Angela Lansbury Dead: 'Murder, She Wrote' Legend Was 96

Dame Angela Lansbury died on Tuesday morning, her family announced. She was 96 and would have marked her 97th birthday on Oct. 16. Lansbury was one of the last surviving leading stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, earning her first Oscar nomination in 1945. She was also known to younger generations as the voice of Mrs. Potts in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, while television viewers loved her as Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote.

"The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 AM today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday," her family said in a statement to NBC News. Lansbury is survived by her three children, Anthony, Deirdre, and David; three grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. Her husband of 53 years, Peter Shaw, died in 2003 at age 84.

Lansbury was born on Oct. 16, 1925, in London to Irish actress Moyna Macgill and English politician Edgar Lansbury. After developing an early interest in theatre and playing piano, Lansbury and her family escaped London to the U.S. as the Germans began bombing the U.K. In 1944, Lansbury earned her first film role in MGM's Gaslight. She played the conniving maid who helped Charles Boyer psychologically torture his wife, played by Ingrid Bergman. Lansbury was only 19, but her performance earned some of the best notices for the film. She even received her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Lansbury's second film at MGM was the box office smash National Velvet with Elizabeth Taylor. In 1945, she starred in The Picture of Dorian Gray, which earned her a second Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. Unfortunately for Lansbury, the rest of her MGM career wasn't as successful, as she got stuck in supporting parts. 

In 1962, Lansbury's career took another turn. She starred in John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate, giving one of the all-time great villain performances. The performance earned Lansbury her third Oscar nomination, although she lost to The Miracle Worker star Patty Duke. 

"Any actress will tell you that evil roles to play are the best," Lansbury told NPR in 2000. "You can go to town, you know? And in that instance, I think that woman had so many layers and so many personas in a sense, she was riveting and so interesting to play. I relish... having had that opportunity to play that role because I don't think there are many written like that. I consider that she was the Lear among, you know, movie women."

Lansbury continued to redefine herself for each generation. In 1971, she worked with Disney for the first time on Bednobs and Brooksticks, which was another box office hit for the studio. Twenty years later, she returned to Disney for Beauty and the Beast as Mrs. Potts. She also sang the title song, which won the Oscar for Best Original Song. 

Television also granted Lansbury another iconic role. She played mystery author and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote from 1984 to 1996. Although Lansbury won four Golden Globes, she famously never won an Emmy Award for this show, losing 12 times. Lansbury also earned Emmy nominations for The Blackwater Lightship and her guest role on a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit/Law & Order: Trial By Jury crossover but lost both. Lansbury also never won an Oscar until she received an honorary award in 2014.

Lansbury was much more successful at winning awards for her stage work. She took home five Tony Awards for her work in Mamie, Dear World, Gypsy, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Blithe Spirit. This year, she received a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award. She also received an Olivier Award for starring in Blithe Spirit on the London stage in 2014, the same year Queen Elizabeth II made her a Dame Commander of the British Empire.

Lansbury never truly retired, making her last movie appearances in 2018. She made one last project for Disney, scoring a cameo role in Marry Poppins Returns as the balloon lady. Lansbury remained a role model for generations of women her entire career. "It's only by dint of being a certain age and having the bearing of a younger person," she told The Gentlewoman in 2012. "I don't do it consciously or for effect. I just act the way I feel, and I don't feel physically old."

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