Hercule Poirot

Albert Finney

Austin Trevor

Charles Laughton

**Hercule Poirot** is a fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie. Poirot is one of Christie's most famous and long-running characters, appearing in 33 novels, 2 plays and more than 50 short stories published between 1920 and 1975.

## About Hercule Poirot

Hercule Poirot : the world-renowned, moustachioed Belgian private detective, unsurpassed in his intelligence and understanding of the criminal mind, respected and admired by police forces and heads of state across the globe. Since his inception over 100 years ago, Poirot has stolen the hearts and minds of audiences from Azerbaijan to Vietnam, and his celebrated cases have been recorded across 33 original novels and over 50 short stories.

Standing at a diminutive 5’4” – although there have been various interpretations of this on stage and screen – Poirot’s described in writing as having an egg-shaped head, often tilted to one side, and eyes that shine green when he’s excited. He dresses very precisely, and takes the utmost pride in his appearance.

Perhaps even more famous than the man himself, is his moustache. Luxurious, magnificent, immense, and dedicatedly groomed, the moustache precedes Poirot into a room; it’s a unique talking point, it’s provocative, and it has a character all of its own.

Poirot’s friend Hastings puts us straight in the picture in their first book, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, where we’re informed that “as a detective, Poirot’s flair had been extraordinary”. While some detectives scrabble around on the floor searching for clues, Poirot uses psychology and his extensive knowledge of human nature to weed out the criminals. He will of course take physical evidence into account, but more often than not his combination of order, method and his little grey cells does the trick. Poirot’s cases are invariably finished with a typical, dramatic denouement, satisfying his own ego and confirming to all that he is truly "the greatest mind in Europe."

## Creation

Over 100 years since his creation, Hercule Poirot remains one of the best known literary characters and one of the most famous fictional detectives of all time. But how did this celebrated Belgian with an egg shaped head and a thirst for precision come into existence?

Agatha Christie’s love of literature began at the age of five when she taught herself to read. Growing up she enjoyed reading Conan Doyle’s early Sherlock Holmes stories with her sister Madge, who later challenged her to write her own detective story.

During the First World War, Agatha Christie worked at the Red Cross Hospital in Torquay – first as a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment and later in the dispensary where her lifelong interest in poisons began. It was during quiet periods in the dispensary that she began thinking about the earlier challenge her sister had set her, and being surrounded by poisons, the plot began to piece itself together.

> *“Since I was surrounded by poison, perhaps it was natural that death by poisoning should me the method I selected.”*
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Agatha Christie believed there was no method to her writing as inspiration could strike at any moment. She would begin by deciding on the crime and then work out the procedure that would make the twist tricky for readers to detect. In the case of her first novel, the outline of the plot was drafted – now Christie required a detective. It was August 1914 and a colony of Belgian refugees were living in a parish in her hometown of Torquay.

> *“Why not make my detective a Belgian? There were all types of refugees. How about a refugee police officer? A retired police officer.”*
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He was to be a tidy little man, because, as Christie herself observed, his creator was the opposite. Standing at no more than 5 feet 4 inches tall, and possessing a waxed moustache, he was immaculately groomed and dressed in the finest clothing. More importantly he must be extremely brainy, and possess little grey cells of the mind. Once these key traits were established, Christie moved onto the task of naming him. With the desire for a grand name, Hercules came first, then Poirot. Not pleased with the combination of Hercules Poirot, the name was adjusted and Hercule Poirot was born.

Agatha Christie had the start and the end of the story planned, and in moments of leisure she attempted to fill in the gaps, battering away on her sister’s old typewriter a chapter at a time. Finding the process tiring and irritating, her mother suggested that in order to finish the story, she should take a holiday away from home. With that in mind, Christie packed her bags and headed to Dartmoor for an undisturbed fortnight to focus on finishing her first detective novel.

Following a fortnight of focusing solely on the story, and after rewriting the over-complicated middle section, Agatha Christie’s first detective novel was complete. Once professionally typed up, Christie sent the story to a publisher – Hodder and Stoughton – who returned it. Not letting that stop her, she sent it off to another publisher.

Poirot was finally introduced to the world in *The Mysterious Affair at Styles* in 1920, 4 years after it was written, and Hastings had the honour of describing him to readers.

> *“Poirot was an extraordinary-looking little man. He was hardly more than five feet four inches, but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side. His moustache was very stiff and military. The neatness of his attire was almost incredible, I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound.”*
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100 years on and Agatha Christie’s creation - Hercule Poirot - is still considered to be one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time.

