeton Hall University
Religion	Christian (Catholic)
Signature	Chris Christie Signature.svg }}

Christopher James "Chris" Christie (born September 6, 1962) is the 55th and current Governor of New Jersey. Upon his election to the governorship in November 2009, Christie became the first Republican to win a statewide election in New Jersey in 12 years. Christie, an attorney, previously served as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

Early life and family

Chris Christie was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of Bill Christie and Sondra Grasso Christie. He was raised in Livingston, graduating from Livingston High School. Christie graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1984 and Seton Hall University School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree in 1987. Christie was admitted to the Bar of the State of New Jersey and the Bar of the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, in December 1987.

In 1986, Christie married Mary Pat Foster, a fellow student at the University of Delaware. After marriage they shared a one-room apartment in Summit, New Jersey. Mary Pat Christie pursued a career in investment banking, eventually working at the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald. She left the firm in 2001 following the September 11th attacks, only recently returning to work part-time. They have four children, Andrew (born 1993), Sarah (born 1996), Patrick (born 2000), and Bridget (born 2003). Christie and his family reside in Mendham Township.

Christie is of Irish and Sicilian descent.

Early career

Lawyer

In 1987, Christie joined the law firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci of Cranford, New Jersey. In 1993, he was named a partner in the firm. Christie specialized in securities law, appellate practice, election law, and government affairs. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the New Jersey State Bar Association and was a member of the Election Law Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Morris County Freeholder

Christie, at the time a resident of Mendham, was in 1994 elected as a Republican to the Morris County, New Jersey, Board of Chosen Freeholders, with Christie and a running mate having defeated incumbent freeholders in the party primary. After that election, the defeated incumbents filed defamation lawsuits against Christie based on statements made during the primary campaign. Christie had incorrectly stated that the incumbents were under investigation for violating certain local laws. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

As freeholder, Christie required the county government to obtain three quotes from all qualified firms for all contracts. He led a successful effort to bar county officials from accepting gifts from people and firms doing business with the county. He voted to raise the county's open space tax for land preservation; however, county taxes on the whole were decreased by 6.6% during his tenure. He successfully pushed for the dismissal of an architect hired to design a new jail, saying that the architect was costing taxpayers too much money. The architect then sued Christie for defamation over remarks he made about the dismissal.

In 1995, Christie announced a bid for a seat in the New Jersey General Assembly; he and attorney Rick Merkt ran as a ticket against incumbent Assemblyman Anthony Bucco and attorney Michael Patrick Carroll in the Republican primary. Bucco and Carroll, the establishment candidates, defeated the up-and-comers by a wide margin. After this loss, Christie's bid for re-nomination to the freeholder board was unlikely, as unhappy Republicans recruited John J. Murphy to run against Christie in 1997. Murphy defeated Christie in the primary. Murphy, who had falsely accused Christie of having the county pay his legal bills in the architect's lawsuit, was sued by Christie after the election. They settled out of court; nevertheless, Christie's career in Morris County politics was over by 1998.

Lobbyist

In 1998 Christie registered as a lobbyist for the firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci, alongside fellow partner and later, gubernatorial campaign fundraiser Bill Palatucci. Between 1999 and 2001, Christie and Palatucci lobbied on behalf of, among others, GPU Energy for deregulation of New Jersey's electric and gas industry; the Securities Industry Association to block the inclusion of securities fraud under the state's Consumer Fraud Act; Hackensack University Medical Center for state grants, and the University of Phoenix for a New Jersey higher education license.

United States Attorney

Christie served as the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey from January 17, 2002 to December 1, 2008. His office included 137 attorneys, with offices in Newark, Trenton and Camden. Christie also served as one of the 17 U.S. Attorneys on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' advisory committee.

Appointment

On December 7, 2001, Christie was nominated to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on December 20, 2001, and sworn into office on January 17, 2002.

Controversy surrounded his appointment; some members of the New Jersey Bar professed disappointment at Christie's lack of criminal law experience and his history as a top fundraiser for George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. The extent of the role played by Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove, also became an issue after Christie's law partner, William Palatucci, a Republican political consultant and Bush supporter, boasted that he had selected a United States attorney by forwarding Christie's résumé to Rove.

Christie has stated that his distant familial connection to Tino Fiumara never came up during his Federal Bureau of Investigation background check for his position as a U.S. Attorney; he told ''The New York Times'' in 2009 that he had assumed that investigators were aware of the connection. During his tenure as U.S. Attorney, Christie recused himself from his office's investigation, indictment, and prosecution of Fiumara for aiding the flight of a fugitive.

Achievements

Despite the initial misgivings over his degree of experience, Christie received praise for his history of convictions for public corruption. During his tenure, Christie's office won convictions or guilty pleas from 130 public officials, both Republican and Democratic, on the state, county and local levels without losing a single case. The most notable of these convictions included those of Hudson County Executive Robert C. Janiszewski in 2002 on bribery charges, Essex County Executive James W. Treffinger in 2003 on corruption charges, former New Jersey Senate President John A. Lynch, Jr. in 2006 on charges of mail fraud and tax evasion, State Senator and former Newark mayor Sharpe James in 2008 on fraud charges, and State Senator Wayne R. Bryant in 2008 on charges of bribery, mail fraud, and wire fraud.

Claims of misuse of deferred prosecution agreements

Christie has been accused of using his office's role in crafting deferred prosecution agreements to award lucrative federal monitoring positions in no-bid contracts to friends, supporters, and allies. Questions first arose after Christie awarded a multimillion dollar, no-bid contract to David Kelley, another former U.S. Attorney, who had investigated Christie's brother, Todd Christie, in a 2005 fraud case involving traders at the Wall Street firm, Spear, Leeds & Kellogg. Kelley had declined to prosecute Todd Christie, who had been ranked fourth in the investigation-initiating U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaint among twenty traders who earned the largest profits for their company at the expense of their customers. The top three were indicted, as were eleven other traders.

