Miss Scarlett

* 1949
* 2023

## Source

**Miss Scarlett** (sometimes spelled **Miss Scarlet**, or simply referred to as **Scarlett**) is a prominent character in the *Clue* franchise, first introduced in the 1949 edition of the original board game.

## Character overview

Miss Scarlett is a young and beautiful woman, commonly depicted as a socialite or an actress, and is often the youngest of the original six suspects. She often wears red attire, some revealing her figure, which is often slim and curvy. She is the stereotypical *femme fatale*, often depicted as being cunning and seductive, using her considerable beauty and feminine charm to get her hands on the prizes she covets, usually the monetary kind.

## Incarnations

Throughout the years, there have been several official incarnations of the character for each new edition of the *Clue* board game.

### Murder!

Miss Scarlett was first featured as one of the ten characters in the original concept for the game, *Murder!*. She was one of the few characters to be featured in the final version of the game.

### Clue: Master Detective

The sultry and sinister fortune-hunting Miss Scarlet (called the *Mercenary of Macao*, but not to her face) has had a past of gold-digging, and Mr. Boddy is her latest interest.

### Cluedo (1996 edition)

In the 1996 edition of the British version, Miss Scarlett is a beautiful actress who is renowned for her many screen performances as the femme fatale.

### Clue: The Franklin Mint Edition

Miss Scarlet is a beautiful socialite and a familiar sight at Hollinghurst Manor. She has caught the eyes of many male visitors due to her beauty, wit and gaiety.

### Cluedo (2000 edition)

Miss Scarlett is described as a beautiful, forthright, self-confident yet dangerous woman who has her own agenda, who is able to get what she wants by fair means or foul, and knows how to sweet-talker herself out of trouble.

### Clue (2002 edition)

*Main article: Miss Scarlet (2002)*
The beautiful and seductive **Miss Josephine Scarlet** is an aspiring actress and the estranged daughter of Mrs. Patricia Peacock. After a failed acting career, she has taken an interest in wealthy bachelors. After the tabloids have taken poking fun of her latest interest – rich old widowers – Josephine reluctantly joins her mother to Tudor Mansion for a small holiday in the countryside. Josephine uses this opportunity to charm its master, Mr. John Boddy (a.k.a. Dr. Black), who is to receive a sizable inheritance from his uncle, the late Sir Hugh Black, on his 30th birthday.

### Clue (2016 edition)

Miss Scarlett was a longtime friend of Mr. Boddy/Dr. Black, having known each other since they were young. They were very close, until they had a dispute over some investments. Upon receiving the invitation to Tudor Mansion, Scarlett assumed everything was forgiven. Scarlett returns to becoming a blondie. She wears a long red dress and has diamond jewelry. On the front box cover, she holds the rope.

### Clue (2023 edition)

*Main article: Miss Scarlett (2023)*
Miss Scarlett is a socialite and undercover investigative journalist. Writing under the nom de plume of 'Cyan', she has landed mobsters in jail and taken down hometown heroes. No one is safe from her pen because no one knows who she is. Except Boddy Black, who just happens to need a glowing review of his new hotel.

## Alternative versions

### Clue: Discover the Secrets

In 2008's *Clue: Discover the Secrets*, **Kassandra Scarlet** is one of Hollywood's hottest movie stars and is the center of every social event. She has the attention of all the celebrity magazines. Her biggest fear is that the press will uncover the shady things she did to claw her way to the top.

### Clue (2012 edition)

**Natalia DeSouza**, a.k.a. **Scarlet**, is a beautiful and confident movie star that would do anything to stay in the spotlight. She is a member of the House of Scarlet, which carries the world’s secrets of fame.

### Parker Brothers Mystery Game

In *Parker Brothers Mystery Game*, **Madame Rubie** is an elegant and cold-hearted woman who enjoys the finer things in life.

### Minor alternatives

* Hollyspring - Clue: North Pole Edition (2019)
* Miss Garnet - Clue: Something's Fishy (2021)

## Adaptations

### Stage

* In Robert Duncan's 1985 stage play *Cluedo*, Miss Scarlett is a young and beautiful actress being blackmailed by Dr. Black with photographs from her seedy past.

* In the musical adaptation, Miss Scarlet was an actress and a former Las Vegas lounge performer that Mr. Boddy met while in on business trip. She was at one point engaged to Mr. Boddy, before he dumped her not long after in favor for Mrs. Peacock.