## Portrayals

Since the late 1920’s, Agatha Christie’s famous fictional creation Hercule Poirot has been reimagined and depicted on stage, screen, radio and in games by over 40 actors. The assortment of portrayals includes a moustache-less Austin Trevor, a parodic Hugh Laurie, a hugely popular Japanese Mansai Nomura and the longest standing Poirot, David Suchet.

We’ve taken a look at five of the actors who have taken on the challenge of bringing Poirot to life on stage and screen over the past 90 years.

**Charles Laughton – The First Portrayal of Poirot**

The first portrayal of Hercule Poirot came in the form of Charles Laughton who played the role of the fictional sleuth in *Alibi*; a stage adaptation by Michael Morton based on Agatha Christie’s *The Murder of Roger Ackroyd*. This was the first time that one of Christie’s books had been adapted into a play, and it opened in London’s West End in 1928. Laughton wasn’t an obvious choice for Poirot as he was too young and physically stockier than Christie had described him in her books. Alibi ran for over 250 performances with Laughton in the role before it closed at the end of the year. In 1932 he reprised the role on Broadway in *The Fatal Alibi*– a production he also directed.

**Austin Trevor – The Clean-Shaven Poirot**

Three years later there was a new Poirot on the scene - Austin Trevor - who was the first actor to bring Hercule Poirot to the screen, and did so in three British films; Alibi and Black Coffee in 1931 and Lord Edgware Dies in 1934. Alibi producer Julius Hagen and director Leslie Hiscott turned the character into a typical Thirties sleuth, choosing a good-looking clean shaven young Austin Trevor as their Poirot. Contrary to Poirot being Belgian, it is believed that Trevor claimed that he was cast because he could do a great French accent!

**Albert Finney – The Young Poirot**

Often pinpointed as the turning point in the history of Agatha Christie screen adaptations, in 1974 *Murder on the Orient Express* was released, starring Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot. Being just 38, at first Albert Finney was considered too young to play Poirot, but eventually he was chosen regardless as it was decided that he could be made up to resemble an older Poirot. This required many hours of make-up to become Poirot, every morning of filming, Finney would be picked up from his house in an ambulance where he would sleep whilst make-up artists would begin work on the transformation, that would then continue in the studio whilst he would remain asleep. As well as having a false nose, to achieve a short solid looking body he wore body padding in the form of a t-shirt draped with cotton wool!

Despite Agatha Christie enjoying the film, she had one major reservation about Albert Finney’s portrayal of her famous sleuth. “I wrote that my detective had the finest moustache in England, but he didn’t in the film. I thought that was a pity. Why shouldn’t he have the best moustache?”

**Peter Ustinov – The Charming Poirot**

Four years after Albert Finney’s take on the sleuth, Peter Ustinov appeared as Poirot in *Death on the Nile*, before taking on the role in a further two big screen films and three television productions. Purposefully, Ustinov’s impersonation of Poirot was different to Finney’s, partly to avoid judgement that he was impersonating his predecessor. Ustinov’s success in the role came from his insight and attention to detail in Christie’s character. He focused on Poirot’s personality and even referred to the role as exhausting, explaining that “Poirot is so terribly accurate and tidy in his mind and habits. So meticulous.”

**David Suchet** **– The Long-standing Poirot**

In 1989 David Suchet took on his first role as Hercule Poirot, which would be the beginning of a 25-year career which saw him depict Poirot in 70 episodes across 13 series, watched by 700 million viewers in over 100 countries worldwide. Suchet attributes his popularity of portraying Poirot to the attention to detail that he paid to the personal eccentricities that Christie described in her novels. Each day before filming Suchet would read through his list of character notes which contained over 90 traits of Agatha Christie’s sleuth, to help him get into the Poirot mindset. The notes ranged from highlighting Poirot’s ‘passion for tidiness’ to the fact that he ‘hates golf!’

