Every Major Actor Who Played Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, Ranked

2020 marked the centennial anniversary of Agatha Christie’s literary sleuth, Hercule Poirot. The famous mustachioed Belgian detective made his debut via Christie’s 1920 novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles. Since 1975, Poirot has appeared in more than 50 Christie tales, not to mention the countless movie and TV adaptations.

While the anticipated adaptation of Christie’s Death on The Nile has been pushed back to September of 2021, it’s never too early to begin thinking about the suspicious characters Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) will interrogate en route to solving the murder. In pondering the suspects, fans might also want to debate who they believe is the best Hercule Poirot.

9 Alfred Molina

In 2001, Carl Schenkel directed a television remake of Christie’s classic locomotive whodunit, Murder on the Orient Express. Updated for the 21st century, the great Alfred Molina stepped into the role of Poirot and made it his own.

Alas, the film itself was poorly received for being superfluous and inferior to the original, while adding nothing new. Molina did what he could given the derivative material but still ranks low in the pantheon of Poirot performances.

8 Tony Randall

Due to its farcical nature that borders on satire, Tony Randall’s work as Poirot in the 1965 version of The Alphabet Murders (aka The ABC Murders ) is a lightweight addition to the Christie canon.

The story has been updated to the present day and takes a much more comedic approach to the storytelling. Poirot begins investigating a mysterious psychopathic killer, who murders alliterative victims, such as Albert Aachen, Betty Barnard, and so forth.

7 Ian Holm

The late great English thespian Ian Holm brought instant gravitas to every production he participated in. In 1986, Holm lent such gravity to the role of Poirot in the made-for-tv movie, Murder By the Book.

The story imagines a scenario in which Poirot confronts Agatha Christie about killing him off in her novel, Curtain. Poirot visits Christie and makes a concerted effort to get the manuscript from her possession before it is published and kills his literary legacy.

6 Austin Trevor

Irish actor Austin Trevor introduced Hercule Poirot to the silver screen in the 1931 release of Alibi, adapted from the 1926 Christie novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. As from the historical feat, Trevor reprised the role twice.

Noted for being a mustacheless Poirot, Trevor also played the character in Black Coffee (1931), based on the Christie stage play, and Lord Edgware Dies (1934), based on Christie’s novel of the same name.

5 John Malkovich

John Malkovich brought his trademark eccentricities to the role of Hercule Poirot in the 2018 BBC adaptation of The ABC Murders (aka The Alphabet Murders).

The three-part miniseries finds Poirot being targeted by a killer, who addresses his letters under the name ABC in 1933. With danger closing in, Poirot deciphers the enigmatic letters and thwart’s the ABC murder’s dastardly plot. As one of the finest actors on the list, Malkovich makes Poirot as convincing as anyone.

4 Kenneth Branagh

Kenneth Branagh bears the distinction of being the only person to direct their own portrayal of Hercule Poirot. As such, Brannagh gave the character a thick French accent and the most profligate mustache of all time in the 2017 remake of Murder on the Orient Express.

Set to reprise the role in Death on the Nile in 2021, Branagh is able to steal scenes as Poirot from a stellar cast of A-list celebrities. Beyond that, the 5-time Oscar-winning acclaimed stage actor enlivens the role with a mumbling physicality, unlike most.

3 David Suchet

No actor in history has portrayed the role of Poirot longer and more often than Englishman David Suchet. From 1989-2014, Suchet appeared in a staggering 70 feature-length episodes of ITV’s British series Agatha Christie’s Poirot.

Given the 25-year performance as Poirot, Suchet has been able to take a long view of the character in ways the others could never be afforded. He was able to take ownership of the character by allowing him to age, wisen, evolve, and change for better or worse. He was so memorable in the role that in 1991, Suchet was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor as Poirot.

2 Peter Ustinov

If it weren’t for the number one spot, two-time Oscar-winning English actor Peter Ustinov would rank as the definitive screen version of Hercule Poirot. Ustinov played the role a record six times, three on the big screen and three on the small.

Ustinov first claimed the role in 1978 via Death on the Nile (1978) before appearing in Evil Under the Sun (1982) and Appointment with Death (1988). Ustinov also appeared in the television versions of Christie’s Thirteen At Dinner (1985), Dead Man’s Folly (1986), and Murder in Three Acts (1986).

1 Albert Finney

As the only actor to score an Oscar nomination for the tole of Hercule Poirot, Albert Finney ranks as the best and brightest of the bunch. Finney leads an all-time great ensemble in Sidney Lumet’s classy adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, which earned Ingrid Bergman an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

On a transatlantic railway in 1935, a mysterious murder calls the attention of French detective Hercule Poirot to solve the case and identify the killer. With elegance and refinement unseen to date, Finney is Poirot at his purest.