Christie was similarly criticized for his 2007 recommendation of the appointment of The Ashcroft Group, a consulting firm owned by Christie's former superior, the former United States Attorney General John Ashcroft, as a monitor in a court settlement against Zimmer Holdings, an Indiana medical supplies company. The no-bid contract was worth between $28 million and $52 million. Christie defended the decision, saying that Ashcroft’s prominence and legal acumen made him a natural choice. Christie declined to intercede when Zimmer's company lawyers protested the Group’s plans to charge a rate of $1.5 million to $2.9 million per month for the monitoring. Shortly after the House Judiciary Committee began holding hearings on the matter, the Justice Department re-wrote the rules regarding the appointment of court monitors.

Christie also faced criticism over the terms of a $311 million fraud settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb. Christie’s office deferred criminal prosecution of the pharmaceutical company in a deal that required it to dedicate $5 million for a business ethics chair at Seton Hall University School of Law, Christie's alma mater. The U.S. Justice Department subsequently set guidelines forbidding such requirements as components of out-of-court corporate crime settlements.

In June 2009, Christie was called before the House Judiciary Committee as part of its consideration of new regulations on deferred prosecution agreements. In his testimony, he defended his decisions to award no-bid, high-paying federal monitoring contracts to law firms that his critics say constitute a conflict of interest. Christie left the meeting after two and a half hours of questioning, against the requests of the Committee's chairman, stating that he had to attend to pressing business in New Jersey.

Claims of partisan attacks

Christie has been criticized for subpoenaing Senator Robert Menendez during his contested 2006 campaign, just two months before the election. Christie's aides have insisted that they initiated the action in response to an article that appeared in ''The Record'', which reported that in 1994, when Menendez was a U.S. Representative, he had leased his former home to a social service agency that he had helped obtain federal financing. The non-profit group paid Menendez more than $300,000 over nine years to rent the building. Menendez claims to have cleared the arrangement with the Congressional ethics office, a step that had also been reported previously by New Jersey newspapers. According to Menendez, just prior to signing the rental lease, he cleared it by phone with a lawyer on the staff of the United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Following the subpoena, the lawyer, who no longer works with the Committee, came forward to say that while she doesn’t recall the conversation, it probably happened—and that if she were advising Menendez now she would tell him, as she apparently did then, that there was nothing improper about the arrangement. As of August 2009, nothing has come from the investigation.

Cell phone monitoring and alleged entrapment

In 2005, Christie prosecuted the Hemant Lakhani terrorism case, in which the defendant claimed that he had been entrapped. In that case, Christie's office relied on an informant who had been dismissed by the FBI as unreliable for fabricating claims of terrorist activity. For more than a year, the informant, working with the U.S. attorney's office, solicited Lakhani for access to arms. Lakhani was unable to obtain anything until an undercover agent contacted him and supplied him with a fake missile. In an interview with the public radio program "This American Life," Christie brushed off suggestions that Lakhani was entrapped by law enforcement, defending the Lakhani prosecution.

In April 2009, Christie came under fire from the ACLU for authorizing warrantless cellphone tracking of people in 79 instances. Christie has stressed that the practice was legal and court approved.

Governor of New Jersey

Christie filed as a candidate for the office of Governor on January 8, 2009. In the primary on June 2, Christie won the Republican nomination with 55% of the vote, defeating conservative opponents Steve Lonegan and Rick Merkt. He then chose Kimberly Guadagno, Monmouth County sheriff, to complete his campaign ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor. On November 3, Christie defeated Corzine by a margin of 48.5% to 44.9%, with 5.8% of the vote going to independent candidate Chris Daggett.

Christie took office as Governor of New Jersey on January 19, 2010. He chose not to move his family into Drumthwacket, the official governor's mansion, and instead resides in Mendham, New Jersey.

Accomplishments

On February 9, 2010, he signed Executive Order No. 12, which placed a 90-day freeze on the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and established the Housing Opportunity Task Force to examine the State's affordable housing laws, constitutional obligations, and the effectiveness of the current framework.

On February 11, 2010, Christie signed Executive Order No. 14, which declared a "state of fiscal emergency exists in the State of New Jersey" due to the projected $2.2 billion budget deficit for the current fiscal year (FY 2010). In a speech before a special joint session of the New Jersey Legislature on the same day, Christie addressed the budget deficit and revealed a list of fiscal solutions to close the gap. Christie also suspended funding for the Department of the Public Advocate and called for its elimination. Some Democrats criticized Christie for not first consulting them on his budget cuts and for circumventing the Legislature's role in the budget process. In late June 2011, Christie utilized New Jersey's line item veto to eliminate nearly $1 billion from the proposed budget, signing it into law just hours prior to the July 1, 2011, beginning of the state's fiscal year.

On August 25, 2010, it was announced that New Jersey had lost out on $400 million in federal Race to the Top education grants due to a clerical error in the application by an unidentified mid-level state official. In response to the decision, Christie criticized the Obama administration for the decision on the grounds that it was an example of bureaucracy gone wrong and that the administration failed to communicate with the New Jersey government. However, information later came to light that the issue was raised with Christie's Education Commissioner Bret Schundler, and in response Governor Christie asked for Schundler's resignation. Schundler initially agreed to resign, but the following morning asked to be fired instead, citing his need to claim unemployment benefits. Schundler maintains that he told Christie the truth, and that Christie is misstating what actually occurred. The New Jersey Education Association rebuked Christie by suggesting that his rejection of a compromise worked out by Schundler with the teachers' union on May 27 was to blame.

References

External links

Office of the Governor ''official state site''

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Category:1962 births Category:American people of Sicilian descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Governors of New Jersey Category:Living people Category:New Jersey County Freeholders Category:New Jersey lawyers Category:New Jersey Republicans Category:People from Livingston, New Jersey Category:People from Morris County, New Jersey Category:Republican Party state governors of the United States Category:Seton Hall University School of Law alumni Category:United States Attorneys for the District of New Jersey Category:University of Delaware alumni

da:Chris Christie de:Chris Christie fr:Christopher Christie nl:Chris Christie ja:クリス・クリスティ pl:Chris Christie pt:Chris Christie ro:Chris Christie ru:Кристи, Крис sv:Chris Christie vi:Chris Christie

name	Maria Felix
birth name	María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña
birth date	April 08, 1914
birth place	Álamos, Sonora, Mexico
death date	April 08, 2002
death place	Mexico City, Mexico
other names	La Doña
years active	1940–1971
spouse	Enrique Álvarez (1931–1938; 1 child, Enrique Álvarez Félix)Agustín Lara (1943–1947)Jorge Negrete (1952–1953)Alex Berger (1956–1974)
children	Enrique Álvarez Félix (1934–1996)
website	}}

María Félix (April 8, 1914 – April 8, 2002) was a Mexican film actress and one of the icons of the golden era of the Cinema of Mexico. She was more commonly known, particularly in her later years, by the honorific La Doña.

