Tribute to Dame Angela Lansbury

British- born American actress, Dame Angela Lansbury was a stage and screen icon whose career spanned an incredible eight decades. Respected, admired and loved by many, she never once retired from what she loved most and continued to charm audiences well into her 90s.

Legendary actress Dame Angela Lansbury during her time in Sydney for the musical Driving Miss Daisy.

Angela Lansbury was born October 16, 1925 in London, England. When she was fifteen, she and her widowed mother emigrated to the United States in 1940 where she studied at a NYC acting school from 1940 to 1942.

It wasn't long before Lansbury and her mother embarked on a theatrical tour of Canada where Lansbury picked up her first paying job, singing at a Montreal Nightclub. Aged only sixteen at the time, Lansbury lied about her age in order to win the job.

Returning to NYC in 1942, the family made the move to Hollywood where Lansbury began a career with MGM. By 1945 she had three films under her belt: Gaslight (1944), National Velvet (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). These films earned the inspiring young star two Academy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Dame Angela Lansbury in the film Gaslight with Ingrid Bergman.

Lansbury married actor Richard Cromwell in 1945 and although the marriage ended in 1946, the pair remained friends. Lansbury began a romantic relationship with actor Peter Shaw a year later and the pair married in London 1949. In 1951 the pair settled down in Malibu and became naturalised citizens of the United States. The couple went on to have two children together and also raised Cromwell's son from his previous marriage.

Lansbury appeared in eleven MGM films before she requested the end of her contract in 1952. Her next big role, which was said to be one of her greatest-career performances, was The Manchurian Candidate (1962). The film earned her a third Academy Award nomination and her second Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Other big films included Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), Death on the Nile (1978); The Mirror Crack'd (1980), Nanny McPhee (2005), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018).

Angela Lansbury in 1971 Disney classic Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Picture: Alamy

Achieving great success in film, Lansbury was also a Broadway musical star in popular productions such as: Georges Feydeau farce Hotel Paradiso (1957), A Taste of Honey (1960), Anyone Can Whistle (1964). Her starring role in Mame (1966), earned her another award to don her mantelpiece - a Tony Award.

Dubbed the queen of Broadway for several years, she won another three Tony Awards for her roles in Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1975), and Sweeney Todd (1979). Her later stage work included: Deuce (2007), Mame (revival, 1983), A Little Night Music (2009) and Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit (2009) which earned her a fifth Tony Award.

Lansbury's most popular triumph came after she chose to take the leading role in the television series Murder, She Wrote.

"A small number of people have seen me on the stage. [Television] is a chance for me to play to a vast U.S. public, and I think that's a chance you don't pass up ... I'm interested in reaching everybody. I don't want to reach just the people who can pay forty-five or fifty dollars for a [theatre] seat." - Angela Lansbury

The show was based on the character of Jessica Fletcher, a retired school teacher who became a detective novelist and who enjoyed solving murders encountered during her travels. The show ran for an incredible twelve seasons spanning 1984-1996 and paved the way for other popular series such as, The Golden Girls.

Beatrice Arthur from the Golden Girls and Angela Lansbury. Photo taken at the 41st Emmy Awards 9/17/89. Image author Alan Light.

After Murder, She Wrote concluded, Lansbury returned to theatre before retiring in 2001 to care for her husband. After 54 years of marriage, Shaw died in 2003. At this time, Lansbury stepped away from any major acting roles but agreed she would still make cameos.

Moving back to NYC in 2006, Lansbury took the role of the Aunt Adelaide in Nanny McPhee (2005) which she admits pulled her out of depression following her husband's death.

She returned to television playing Aunty March in the mini-series Little women (2017). You might also recognise Lansbury's vocal skills in the very successful animated films: The Last Unicorn (1982), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Anastasia (1997), Fantasia 2000 (1999), and The Grinch (2018).

Lansbury earned an honorary Academy Award in 2013 and a Tony Award for lifetime achievement in 2022. Her name was included in the New Year Honours List for 2014 as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).

Dame Anglea Lansbury at the Sydney Theatre Awards at the Paddington RSL.

After being awarded Damehood by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014, Lansbury said:

"I'm joining a marvellous group of women I greatly admire like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. It's a lovely thing to be given that nod of approval by your own country and I really cherish it."

Lansbury turned 95 in 2020 which made her one of the oldest-living actresses. Having never retired from acting, she was once asked why she kept on working:

"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."

Dame Angela Lansbury died on 12th October 2022 and will forever be remembered for her energy and enthusiasm and whose talents added class and beauty to some of the most memorable characters on stage and screen.

Rest in peace, Dame Angela Lansbury.

We leave you with some of her most loved quotes.

"Believe me, it jabs you. When you're on the side of buses and New York loves you, you love to go out there every night. It's like a race. Curtain opens, out you go, and New York is yours."

"I absolutely do not have a retirement age... I'm only 87 - which today is nothing. It's just like 60 a few years back. I believe age should not stop you from keeping on."

"I honestly consider that the greatest gift to me, is the reaction that I get from my work. That is a given which I never, ever take for granted. But to be given that by audiences, individuals, on the street, in the theatre, is an extraordinary feeling."

"Every laugh line is a tale, each wrinkle holds a secret…The woman who tries to deny the changes time has wrought is not trusting that her natural qualities will shine through."

"I'd like to be remembered as somebody who entertained - who took one out of oneself - for a few minutes, a few hours - transported you into a different venue - gave you relief, gave you entertainment, and gave you joy and laughter, and tears - all those things. I would like to be remembered as somebody who was - capable of doing that."

By Kirsten Jakubenko

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