Editing Murder, She Wrote (section)

===Origin===
{{more citations needed section|date=November 2016}}
Series producers [[Peter S. Fischer]], [[Richard Levinson]] and [[William Link]] developed the lead role for actress [[Jean Stapleton]], who was initially somewhat interested but eventually turned it down, threatening the project.<ref>{{cite news|last= Fisher|first= Peter|date= April 19, 1988|title= The selling of Murder She Wrote|url= https://www.csmonitor.com/1988/0419/umurd-f.html#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16517857299075&csi=1&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.csmonitor.com%2F1988%2F0419%2Fumurd-f.html|work= The Christian Science Monitor|location= USA|access-date= May 6, 2022|archive-date= May 8, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220508092654/https://www.csmonitor.com/1988/0419/umurd-f.html#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16517857299075&csi=1&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.csmonitor.com%2F1988%2F0419%2Fumurd-f.html|url-status= live}}</ref>

Scrambling to find another major star, the producers thought [[Angela Lansbury]] would be perfect for the part of Jessica Fletcher but did not think that she would be interested in a television series. Earlier, she had acted in two film adaptations of [[Agatha Christie]]'s mystery novels: as Salome Otterbourne in ''[[Death on the Nile (1978 film)|Death on the Nile]]'' (1978) and as [[Miss Marple]] in ''[[The Mirror Crack'd]]'' (1980). When the latter film did poorly—despite an all-star cast including [[Rock Hudson]], [[Elizabeth Taylor]], [[Kim Novak]], and [[Tony Curtis]]—the offer for Lansbury to reprise Miss Marple in three more films never materialized.<ref>Brunsdale, Mitzi M., ''Icons of Mystery and Crime Detection: From Sleuths to Superheroes''. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC (2010), p. 307<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref>

When she made it known she would be available if the right project came along, the three creators sent her the script and almost immediately, Lansbury felt she could do something with the role of Jessica Fletcher. With ''Murder, She Wrote'' debuting on Sunday, September 30, 1984, the producers were able to parlay their "mystery writer/amateur detective" premise into a 12-year hit for [[CBS]]. It also made Lansbury, known previously for her motion picture and Broadway stage work, a household name for millions of television viewers. The title comes from ''[[Murder, She Said]]'', which was the title of a 1961 film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel ''[[4.50 from Paddington]]''.