## Facts

* Hercule Poirot first appeared in chapter two of Agatha Christie’s first published novel, *The Mysterious Affair at Styles*, which was completed in 1916 but not published until 1920.
* The first description of Poirot was by Hastings in *The Mysterious Affair at Styles* who said, ‘He was hardly more than five feet four inches but carried himself with great dignity. His head was exactly the shape of an egg, and he always perched it a little on one side…The neatness of his attire was almost incredible; I believe a speck of dust would have caused him more pain than a bullet wound.”
* He is a retired Belgian police officer turned world famous private detective.
* Poirot is disgusted by disorder and once said that he finds it, “really unsupportable that every hen lays an egg of a different size! What symmetry can there be on the breakfast table?” He’s also known to have refused to eat an irregularly shaped loaf of bread.
* He insists on precision and neatness and even his books are arranged in height order.
* He takes great pride in his appearance from his immaculately groomed black moustache to his patent leather shoes. He uses a special preparation called “Revivit” to darken his grey hair.
* Agatha Christie ‘saw’ the living embodiment of Hercule Poirot twice in her life – once having lunch in the Savoy and once on a boat trip in the Canary Islands.
* Christie dropped the Belgian detective from four of her Poirot novels when she adapted them for the stage. These were *Murder on the Nile (Death on the Nile), Appointment with Death, The Hollow and* *Go Back for Murder (Five Little Pigs)*.
* He is the only fictional character to have received an obituary on the front of The New York Times in 1975, following the publication of *Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case*.
* Christie had originally planned to have Miss Marple as the detective in *Death on the Nile* instead of Poirot.
* In an article written for The Daily Mail in 1938, Agatha Christie counted *The Murder of Roger Ackroyd* as one of Poirot’s favourite cases, explaining that in the book ‘he was at his best, investigating a crime in a quiet country village and using his knowledge of human nature to get at the truth.’
* In 2014, HarperCollins published the first authorised Poirot continuation novel, *The Monogram Murders* by Sophie Hannah, which reached the bestseller charts in 16 territories including the UK and US.
* Poirot stars in 33 novels and 59 short stories and 1 original play by Agatha Christie, and 3 continuation novels by Sophie Hannah. He will return in August 2020 in Hannah's fourth novel, *The Killings at Kingfisher Hill*.
* Charles Laughton was the first actor to play Hercule Poirot on the stage in 1928’s production of *Alibi* (based on *The Murder of Roger Ackroyd*), and he has since been played by Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov and David Suchet to name a few.
* Poirot narrates most of his own adventures in *The Lost Mine* and *The Chocolate Box*. Hastings is the most frequent narrator of Poirot stories, but other narrators include Dr. Sheppard (*The Murder of Roger Ackroyd*), Nurse Leatheran (*Murder in Mesopotamia*), and Colin Lamb (*The Clocks*).
* Poirot doesn't just investigate murders in England. He has investigated crimes in France, Belgium, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Switzerland, and the Balkans.
* Poirot is very particular about the beverages he drinks. His preferred hot beverage is cocoa, though he often takes herbal tisanes for health reasons. He does not care for many forms of alcohol, like beer and most hard liquors, but he does like good wines. His preferred aperitifs are non-alcoholic sirops, in flavours like blackcurrant and other fruits.
* The great love of Poirot's life is Countess Vera Rossakoff, a flamboyant Russian expatriate who may or may not be a true aristocrat. The Countess is a jewel thief and henchwoman for The Big Four before she reforms and eventually manages a nightclub.

## Quotes

> *“'Every murderer is probably somebody’s old friend', observed Poirot philosophically. 'You cannot mix up sentiment and reason.'”*
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> — The Mysterious Affair at Styles, on suspects
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> *“Hercule Poirot's methods are his own. Order and method, and 'the little grey cells'.”*
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> *— The Big Four*, on being an individual
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> *“I do not need to bend and measure the footprints and pick up the cigarette ends and examine the bent blades of grass. It is enough for me to sit back in my chair and think.”*
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> *— Five Little Pigs*, on his methodical approach
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> *“In England the cult of the moustache is lamentably neglected.”*
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> *— Dumb Witness*, on appearance
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> *“It is not the past that matters, but the future.”*
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> *— Death on the Nile*, on progress
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> *“Understand this, I mean to arrive at the truth. The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it.”*
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> *— The Murder of Roger Ackroyd*, on the art of detection
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> *“It is a profound belief of mine that if you can induce a person to talk to you for long enough, on any subject whatever! Sooner or later they will give themselves away.”*
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> *— After the Funeral*, on human behaviour
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> *“If you will allow Poirot to offer you a piece of wise advice: the pursuit of revenge is rarely a good idea.”*
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> *— The Mystery of Three Quarters*, on revenge
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## Poirot’s Moustache

Poirot’s moustache is his trademark. It’s often the first thing people notice about him, and it’s his pride and joy. Poirot takes great care with his appearance from the tip of his shoes to the top of his egg-shaped head, and his moustache is no exception. He believes he has both the finest moustache and the finest brain in Britain – a claim many of his fans around the world would no doubt agree with. Throughout the six decades that his mysteries were documented by Agatha Christie, Poirot’s moustache was described in a number of ways, and was often the focus defining his appearance…