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British-American actress Angela Lansbury was born in England in 1925. She died on Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 96.
Angelas Footfall into America
Due to the prevailing war in Britain, Angela Lansbury had moved to The United States with her mother in 1940. Her mother had a successful career as a leading lady of the British theatre. Likewise her father was a successful businessman. Besides, Angela got the acting bug from her mother.
Angelas Evolving Success as a Child Artist
Angela not only acted in Movies, but also in Broadway and TV series. She finally found her big break Success much early in her life. In the movie Gaslight, Angela played the role of a housemaid. This character was nominated for an Oscar in the category “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” . She was only 17 then when she played that role.
Angela Lansbury with her Memorable Hit Performances
Some of her memorable performances are as Sibyl Vane in The Picture of Dorian Gray, Em in The Harvey Girls and also about the evil manipulative Eleanor Iselin, as mother of Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) in the 1962 thriller The Manchurian Candidate.
Angela had then later moved to New York to star in the huge musical hit Jerry Herman’s Mame.
Angela Lansbury and her 1966 Musical Hit ‘Mame’
About the 1966 musical hit Mame and and about Angela, a theater historian Laurence Maslon had once said “And, lo and behold, when she walked down that staircase in gold-lamé pajamas, in 1966, she was 40 years old and Broadway embraced her in a way that it has embraced few actresses in its storied history.”
Angela Lansbury and her Gem Performance in 1979 Theatrical ‘Sweeney Todd’
Further, Angela’s next theater success was in the 1974 revival of Gypsy, as Mama Rose. Next to her credit, Angela pulled off a gem of a performance in Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 masterpiece, Sweeney Todd, of the cold-blooded character of Mrs. Lovett, who baked human beings into meat pies.
Angela once recalled about the play, “People were appalled by the blood that was splattering at them from the stage. They felt that Stephen had gone a step too far. But, my goodness, there was another two-thirds of the audience who hadn’t seen it yet who arrived at the theater and they just took it to their hearts and — to make a long story short — we won the Tony that year.”
Angela Lansbury – A Popular Household Name as Jessica of the 80s
In the 1980s, Angela moved back to Hollywood to play Jessica Fletcher in the CBS Television series “Murder, She Wrote”. She played a middle-aged widow and former substitute school teacher living in the seaside village of Cabot Cove, Maine, who solved endless murders as crime novelist.
Consequently, the Shows popularity made it run for 12 seasons. As a result of this Angela Lansbury became a prominent household name.
About her role as Jessica, Angela said that “Being Jessica was second nature to me because she embodied all of the qualities that I like about women,”. Angela further added about Jessica “She was valiant and liberal and athletic and exciting and sexy and all kinds of good stuff that women are — of a certain age and are not given credit for.”
Angel Lansbury with A Plethora of Awards and Nominations
With over seven decades of extraordinary acting career under her belt, Lansbury won six Golden Globes, five Tony Awards. Her television work brought her 18 Emmy nominations, the most for lead actress in a drama series. She was also awarded a Kennedy Center Honoree for lifetime achievement in 2000.
She is survived by her brother and producer, Edgar Lansbury, three children Anthony, Deirdre and David, three grandchildren, Peter, Katherine and Ian, plus five great grand children.