Biography

She was born María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña in Álamos, Sonora, Mexico. There is some dispute regarding Miss Félix's date of birth. There is a large (but not unanimous) opinion that she was born on April 8, 1914, which means that she died on her 88th birthday. However, her obituary in ''The New York Times'' states that she was born on May 4, 1914, which would have made her 87 at the time of her death on April 8, 2002. Some claim her birth certificate supports the April 8, 1914 birthdate, although no actual evidence (such as a copy of either the birth or the death certificate) has been presented as concrete evidence .

Family

Her father, Bernardo Félix, was of Yaqui Indian descent and her mother, Josefina Güereña, was of Basque descent and was educated in a convent at Pico Heights, California. Maria Felix was quite proud of her Basque ancestry. She had one child, Enrique Álvarez Félix, by her first husband, Enrique Álvarez. Enrique Álvarez Félix was a Mexican telenovela actor. He predeceased his mother, dying in 1996.

Career

María Félix was discovered by businessman Fernando Palacios in Mexico City. Palacios presented with the filmmaker Miguel Zacarías, who would give him the opportunity of starring ''El Peñon de las Animas'' alongside Jorge Negrete. In 1943 she starred ''Doña Bárbara'', directed by Fernando de Fuentes and inspired in the novel of the Venezuelan writer Romulo Gallegos). De Fuentes increased her popularity with such films as ''La Mujer sin Alma'' (1944) and ''La Devoradora'' (1946); the latter making the actress the vamp of Mexican cinema in the 1940s. She refused to work in Hollywood unless she made her grand entrance from the "big door" and not the small roles offered by Cecil B. de Mille. Félix stated ''"I was not born to carry a basket"''.

She reportedly lost the only lead role of "Pearl Chavez" in the 1945 film ''Duel in the Sun'', although it was written with her in mind, to Jennifer Jones, reportedly due to work commitments in Europe. As a result, she never achieved the fame in the USA that she achieved in Latin America and Europe. In 1946, she came under the influence of director Emilio Fernandez, with whom she made the films ''Enamorada'' (1946), ''Río Escondido'' (1947) and ''Maclovia'' (1948), launched her career throughout Europe.

She worked in Spain in ''Mare Nostrum'' in 1948 and ''Sonatas'' directed by Juan Antonio Bardem. In France, with greats such as Jean Renoir (''French Cancan'',1954) and Luis Buñuel (''La fièvre monte à El Pao'', 1960), and played in Italian films like ''Mesalina'' (1951),alternating with stars like Rossano Brazzi, Vittorio Gassman, Jean Gabin, Françoise Arnoul, Yves Montand, Jack Palance, Fernando Rey, Francisco Rabal and others. In 1959, she starred the movie ''La Cucaracha'', with Dolores del Río. In 1966, María Félix was given the lead role in ''La Valentina'' (1966), an adventure drama centering on the Mexican Revolution, where she sang the song "El güero aventao" with co-star Eulalio González. In later years, her films were inspired by the Mexican Revolution as ''La Escondida'' (1955), ''La Cucaracha'' (1959), ''Juana Gallo'' (1961), ''La Valentina'' (1966), and ''La Generala'' (1970), her last film.

Relationships

Her last husband was a French banker, Alex Berger, whom she married in 1956. Berger's company Monclova raced thoroughbred horses, achieving notable success with the colt Nonoalco who won four Group One races including the 1974 British Classic, the 2,000 Guineas. When Berger died in 1974, Félix inherited his multi-million dollar thoroughbred horse racing stable.

In music, art and fashion

Agustín Lara wrote many songs for her, among them the famous ''María Bonita''. It has been recorded by many singers including Plácido Domingo. Other song writers also composed songs for her, like ''María de Todas las Marías'' by Juan Gabriel.

Félix was painted by many artists, including Diego Rivera, Leonor Fini, Leonora Carrington, Stanislao Lepri, Bridget Tichenor and Antoine Tzapoff.

In 1949, Diego Rivera painted a portrait of her, which Félix classified as "muy malo" ("really bad"). This portrait; was originally intended to premiere in a retrospective on Rivera's work but Félix did not allow the painting to be displayed, as she never liked it. She did keep it for many years though, until she sold it to Mexican singer Juan Gabriel.

In fashion, Félix was dressed by designers like Christian Dior, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, and Balenciaga. The House of Hermès (Couture Department) designed extravagant creations just for her. She was a noted collector of fine antiques. She favored important pieces like her famous collection of Second Empire furniture. She was also a jewellery connoisseur and had an extensive jewelry collection, including the 41.37 carat (8.274 g), D-flawless "Ashoka" diamond. In 1968, Félix commissioned a serpent diamond necklace from Cartier Paris. The result was an impressive, completely articulated serpent made out of platinum and white gold and encrusted with 178.21 carats (35.642 g) of diamonds. In 1975, she again asked Cartier to create a necklace for her, this time in the shape of two crocodiles. The two crocodile bodies were made of 524.9 grams of gold, one covered with 1,023 fancy yellow diamonds, while the other was adorned with 1,060 circular cut emeralds.

Since Félix's death, these jewellery pieces have been displayed as part of The Art of Cartier Collection in several museums around the world. To pay tribute to the actress, in 2006 Cartier debuted its La Doña de Cartier collection. ''The La Doña de Cartier watch'' with reptilian links was created to impress by its wild look. The case of the La Doña de Cartier features a trapezoid shape with asymmetrical profile reminding a crocodile's head. The wristband of the watch resembles the contours of a crocodile in large, bold and gold scales. The La Doña de Cartier Collection also includes jewellery, accessories, and leather handbags.

