life of American actress Gene Tierney. Tierney contracted German measles while pregnant with her first child, during her only appearance at the Hollywood Canteen in June 1943. The baby developed congenital rubella syndrome and was born prematurely, underweight and needing a total blood transfusion. Doctors told the parents on the day of the birth that the premature birth and the child's mental and physical disabilities were due to the mother contracting German measles in the first four months of the pregnancy; this was very hard news to absorb. The deaf, partially blind and developmentally disabled child was later institutionalised in a psychiatric hospital. About two years after that birth a woman asked Tierney for an autograph at a garden party. The woman said she had, while ill with German measles, skipped quarantine in order to visit the Hollywood Canteen and meet Tierney. Tierney's story was publicised before the novel was written. Tierney described the event in her autobiography 16 years after Christie wrote the novel. Publication history 1962, Collins Crime Club (London), 12 November 1962, hardback, 256 pp 1963, Dodd Mead and Company (New York), September 1963, hardback, 246 pp 1964, Pocket Books (New York), paperback 1965, Fontana Books (imprint of HarperCollins), paperback, 192 pp 1966, Ulverscroft large-print edition, hardcover, 255 pp 1974, Penguin Books, paperback, 224 pp 2006, Marple facsimile edition (facsimile of 1962 UK first edition), 6 March 2006, hardcover, 2011 William Morrow and Company, trade paperback, 288 pp, The Star Weekly Novel, a Toronto newspaper supplement, serialised the novel in two abridged instalments from 9 to 16 March 1963 under the title The Mirror Crack'd with each issue containing a cover illustration by Gerry Sevier. Adaptations to other media English-language movie The novel was adapted for a 1980 feature film with Angela Lansbury in the role of Miss Marple. The film's co-stars were Elizabeth Taylor as Marina and Kim Novak as Lola Brewster, and the cast also included Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis. The film was released as The Mirror Crack'd, the shortened US book title. The film changed a number of elements in the novel, including Marina's surname (she uses Rudd, not Gregg), her associates, removing the character of Giuseppe, adding death threats, amongst other modifications—which include shifting the setting to 1953, nine years before the book's publication. BBC TV adaptation A second adaptation of the novel was made by BBC television in 1992 as part