Angela Lansbury Dead; ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Actor Dies at 96
Murder She Wrote star Angela Lansbury has died at the age of 96, adding another beloved celebrity death to 2022. Angela Lansbury was born on Oct. 16, 1915, to an actor mother and politician father in London, England.
“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 a.m. today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” People reported.
Angela Lansbury’s Broadway performance elevated her career
Lansbury briefly studied acting at a West London drama school before her mother relocated the family to New York City shortly after World War I began. There, Lansbury earned a scholarship to study acting at the Feagin School of Drama and Radio.
By 1942, Lansbury relocated to Hollywood, where her mother was attempting to revive her film career. She landed a supporting role in the 1944 film Gaslight starring Ingrid Bergmann. Lansbury earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Nancy Oliver.
Lansbury received another Oscar nomination in the same category for the 1945 film The Portrait of Dorian Gray. She continued to act in supporting roles throughout the ‘50s. The 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate earned Lansbury her third Academy Award nomination.
Her career reached a new level thanks to her leading performance in the musical Mame on Broadway. Lansbury won the 1966 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
In 1993, Lansbury received a Grammy Award nomination for her work on the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack. It remains the only animated film to earn a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Lansbury voiced Mrs. Potts in the 1991 Disney classic.
‘Murder, She Wrote’ brought Angela Lansbury worldwide fame
In 1983, Angela Lansbury was offered the starring role in Murder, She Wrote as Jessica Fletcher, a retired school teacher who became a detective novelist that also solved murders. She accepted, turning down a starring role in a Norman Lear sitcom. Jean Stapleton and Doris Day previously rejected the series.
The show became instantly popular with audiences. Lansbury was instrumental in developing the look and voice of Jessica Fletcher. As one of the first television series with an older female lead, Murder, She Wrote is credited as a pioneering show in TV history.
Murder, She Wrote aired its final episode in 1996. At the time, it ranked as television’s longest-running detective series. Lansbury earned 12 Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Four TV movies based on the series aired between 1997 and 2003.
Angela Lansbury was married twice
Lansbury married artist and actor Richard Cromwell in 1945, when she was 19 and he was 35. The marriage lasted less than a year, with Lansbury filing for divorce in 1946. In a Radio Times interview (via LogoTV), Lansbury called the marriage a “terrible error” but not something she regretted. The actor also revealed she was unaware Cromwell was gay, which contributed to the end of their marriage.
Lansbury married actor and producer Peter Shaw in 1949. Their son Peter was born in 1952, followed by their daughter Deirdre Ann in 1953. Deirdre Ann’s drug addiction and association with Charles Manson led Lansbury to move her family to Ireland in 1970.