Filmography

References

Bibliography

References

External links

Maria Félix: "La Doña"

María Félix official website

Casa María Félix

María Félix por siempre

Maria Félix and the Cartier La Dona

Category:1914 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Golden Ariel Award winners Category:Ariel Award winners Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Indigenous Mexicans Category:Mexican actors Category:Mexican artists' models Category:Mexican businesspeople Category:Mexican film actors Category:Mexican people of Basque descent Category:Mexican television actors Category:Golden Age of Mexican cinema Category:People from Álamos Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in Mexico

an:María Félix bg:Мария Феликс de:María Félix es:María Félix fr:María Félix gl:María Félix id:María Félix it:María Félix la:Maria Felix nl:María Félix ru:Феликс, Мария sh:María Félix sv:María Félix

name	Dame Agatha Christie, DBE
pseudonym	Mary Westmacott
birth name	Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller
birth date	September 15, 1890
birth place	Torquay, Devon, England
death date	January 12, 1976
death place	Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England
occupation	Novelist/Short story writer/Playwright/Poet
nationality	British
genre	Murder mystery, Thriller, Crime fiction, Detective, Romances
movement	Golden Age of Detective Fiction
spouse	Archibald Christie (1914–1928)Max Mallowan (1930–1976)
children	Rosalind Hicks (1919–2004) Father: Archibald Christie
influences	Edgar Allan Poe, Anna Katherine Green, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton
website	http://www.agathachristie.com
signature	Agatha Christie signature.png }}

Dame Agatha Christie, DBE, (15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections (especially those featuring Hercule Poirot or Miss Jane Marple), and her successful West End plays.

According to the ''Guinness Book of World Records'', Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time and, with William Shakespeare, the best-selling author of any type. She has sold roughly four billion copies of her novels. According to Index Translationum, Christie is the most translated individual author, with only the collective corporate works of Walt Disney Productions surpassing her. Her books have been translated into at least 103 languages.

Christie's stage play ''The Mousetrap'' holds the record for the longest initial run: it opened at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 25 November 1952 and as of 2011 is still running after more than 24,000 performances. 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'' was given an Edgar Award by the MWA for Best Play. Many of her books and short stories have been filmed, some more than once (''Murder on the Orient Express'', ''Death on the Nile'' and ''4.50 From Paddington'' for instance), and many have been adapted for television, radio, video games and comics.

In 1968, Booker Books, a subsidiary of the agri-industrial conglomerate Booker-McConnell, bought a 51 percent stake in Agatha Christie Limited, the private company that Christie had set up for tax purposes. Booker later increased its stake to 64 percent. In 1998, Booker sold its shares to Chorion, a company whose portfolio also includes the literary estates of Enid Blyton and Dennis Wheatley.

In 2004, a 5,000-word story entitled ''The Incident of the Dog's Ball'' was found in the attic of the author's daughter. This story was the original version of the novel ''Dumb Witness''. It was published in Britain in September 2009 in John Curran's ''Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years Of Mysteries'', alongside another newly discovered Poirot story called ''The Capture of Cerberus'' (a story with the same title, but a different plot, to that published in ''The Labours Of Hercules''). On 10 November 2009, Reuters announced that ''The Incident of the Dog's Ball'' will be published by ''The Strand Magazine''.

Life and career

Early life and first marriage

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller was born in Torquay, Devon, England, UK. Her mother, Clarissa Margaret Boehmer, was the daughter of a British Army captain but had been sent as a child to live with her own mother's sister, who was the second wife of a wealthy American. Eventually Margaret married her stepfather's son from his first marriage, Frederick Alvah Miller, an American stockbroker. Thus, the two women Agatha called "Grannie" were sisters. Despite her father's nationality as a "New Yorker" and her aunt's relation to the Pierpont Morgans, Agatha never claimed United States citizenship or connection.

Agatha was the youngest of three. The Millers had two other children: Margaret Frary Miller (1879–1950), called Madge, who was 11 years Agatha's senior, and Louis Miller (1880–1929), called Monty, 10 years older than Agatha. Later, in her autobiography, Agatha would refer to her brother as "an amiable scapegrace of a brother".

Agatha described herself as having had a very happy childhood. While she never received any formal schooling, she did not lack an education. Her mother believed children should not learn to read until they were eight, but Agatha taught herself to read at four. Her father taught her mathematics via story problems, and the family played question-and-answer games much like today's Trivial Pursuit. She had piano lessons, which she liked, and dance lessons, which she did not. When she could not learn French through formal instruction, the family hired a young woman who spoke nothing but French to be her nanny and companion. Agatha made up stories from a very early age and invented a number of imaginary friends and paracosms. One of them, "The School", with a dozen or so imaginary young women of widely varying temperaments, lasted well into her adult years.

During the First World War, she worked at a hospital as a nurse; she liked the profession, calling it "one of the most rewarding professions that anyone can follow". She later worked at a hospital pharmacy, a job that influenced her work, as many of the murders in her books are carried out with poison.

Despite a turbulent courtship, on Christmas Eve 1914 Agatha married Archibald Christie, an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps. The couple had one daughter, Rosalind Hicks. Agatha's first novel, ''The Mysterious Affair at Styles,'' was published in 1920. When Archie was offered a job organizing a world tour to promote the British Empire Exhibition the couple left their daughter with Agatha's mother and sister and travelled to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. The couple learnt to surf prone in South Africa and in Waikiki became some of the first Britons to surf standing up.

Disappearance

In late 1926, Agatha's husband, Archie, revealed that he was in love with another woman, Nancy Neele, and wanted a divorce. On 8 December 1926 the couple quarreled, and Archie Christie left their house Styles in Sunningdale, Berkshire, to spend the weekend with his mistress at Godalming, Surrey. That same evening Agatha disappeared from her home, leaving behind a letter for her secretary saying that she was going to Yorkshire. Her disappearance caused an outcry from the public, many of whom were admirers of her novels. Despite a massive manhunt, she was not found for 11 days.

On 19 December 1926 Agatha was identified as a guest at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel (now the Old Swan Hotel) in Harrogate, Yorkshire, where she was registered as 'Mrs Teresa Neele' from Cape Town. Agatha gave no account of her disappearance. Although two doctors had diagnosed her as suffering from psychogenic fugue, opinion remains divided as to the reasons for her disappearance. One suggestion is that she had suffered a nervous breakdown brought about by a natural propensity for depression, exacerbated by her mother's death earlier that year and the discovery of her husband's infidelity. Public reaction at the time was largely negative, with many believing it a publicity stunt while others speculated she was trying to make the police believe her husband had killed her.

