Angela Lansbury, famed stage, television and movie actress, has died age 96, according to a statement from her family.
Her legendary career spanned almost 80 years, and during that time she won five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes and an Olivier Award. She also received an Honorary Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and a BAFTA Fellowship. The beloved actress was known worldwide for her role as sleuth Jessica Flecther in long-running television series Murder, She Wrote, which ran for 12 seasons between 1984 and 1996 and won her legions of devoted fans.
The Irish-British actress was born in London, on October 16, 1925, and moved to the U.S. in 1940 during World War II. She studied acting in New York City before signing with MGM and appearing in Gaslight, National Velvet and The Picture of Dorian Gray. She achieved instant success, with her efforts earning her Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe. She went on to appear in films such as The Harvey Girls, Samson and Delilah, The Purple Mask, The Long Hot Summer, The Reluctant Debutante and The Manchurian Candidate and starred alongside all-time greats including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman.
In addition to her work on the silver screen, Lansbury also starred in musical theater, receiving her first Tony Award for her lead turn in the Broadway musical Mame in 1966. A seeming affinity for musicals led her to appear in acclaimed musicals Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, The King and I and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. She also lent her voice to animated musicals, most notably as adorable teapot Mrs. Potts in the animated classic Beauty and The Beast.
Lansbury would take on her most famous role in 1984, starring as Jessica Fletcher in the long-running crime show Murder, She Wrote.
Speaking in 2014, Lansbury said of the show’s success, “There was never any blood, never any violence. And there was always a satisfying conclusion to the whodunit. The jigsaw was complete. And I loved Jessica’s every woman character. I think that’s what made her so acceptable to an across-the-board audience.”
In her later years, Lansbury returned to the stage both in New York and London, starring in productions of Deuce, which earned her a Tony Award nomination, Blithe Spirit, which won her the Tony Award for best featured actress in a play, A Little Night Music, The Best Man and Driving Miss Daisy. In 2015, aged 89, she received her first Olivier Award for her performance as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit and was awarded the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre later that same year.
Lansbury was also revered by the LGBTQ+ community, with the community embracing her for her portrayal of Mame Dennis in Mame, and for her support for her ex-husband Richard Cromwell, who was rumored to be gay and was once linked to billionaire Howard Hughes. Lansbury once told an interviewer: “I’m very proud of the fact that I am a gay icon.”
The post Angela Lansbury Dead at 96, Beloved Star of Stage Screen and Television appeared first on Newsweek.