### Film and television

* In the 1985 film based on the board game, "Miss Scarlet" is a pseudonym given to an unnamed snarky, sarcastic madam, who runs a secret escort service in Washington, D.C.

* In the ITV game show adaptation of the board game, **Miss Vivienne Scarlett** is the beautiful step-daughter of Mrs. Peacock. She has had relationships with several men in the series, including Colonel Mustard. Most of the international version, apart from the French series, follow this interpretation of the character.

* In the Australian adaptation of the British game show, Miss Vivienne Scarlet is the step-daughter of Mrs. Peacock and the daughter of the late Alan Scarlet, who owned Brindebella before Peacock. While she has a series of suitors throughout the show's run, she ultimately devoted to her old college friend, Professor Peter Plum.

* In the French game show, *Mlle. Rose* (Scarlett's name in French editions of the game) is a receptionist who dreams of her future career as a singer.

* In the 2011 television miniseries *Clue*, Liz Handley (a.k.a. Scarlet), a hottie with a heart of gold. She lives life with the volume cranked—always on the move, changing plans, and somehow finding herself in the spotlight wherever she goes. But she's not totally into herself...she's got a really good soul to match that killer smile.

### Literature

* In Cluedo Armchair Detective by Lawrence Treat, **Miss Cynthia Scarlett** was a former trapeze performer and the fiancé of the late Sir Montague Black, the brother of Mr. Humphrey Black.

* In the 1990s book series, **Miss Charlotte Scarlet** is a flirtatious young woman who likes to seduce, steal, and murder people for money, revenge, etc.

* In the *A Clue Mystery* book series, **Scarlett Mistry** is the queen bee of Blackbrook Academy and is a top humanities student. Her parents run a successful hospitality business, owning several hotels globally.

### Comics and graphic novels

* In Éditions Jungle's *Cluedo* series, Mlle. Rose is a popular TV star and a former patient of Dr. Lenoir, a plastic surgeon. She has some romantic feeling for Lenoir.

* In the 2017 six-part comic miniseries, written by Paul Allor, Miss Scarlett is a popular Australian rapper who was invited to Mr. Boddy's dinner party to provide some evening entertainment. With her music career not doing so well, she is desperate for something to get her the media's attention.

* In *Clue: Candlestick*, a three-part comic miniseries by Dash Shaw, Miss Scarlet is a mysterious model Mr. Boddy has an obsession with.

### Computer and video games

* In 1985's Clue VCR Mystery Game and its 1987 sequel, Miss Scarlet is an undercover agent who works in corporate espionage. She was played by Janet Wong.

* In the 1992 video game, Miss Scarlet is a young woman with shoulder-length brunette hair. Her biography is reused from *Clue: Master Detective*.

* In the 1996 video game, **Miss Vivienne Scarlet** is the niece of Mr. Boddy, who took her in after the deaths of her parents. She appears to be ditzy, but is shown to be quite devious and cunning. She has relationships with most of the male suspects depending on which case.

* In the 1998 PC game *Clue: Murder at Boddy Mansion*, Miss Scarlet is an actress whose career was heading ever upwards, having performed in both the West End and Broadway. However, her new play, in which she has her first starring role, has hit difficulties. A bad review in a major newspaper following the opening night has damaged her and the play may have to close. Off stage, she is Mr. Boddy's current female companion and is a regular guest at the mansion.

* In the 2000 point-and-click adventure game *Clue Chronicles: Fatal Illusion*, **Miss Diana Scarlet** had once an acting career that was heading ever upwards, having performed at London’s West End and Broadway. But her big chance of stardom slipped away after her latest performance at a new play received negative press.

* The 2011 Flash game *Clue Mystery Stories* shows Scarlet as a top international thief, who reluctantly works for Boddy to collect information on his so-called friends after he catches her in the act of robbing his mansion.

* In the mobile game *Clue Bingo* (2015), Miss Scarlet is depicted as Asian once more.

* In the *2016 video game adaptation*, Miss Scarlett's backstory changes based on the theme. In the default *Tudor Mansion* theme, her background is the same as the 2016 edition, which the theme is based on.

* + In the *Classic Mansion* theme, Miss Scarlett was a famous film actress who was once married to a bog-shot film producer, but had an adulterous liaison with Dr. Black. The press discovered the affair through Black's carelessness, and Scarlett's husband essentially had Scarlett blacklisted. Now divorced and reverted to her maiden name, Miss Scarlett seems to have patch things up with Black, but does she still blame him for ruining her career?