Author Jared Cade interviewed numerous witnesses and relatives for his sympathetic biography, ''Agatha Christie and the Missing Eleven Days'', and provided a substantial amount of evidence to suggest that Christie planned the entire disappearance to embarrass her husband, never thinking it would escalate into the melodrama it became.

The Christies divorced in 1928. During their marriage, Agatha published six novels, a collection of short stories, and a number of short stories in magazines.

Second marriage and later life

In 1930, Christie married archaeologist Max Mallowan (Sir Max from 1968) after joining him in an archaeological dig. Their marriage was especially happy in the early years and remained so until Christie's death in 1976.

Christie frequently used settings which were familiar to her for her stories. Christie's 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 born. Christie's 1934 novel ''Murder on the Orient Express'' was written in the Hotel Pera Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, the southern terminus of the railway. The hotel maintains Christie's room as a memorial to the author. 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 in Cheshire, which was owned by her brother-in-law, James Watts. She based at least two of her stories on the hall: the short story ''The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding'', which is 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 the servants and grandeur which have been woven into her plots. The descriptions of the fictional Chimneys, Stoneygates, and other houses in her stories are mostly Abney in various forms."

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.

To honour her many literary works, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1956 New Year Honours. The next year, she became the President of the Detection Club. In the 1971 New Year Honours she was promoted Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, three years after her husband had been knighted for his archeological work in 1968. They were one of the few married couples where both partners were honoured in their own right. From 1968, due to her husband's knighthood, Christie could also be styled as Lady Mallowan.

From 1971 to 1974, Christie's health began to fail, although she continued to write. In 1975, sensing her increasing weakness, Christie signed over the rights of her most successful play, ''The Mousetrap'', to her grandson. Recently, using experimental textual tools of analysis, Canadian researchers have suggested that Christie may have begun to suffer from Alzheimer's disease or other dementia.

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.

Christie's only child, Rosalind Margaret Hicks, died, also aged 85, on 28 October 2004 from natural causes in Torbay, Devon. Christie's grandson, Mathew Prichard, was heir to the copyright to some of his grandmother's literary work (including ''The Mousetrap'') and is still associated with Agatha Christie Limited.

Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple

Agatha Christie's first novel ''The Mysterious Affair at Styles'' was published in 1920 and introduced the long-running character detective Hercule Poirot, who appeared in 33 of Christie's novels and 54 short stories.

Her other well known character, Miss Marple, was introduced in ''The Tuesday Night Club'' in 1927 (short story) and was based on women like Christie's grandmother and her "cronies".

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, respectively. 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.

Like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with Sherlock Holmes, Christie was to become increasingly tired of her detective Poirot. In fact, by the end of the 1930s, Christie confided to her diary that she was finding Poirot “insufferable," and by the 1960s she felt that he was "an ego-centric creep." However, unlike 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.

In contrast, Christie was fond of Miss Marple. However, it is interesting to note that 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, recently rediscovered 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".

Poirot is the only fictional character to have been given an obituary in ''The New York Times'', following the publication of ''Curtain'' in 1975.

Following the great success of ''Curtain'', Dame Agatha 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 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. Miss Marple fared better than Poirot, since after solving the mystery in ''Sleeping Murder'' she returns home to her regular life in St. Mary Mead.

On an edition of ''Desert Island Discs'' in 2007, Brian Aldiss claimed that Agatha Christie told him that she wrote her books up to the last chapter and then decided who the most unlikely suspect was. She would then go back and make the necessary changes to "frame" that person. The evidence of Christie's working methods, as described by successive biographers, contradicts this claim.

Formula and plot devices

Almost all of Agatha Christie's books are whodunits, focusing on the British middle and upper classes. Usually, the detective either stumbles across the murder or is called upon by an old acquaintance, who is somehow involved. Gradually, the detective interrogates each suspect, examines the scene of the crime and makes a note of each clue, so readers can analyze it and be allowed a fair chance of solving the mystery themselves. Then, about halfway through, or sometimes even during the final act, one of the suspects usually dies, often because they have inadvertently deduced the killer's identity and need silencing. In a few of her novels, including ''Death Comes as the End'' and ''And Then There Were None'', there are multiple victims. Finally, the detective organises a meeting of all the suspects and slowly denounces the guilty party, exposing several unrelated secrets along the way, sometimes over the course of thirty or so pages. The murders are often extremely ingenious, involving some convoluted piece of deception. Christie's stories are also known for their taut atmosphere and strong psychological suspense, developed from the deliberately slow pace of her prose.

Twice, the murderer surprisingly turns out to be the unreliable narrator of the story.

In five stories, Christie allows the murderer to escape justice (and in the case of the last three, implicitly almost approves of their crimes); these are ''The Witness for the Prosecution'', ''The Man in the Brown Suit'', ''Murder on the Orient Express'', ''Curtain'' and ''The Unexpected Guest''. (When Christie adapted ''Witness'' into a stage play, she lengthened the ending so that the murderer was also killed.) There are also numerous instances where the killer is not brought to justice in the legal sense but instead dies (death usually being presented as a more 'sympathetic' outcome), for example ''Death Comes as the End'', ''And Then There Were None'', ''Death on the Nile'', ''Dumb Witness'', ''The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'', ''Crooked House'', ''Appointment with Death'', ''The Hollow'', ''Nemesis'', and ''The Secret Adversary''. In some cases this is with the collusion of the detective involved. ''Five Little Pigs'', and arguably ''Ordeal by Innocence'', end with the question of whether formal justice will be done unresolved.

Critical reception

Agatha Christie was revered as a master of suspense, plotting, and characterisation by most of her contemporaries. Fellow crime writer Anthony Berkeley Cox was an admitted fan of her work, once saying that nobody can write an Agatha Christie novel but the authoress herself.

However, she does have her detractors, most notably the American novelist Raymond Chandler, who criticised her in his essay, "The Simple Art of Murder", and the American literary critic Edmund Wilson, who was dismissive of Christie and the detective fiction genre generally in his ''New Yorker'' essay, "Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?".

