Angela Lansbury

***Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury***, DBE (October 16, 1925, Regent's Park, London, England - October 11, 2022, Los Angeles, California, USA) was a British-Irish-American actress and singer who appeared in theatre, television and film. Her career has spanned eight decades, much of it based in the United States, and her work has attracted international attention.

Lansbury was born to a middle-class family in central London, the daughter and eldest of three children of actress Moyna Macgill and politician Edgar Lansbury. To escape the Blitz, in 1940 she moved to the United States, there studying acting in New York City. Proceeding to Hollywood in 1942, she signed to MGM and obtained her first film roles, in Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), earning her two Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe Award. She appeared in eleven further MGM films, mostly in minor roles, and after her contract ended in 1952 she began supplementing her cinematic work with theatrical appearances. Although largely seen as a B-list star during this period, her appearance in the film The Manchurian Candidate (1962) received widespread acclaim and is cited as being one of her finest performances. Moving into musical theatre, Lansbury finally gained stardom for playing the leading role in the Broadway musical Mame (1966), which earned her a range of awards and established her as a gay icon.

Amid difficulties in her personal life, Lansbury moved from California to County Cork, Ireland in 1970, and continued with a variety of theatrical and cinematic appearances throughout that decade. These included leading roles in the stage musicals Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, and The King and I, as well as in the hit Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). Moving into television, she achieved worldwide fame as fictional writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the American whodunit series Murder, She Wrote, which ran for twelve seasons from 1984 until 1996, becoming one of the longest-running and most popular detective drama series in television history. Through Corymore Productions, a company that she co-owned with her husband Peter Shaw, Lansbury assumed ownership of the series and was its executive producer for the final four seasons. She also moved into voice work, thereby contributing to animated films like Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991). Since then, she toured in a variety of international theatrical productions and continued to make occasional film appearances.

Lansbury received an Honorary Oscar and won five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes and an Olivier Award. She was also nominated for numerous other industry awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on three occasions, and various Primetime Emmy Awards on eighteen occasions. She was the subject of three biographies.

Lansbury died in her sleep on October 11, 2022, in Los Angeles, California, aged 96. Many in the entertainment industry praised her following her life and legacy including Lin-Manuel Miranda who wrote, "Singular. Thank you, Angela Lansbury. We'll miss you terribly." Former Walt Disney Studios CEO Robert Iger stated, "Disney's beloved Mrs. Potts, Angela Lansbury...a consummate professional, a talented actress, and a lovely person. Rest In Peace." Others who remembered Lansbury included Viola Davis, Harvey Fierstein, Jeremy O. Harris, Rachel Zegler, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Antonio Banderas and Kristin Chenoweth.