British-American actress and singer Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury was born on 16th October 1925 in London, England and passed away on 11th October 2022. She was married twice and had 2 children.
As a kid, Angela attended a private day school but once she stated that she was very much self-educated. She loved the cinema and went to the movies often, as well as took piano lessons. Later on, she studied acting and made her debut theatrical appearance in a play. In 1940, her mum decided to take Angela and her twin brothers to Canada and then proceeded to New York, where she managed to obtain a job as a night club singer. Meanwhile, her mum, who was an actress, moved to Hollywood, hoping to boost her acting career, and her children followed her.
One day, Lansbury’s mother hosted a party during which Angela met a theatre director who had just co-authored a script for the 1944 psychological thriller movie ‘Gaslight’. He offered a part to Lansbury and at 17 years old, this was her film debut. The movie was very well received and Angela got a lot of praise for her performance.
During the next 4 decades, Angela continued with her career and acted in numerous movies, becoming increasingly popular over the years and also gained theatrical stardom, especially during the 60s. Some of the films/theatrical plays she performed in include ‘National Velvet’, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, ‘The Manchurian Candidate’, ‘Mame’, ‘Sweeney Todd’, ‘The King and I’.
In 1984, Angela moved to TV acting and gained worldwide fame when she portrayed Jessica B Fletcher in the crime drama series ‘Murder, She Wrote’, which ran for 12 seasons i.e. 12 years until 1996, with a total of 264 episodes. It is considered as one of the longest-running, most popular detective drama series in TV history. After the series ended, Lansbury voiced animated movie characters in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Anastasia’ as well as appeared in movies like ‘Nanny McPhee’ and ‘Mary Poppins Returns’, amongst many others. In addition, she also performed in numerous theatrical productions.
Angela supported several charitable institutions, particularly those fighting against domestic abuse, HIV/AIDS and rehabilitating drug abusers. She also published a book in 1990.
During her impressive 80-year career, Angela received 32 awards out of 256 nominations including 6 Golden Globe, 6 Tony, 5 Theatre, 2 BAFTA and 1 Academy. In 2014, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to drama. She also received the National Medal of Arts and the Kennedy Centre Honours. In 1982, Angela was inducted in the American Theatre Hall of Fame and 14 years later, in the Television Hall of Fame. She also has 2 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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