Others have criticized Christie on political grounds, particularly with respect to her conversations about and portrayals of Jews. Christopher Hitchens, in his autobiography, describes a dinner with Christie and her husband, Max Mallowan, which became increasingly uncomfortable as the night wore on, and where "The anti-Jewish flavour of the talk was not to be ignored or overlooked, or put down to heavy humour or generational prejudice. It was vividly unpleasant..." Twenty-five years after her death, critic Johann Hari notes "In its ugliest moments, Christie's conservatism crossed over into a contempt for Jews, who are so often associated with rationalist political philosophies and a 'cosmopolitanism' that is antithetical to the Burkean paradigm of the English village. There is a streak of anti-Semitism running through the pre-1950s novels which cannot be denied even by her admirers."

Stereotyping

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, and non-Europeans. For example, in the first editions of the collection ''The Mysterious Mr Quin'' (1930), in the short story "The Soul of the Croupier," she described "Hebraic men with hook-noses wearing rather flamboyant jewellery"; in later editions the passage was edited to describe "sallow men" wearing same. To contrast with the more stereotyped descriptions, Christie often characterised the "foreigners" in such a way as to make the reader understand and sympathise with them; this is particularly true of her Jewish characters, who are seldom actually criminals. (See, for example, the character of Oliver Manders in ''Three Act Tragedy''.)

Portrayals

Christie has been portrayed on a number of occasions in film and television.

Several biographical programs have been made, such as the 2004 BBC television programme entitled ''Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures'', in which she is portrayed by Olivia Williams, Anna Massey, and Bonnie Wright.

Christie has also been portrayed fictionally. Some of these have explored and offered accounts of Christie's disappearance in 1926, including the 1979 film ''Agatha'' (with Vanessa Redgrave, where she sneaks away to plan revenge against her husband) and the ''Doctor Who'' episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (with Fenella Woolgar, her disappearance being the result of her suffering a temporary breakdown due to a brief psychic link being formed between her and an alien). Others, such as 1980 Hungarian film, ''Kojak Budapesten'' (not to be confused with the 1986 comedy by the same name) create their own scenarios involving Christie's criminal skill. In the 1986 TV play, ''Murder by the Book'', Christie herself (Dame Peggy Ashcroft) murdered one of her fictional-turned-real characters, Poirot. The heroine of Liar-Soft's 2008 visual novel ''

Bibliography

''See [[Agatha Christie bibliography">Shikkoku no Sharnoth: What a Beautiful Tomorrow'', 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.

Christie has also been parodied on screen, such as in the film ''Murder by Indecision'', which featured the character "Agatha Crispy".

Bibliography

''See [[Agatha Christie bibliography''

Other works based on Christie's books and plays

Plays adapted into novels

Charles Osborne novelised three of Christie's plays into plays:

1998 ''Black Coffee'' (featuring Hercule Poirot, based on the 1930 play 'Black Coffee')

1999 ''The Unexpected Guest'' (based on the 1958 play ''The Unexpected Guest'')

2000 ''Spider's Web'' (based on the 1954 play ''Spider's Web'')

These three novels are now available in the collection ''Murder In Three Stages''.

Plays adapted by other authors

1928 ''Alibi'' (dramatised by Michael Morton from the novel ''The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'')

1936 ''Love from a Stranger'' (dramatised by Frank Vosper from the short story ''Philomel Cottage'')

1939 ''Tea for Three'' (dramatised by Margery Vosper from the short story ''Accident'')

1940 ''Peril at End House'' (dramatised from her novel by Arnold Ridley)

1949 ''Murder at the Vicarage'' (dramatised from the novel by Moie Charles and Barbara Toy)

1977 ''Murder at the Vicarage'' (dramatised from the novel by Leslie Darbon)

1981 ''Cards on the Table'' (dramatised from the novel by Leslie Darbon)

1993 ''Murder is Easy'' (dramatised from the novel by Clive Exton)

2005 ''And Then There Were None'' (dramatised from the novel by Kevin Elyot)

Movie adaptations

! Year !! Title !! Story based On !! Other notes

Television adaptations

1937 ''Spider's Web'' (Based on the stage play of the same name)

1938 ''Love from a Stranger'' (Based on the stage play of the same name from the short story ''Philomel Cottage'')

1947 ''Love from a Stranger''

1949 ''Ten Little Indians''

1959 ''Ten Little Indians''

1970 ''The Murder at the Vicarage''

1980 ''Why Didn't They Ask Evans?''

1982 ''Spider's Web''

1982 ''The Seven Dials Mystery''

1982 ''The Agatha Christie Hour''

1982 ''Murder Is Easy''

1982 ''The Witness for the Prosecution''

1983 ''The Secret Adversary''

1983 ''Partners in Crime''

1983 ''A Caribbean Mystery''

1983 ''Sparkling Cyanide''

1984 ''The Body in the Library''

1985 ''Murder with Mirrors''

1985 ''The Moving Finger''

1985 ''A Murder is Announced''

1985 ''A Pocket Full of Rye''

1985 ''Thirteen at Dinner''

1986 ''Dead Man's Folly

1986 ''Murder in Three Acts''

1986 ''The Murder at the Vicarage''

1987 ''Sleeping Murder''

1987 ''At Bertram's Hotel''

1987 ''Nemesis''

1987 ''4.50 from Paddington''

1989 ''The Man in the Brown Suit''

1989 ''A Caribbean Mystery''

1991 ''They Do It with Mirrors''

1992 ''The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side''

1997 ''The Pale Horse''

2001 ''Murder on the Orient Express''

2003 ''Sparkling Cyanide''

2004 ''The Body in the Library''

2004 ''The Murder at the Vicarage''

2004 ''4.50 from Paddington''

2005 ''A Murder is Announced''

2005 ''Sleeping Murder''

2006 ''The Moving Finger''

2006 ''By the Pricking of My Thumbs''

2006 ''The Sittaford Mystery''

2007 ''Hercule Poirot's Christmas'' (A French film adaptation)

2007 ''Towards Zero''

2007 ''Nemesis''

2007 ''At Bertram's Hotel''

2007 ''Ordeal by Innocence''

2009 ''A Pocket Full of Rye''

2009 ''Murder Is Easy''

2009 ''They Do It with Mirrors''

2009 ''Why Didn't They Ask Evans?''

