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AS ANGELA LANSBURY CELEBRATES HER 95TH BIRTHDAY, WE REMINISCE ABOUT HER INCREDIBLE CAREER
Not many people can say they’ve had a career that’s spanned eight decades, and even fewer can say that job involved being the star of many popular films and TV shows. But Angela Lansbury is no ordinary woman.
Acting is in her blood, as her Irish mum, Moyna Macgill, was also in the trade. When her politician dad, Edgar, died when she was just nine years old, Angela retreated into playing characters as a coping mechanism. And after she moved from London to the US as a teenager, to escape the Blitz, her career took off.
Her first film came in 1944 when she starred in mystery thriller Gaslight after a chance meeting with the director at a party. As she was only 17 years old, a social worker had to accompany her on set. But her age didn’t stop her success and she earned an Oscar nomination for her contribution. Just a year later, she won a Golden Globe for her part in the on-screen adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s novel The Picture Of Dorian Gray.
Also in 1945, she married American actor Richard Cromwell, who had hoped their marriage would make him heterosexual. The plan didn’t work and it ended after a year, but they remained close friends until his death. Luckily, just months later, she met fellow Brit Peter Shaw. The couple were intent on marrying back in Britain, but the Church of England refused to marry two divorcees, so they wed in a Church of Scotland ceremony in London in 1949. Their son Anthony, now 68, and daughter Deirdre, 67, followed soon after.
In her forties, Angela turned her hand to theatre, making a name for herself on Broadway in Mame. This led to roles in Gypsy, The King And I and Sweeney Todd. “I will attempt almost anything I think I can bring off. It could be almost anything,” she once said.
She effortlessly took on her most iconic role as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote in 1984, which ran for an impressive 12 series.
“Those who have known the quality of my work, and the many public statements I have made… must know that I am a strong supporter of Women’s Rights,” she has said. This is certainly true as Angela, who became an executive producer on the show, insisted that her character wasn’t in a relationship, and was portrayed as strong and independent. The show was one of a minority aimed at middle-aged women and she said it had “enormous, universal appeal” and that it was, “An accomplishment I never expected in my entire life.”
It was a family affair too, with son Anthony taking on a director role after overcoming drug problems.
“Bringing humour, happiness and joy to an audience is a wonderful opportunity in life,” Angela once said. And this is certainly something she did by voicing Mrs Potts in Beauty And The Beast. Of course, children of the 2000s remember her as Aunt Adelaide in Nanny Mcphee. This film is particularly important to Angela, who said it “pulled me out of the abyss” following her husband’s death two years earlier.
The actress turns 95 this month, and has been the subject of three biographies, won an honorary Oscar, a BAFTA, five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes and an Olivier Award. She was also made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2014.
The self-deprecating star was quoted as saying, “I made 56 films, I think. Not that many.” But she still isn’t done – Angela is very much a working actress and most recently starred in Little Women for the BBC and Mary Poppins Returns. “I’ve never been particularly aware of my age. It’s like being on a bicycle – I just put my foot down and keep going.”