* + In the *Hollywood Studio* theme, Scarlett is a film director with a series of critically-acclaimed films. Scarlett has always wanted to create grand epics, but Black refuses to give her the budget she needs. The studio's vice president, Green, supports her artistic vision - perhaps Scarlett decided to kill Black so Green could take the helm of Valley Studio and give her dream project the green light.

* + In the *Vampire Castle* theme, Scarlett becomes a vampire.

* + In the *Snowy Peaks* theme, Scarlett is shown to be a ski-boarder.

* + In the *Murder Express* theme, Lady Scarlett is a elderly yet elegant aristocrat travelling with her pet cat.

* + In the *Wild West* theme, Scarlett is a gunslinger and bounty hunter. Black had swindle her father out of the family ranch to exploit the silver that was under it. Did she return to Silver Town, the closest thing to home, to take revenge on Black for ruining her family?

* + In the *Venetian Masquerade* theme, Scarlett is the doyenne of Venice, a noblewoman and one of the city's most powerful merchants, second only to Dr. Black. Perhaps she wanted Black out of the picture so that she could take over his business, and become the reigning host of the prestigious annual ball?

* + In the *Sherlock* theme, Scarlett is a leader in the Women's Suffrage Movement, in which Dr. Black was fiercely opposed on. Perhaps she thought that killing Black was the only way to break down parliament's resistance and ensure votes for women?

* + In the *Egyptian Adventure* theme, Scarlett is Dr. Black as his personal pilot. When Black stole her beloved plane’s ownership papers, he used them as leverage, forcing her to smuggle stolen artefacts out of the country to be sold on the black market. Perhaps Scarlett thought that killing Black was the only way to regain her plane and her liberty?

* + In the *Tropical Mystery* theme, Scarlett is a politician, who started a campaign to improve the relations with the local islanders by providing them with carefully crafted job opportunities in tourism. This was great for her public image and led to her being invited by Black to discuss her potential political endorsement in his oil drilling plans. However, Scarlett found out about Blacks plans to build the massive oil rig, which would undo all her hard work. Perhaps she couldn't take the blow to her public image and decided to end it then and there?

## Portrayals

### Filmed media

In *Clue VCR Mystery Game* (1985) and its sequel *Clue II: Murder in Disguise* (1987), Miss Scarlet was portrayed by Janet Wong.

In the 1985 film *Clue*, Lesley Ann Warren played Miss Scarlet. Originally, Carrie Fisher was set to play Miss Scarlet and Warren was to be Mrs. White. However, due to Fisher being in rehab around the film's production, Warren was selected to play the role instead and Madeline Kahn became Mrs. White.

In the British game show *Cluedo*, different actresses played the role of Miss Vivienne Scarlett. She was played by Tracy Louise-Ward in Series 1 (1990), Toyah Willcox in the 1990 Christmas Special, Koo Stark in Series 2 (1991), Lysette Anthony (1992)in Series 3, and Jerry Hall in Series 4 (1993).

In the Australian adaptation of the British game show, Miss Scarlett was played by Nicki Paull. Cay Helmich played Gloria Thorbach in Germany's *Cluedo: Das Mörderspiel*; In France's *Cluedo*, Mademoiselle Rose is played by Carole Fantony; In Italy's *Il delitto è servito*, Rossella Biolchi Padini is played by Grazia Minarelli; In Sweden's *Cluedo – en mordgåta*, Fröken Anette Gulling is played by Mi Ridell.

In the 1994 CD-i video game, Miss Scarlet was played by Nicola Van Dam.

In the 2011 miniseries *Clue*, Liz Hardley, a.k.a. Scarlet, was portrayed by Ana Golja.

### Voice actors

In *Clue Chronicles: Fatal Illusion*, she was voiced by Glennis McClellan.

### Stage

In the 1985 stage play opened with Susan Beagley as Miss Scarlett.

In the 2017 world premiere of *Clue: On Stage*, a stage adaptation of the 1985 film, Lindsay Nicole Chambers played Miss Scarlett. The 2022 British touring production stared Michelle Collins as Miss Scarlett.

## Gallery

Due to the amount of images relating to this article, ***Miss Scarlett*** now has its own gallery.

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