2010 ''The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side''

2010 ''The Secret of Chimneys''

2010 ''The Blue Geranium''

2010 ''The Pale Horse''

''Agatha Christie's Poirot'' television series

Episodes include:

1990 ''Peril at End House''

1990 ''The Mysterious Affair at Styles''

1992 ''The ABC Murders''

1992 ''Death in the Clouds''

1992 ''One, Two, Buckle My Shoe''

1994 ''Hercule Poirot's Christmas''

1995 ''Murder on the Links''

1995 ''Hickory Dickory Dock''

1996 ''Dumb Witness''

2000 ''The Murder of Roger Ackroyd''

2000 ''Lord Edgware Dies''

2001 ''Evil Under the Sun''

2001 ''Murder in Mesopotamia''

2004 ''Five Little Pigs''

2004 ''Death on the Nile''

2004 ''Sad Cypress''

2004 ''The Hollow''

2005 ''The Mystery of the Blue Train''

2005 ''Cards on the Table''

2005 ''After the Funeral''

2006 ''Taken at the Flood''

2008 ''Mrs. McGinty's Dead''

2008 ''Cat Among the Pigeons''

2008 ''Third Girl''

2008 ''Appointment with Death''

2009 ''The Clocks''

2009 ''Three Act Tragedy''

2010 ''Hallowe'en Party''

2010 ''Murder on the Orient Express''

Graphic novels

Euro Comics India began issuing a series of graphic novel adaptations of Christie's work in 2007.

2007 ''The Murder on the Links'' Adapted by François Rivière, Illustrated by Marc Piskic

2007 ''Murder on the Orient Express'' Adapted by François Rivière, Illustrated by Solidor (Jean-François Miniac).

2007 ''Death on the Nile'' Adapted by Francois Riviere, Illustrated by Solidor (Jean-François Miniac)

2007 ''The Secret of Chimneys'' Adapted by François Rivière, Illustrated by Laurence Suhner

2007 ''The Murder of Roger Ackroyd'' Adapted and illustrated by Bruno Lachard

2007 ''The Mystery of the Blue Train'' Adapted and illustrated by Marc Piskic

2007 ''The Man in the Brown Suit'' Adapted and illustrated by Alain Paillou

2007 ''The Big Four'' Adapted by Hichot and illustrated by Bairi

2007 ''The Secret Adversary'' Adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Frank Leclercq

2007 ''The Murder at the Vicarage'' Adapted and illustrated by "Norma"

2007 ''Murder in Mesopotamia'' Adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Chandre

2007 ''And Then There Were None'' Adapted by François Rivière and illustrated by Frank Leclercq

2007 ''Endless Night'' Adapted by Francois Rivière and illustrated by Frank Leclercq

2008 ''Ordeal by Innocence'' Adapted and illustrated by Chandre

2008 ''Hallowe'en Party'' Adapted and illustrated by Chandre

HarperCollins independently began issuing this series also in 2007.

In addition to the titles issued the following titles are also planned for release:

2008 ''Peril at End House'' Adapted by Thierry Jollet and illustrated by Didier Quella-Guyot

2009 ''Dumb Witness'' Adapted and illustrated by "Marek"

Video games

1988 ''The Scoop'' (published by Spinnaker Software and Telarium) (PC)

2005 ''Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None'' (PC and Wii).

2006 ''Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express'' (PC)

2007 ''Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile'' (I-Spy" hidden-object game) (PC)

2007 ''Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun'' (PC and Wii)

2008 ''Agatha Christie: Peril at End House'' (I-Spy" hidden-object game)

2009 ''Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders'' (DS)

2009 ''Agatha Christie: Dead Man's Folly'' (I-Spy" hidden-object game)(PC)

2010 ''Agatha Christie 4:50 from Paddington'' (I-Spy" hidden-object game)(PC)

Unpublished material

''Personal Call'' (supernatural radio play, featuring Inspector Narracott who also appeared in ''The Sittaford Mystery''; a recording is in the British Library Sound Archive)

''The Woman and the Kenite'' (horror: an Italian translation, allegedly transcribed from an Italian magazine of the 1920s, is available on the internet: ''La moglie del Kenita'').

''Butter In a Lordly Dish'' (horror/detective radio play, adapted from ''The Woman and the Kenite'')

''Being So Very Wilful'' (romantic)

''Snow Upon the Desert'' (romantic novel) ''Stronger than Death'' (supernatural) ''The Green Gate'' (supernatural) ''The Greenshore Folly'' (novella featuring Hercule Poirot; the basis for ''Dead Man's Folly'')

''The War Bride'' (supernatural)

''Eugenia and Eugenics'' (stage play) ''Witchhazel'' (supernatural short story) ''Someone at the Window'' (play adapted from short story The Dead Harlequin)

Animation

In 2004 the Japanese broadcasting company Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai turned Poirot and Marple into animated characters in the anime series ''Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple'', introducing Mabel West (daughter of Miss Marple's mystery-writer nephew Raymond West, a canonical Christie character) and her duck Oliver as new characters.

See also

Tropes in Agatha Christie's novels

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 grounds are now in the possession of the National Trust and open to the public)

Agatha Christie indult (a non-denominational request to which Christie was signatory seeking permission for the occasional use of the Tridentine (Latin) mass in England and Wales)

Notes

References

Further reading

Articles

Books

Reprinted as New York: Mysterious Press, 1987.

External links

Official Agatha Christie site

Agatha Christie/Sir Max Mallowan's blue plaque at Cholsey

Queen of Crime Library on Facebook

Agatha Christie profile and articles at "The Guardian"

Agatha Christie profile on PBS.ORG

Agatha Christie's style and methods, the plot devices that she uses to trick the reader

Category:1890 births Category:1976 deaths Category:19th-century English people Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Edgar Award winners Category:English crime fiction writers Category:English dramatists and playwrights Category:English mystery writers Category:English short story writers Category:Members of the Detection Club Category:English women writers Category:Female wartime nurses Category:People from Berkshire (before 1974) Category:People from Sunningdale Category:People from Torquay Category:British women in World War I

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name	Stacey Dash
birth name	Stacey Lauretta Dash
birth date	January 20, 1966
birth place	The Bronx, New York, U.S.
occupation	Actress
years active	1982–present
spouse	Brian Lovell (1999–2005) James Maby (2005–2006) Emmanuel Xuereb (2007–2010) }}

Stacey Lauretta Dash (born January 20, 1966) is an American film and television actress.

Career

She made her first TV appearance in ''Farrell for the People'' starring Valerie Harper and a virtually unknown Ed O'Neill in 1982, which did not make it past its pilot episode. Her notable first appearance was as 'Michelle' in the 1985 ''The Cosby Show'' episode "Denise's Friend" alongside Lisa Bonet, and in ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air''. Dash's first substantial television role was in the 1988 television series ''TV 101'', which also featured Matt LeBlanc and Sam Robards. The series was canceled after 13 episodes.

Dash's first major film role was in the Richard Pryor comedy ''Moving'' in 1988. She also had sizeable roles in ''Mo' Money'' and ''Renaissance Man'' during this time. In 1995, Dash starred as a femme fatale in a low budget film, ''Illegal in Blue''. Dash received her big break with the 1995 film ''Clueless'', which starred Alicia Silverstone and Brittany Murphy. Dash played Cher's high school best friend Dionne Marie Davenport, even though Dash was twenty-eight at the time. In 1996 the film spawned a television spinoff, also called ''Clueless'', in which Dash reprised her role as Dionne and Rachel Blanchard played Cher. The series ran from 1996–1999.

After the television series ended, she appeared in ''View from the Top'' (2003) and smaller budget films, including ''Gang Of Roses'' (2003), and ''Getting Played'' (2005). She also has appeared in small guest roles on television shows such as ''Eve'' and ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''. Dash played Vanessa Weir in the television series, ''The Strip'', which was not successful and was canceled after several episodes.

In 2001, Dash was featured in a music video by Carl Thomas for the single "Emotional". In 2004, Dash was featured in a music video by Kanye West, label mate of her cousin Damon Dash for the single "All Falls Down." At age 40, Stacey Dash posed nude in the August 2006 issue of ''Playboy.'' Also in 2006, she was featured in singer Marques Houston's video, "Favorite Girl". In 2006, she launched her own lingerie line called Letters of Marque.

In 2007, she completed filming roles in ''I Could Never Be Your Woman'', ''Nora's Hair Salon II'', ''Fashion Victim'', ''Ghost Image'' and ''American Primitive''. For 2008 release, she filmed ''Phantom Punch'' and ''Secrets Of A Hollywood Nurse'' for television, and the feature film ''Close Quarters''.

Dash performed in the 2008 reality television series, ''Celebrity Circus''. Prior to the series premiere, Dash suffered a broken rib while training. Despite the injury, Dash performed on the trapeze bungee during the premiere and continued on to be a finalist. Dash finished second behind Antonio Sabato, Jr.

Dash made a guest appearance on the television series ''The Game'' in early 2009. In March 2010, she said she will be starring in her own reality show on VH1.

Dash is currently starring in the VH1 original series "Single Ladies." Dash stars as Valerie "Val" Stokes, a woman who is a "'good girl' looking for a good man."

Personal life

Dash was born in The Bronx, New York. She is an alumnus of Paramus High School in Paramus, New Jersey. Her mother, Linda, was the general manager of DME Interactive Holdings. Her father was a methadone addict. She is of Bajan, African American, and Mexican descent, with "clear green" eyes. Her brother is Darien Dash, the CEO of DME Interactive Holdings and her first cousin is Damon Dash, the former CEO and co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records.

In 2010, she filed a restraining order against soon to be ex-husband Emmanuel Xuereb.

Filmography

Film
! Year	! Film	! Role	! Other notes
1987		Toni Briggs
1988		Casey Pear
1989	''Tennessee Nights ''	Minnie
1992	''Mo' Money''	Amber Evans
1994
		Dionne Davenport	Young Artist Award (nominated)
''Illegal in Blue''	Kari Truitt	Direct-to-video Release
1997	''Cold Around the Heart''	Bec Rosenberg
1997	''Personals''	Leah
2001	''The Painting''	Hallie Gilmore at 18	a.k.a. ''Soldiers of Change''
2002	Paper Soldiers	Tamika
	''View from the Top''	Angela Samona
''Gang of Roses''	Kim
	Real Venus
	''Lethal Eviction''	Amanda
''Getting Played''	Emily
	''I Could Never Be Your Woman''	Brianna Minx
''Ghost Image''	Alicia
	''Christmas Break''	Smokin' Woman	Short film
''Nora's Hair Salon 2: A Cut Above''	Simone
''Fashion Victim''	Cara Wheeler
''American Primitive''	Joy Crowley
	Geraldine Liston
	''Chrome Angels''	Lady
''Close Quarters''	Kate	''pre-production''
2010	''House Arrest''	Chanel	''post-production''
Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	! Notes
1982	''Farrell for the People ''	Denise Grey
1985	''The Cosby Show''	Michelle
1988	''St. Elsewhere''	Penny Franks	Episodes: "Their Town" "The Naked Civil Surgeon" "Requiem for a Heavyweight" "Split Decision"
1988–1989	''TV 101''	Monique
	''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air''	Michelle Michaels
''Harts of the West''		Episode: "Drive, He Said"
1996–1999		Dionne "Dee" Davenport
1998	''Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular''		Episode: 1.9
1999–2000		Vanessa Weir
		Janie	Episode: "A Pirate Looks at 15 to 20"
''Men, Women & Dogs''	Meg	Episode: "Pilot"
''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''	Amy Young	Episode: "Slaves of Las Vegas"
2003		Corryn
2005		Paprika Solo	Voice Role Episode: Diamond Boogie/Corporate Pigfall
	''Secrets of a Hollywood Nurse''	Reporter
''American Dad!''	Janet Lewis	Episode: "Escape from Pearl Bailey"
2009–2011		Chamile	Episode: "Truth and Consequences"Episode: "Put a Ring On It"Episode: "The Fall of the Roman"Episode: "The Wedding Episode"Episode: "The Right to Choose"
	''Single Ladies (TV series)''	Valerie "Val" Stokes

References

External links

Official Letters Of Marque Site

Category:1966 births Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:Actors from New York City Category:African American actors Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:American people of Mexican descent Category:Hispanic and Latino American actors Category:Living people Category:People from the Bronx Category:People from Paramus, New Jersey

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