Angela Lansbury Once Said People Liked Jessica Fletcher from ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Because She Was ‘Honorable’

Angela Lansbury died on October 11 at age 96. The actor was an icon of film, TV, and the stage, with a career that spanned nine decades. She was nominated for multiple Oscars (including for her first movie role in 1944’s Gaslight) and won several Tony Awards for her work on Broadway. But to many people she was best known for her starring role as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. 

Angela Lansbury played Jessica Fletcher for over a decade

Murder, She Wrote premiered in 1984, with Lansbury in the lead role as best-selling mystery author/amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher. The show ran on CBS for 12 seasons, developing a strong following in the process, with fans tuning in weekly to see how Jessica would unravel the latest whodunit she happened to stumble into.  

In an interview with the Television Academy, Lansbury reflected on what made Jessica Fletcher such an appealing character.  

“I would want to be thought of as an honorable person, and I think that Jessica Fletcher is an honorable woman. I think that’s one of the reasons people like her,” Lansbury said. 

The actor felt that her character’s strong sense of justice was one reason she resonated with viewers. 

“I’m very sincere about what I do, and I think she is. She’s an extremely straightforward, liberal person, fair, honest, and just,” Lansbury said. “And that’s something I would want to try to be. I can’t say that I am all the time. But I certainly want to try to be.”

The ‘Murder, She Wrote’ actor had some concerns about working in television 

Lansbury, who was born in London in 1925, came to Hollywood with her family in the 1940s. At the time, television was in its infancy, and in Lansbury’s eyes, pursuing a career in the new medium was a risky bet.  

“I never felt television was a comedown. But I thought it was a dead-end street,” she admitted in her interview with the Television Academy. “I was always afraid that if you got into television, you would become so familiar to the audience that they would have had enough of you in whatever it was you were doing … and that would be the end of your career. And I was always concerned about the longevity of [my] career.”

Despite her concerns, Lansbury did frequently appear on television in the 1950s. She took roles in various anthology series such as Lux Video Theater, Ford Television Theatre, and Fireside Theatre. Some of these were filmed live, and Lansbury likened the experience to working on the stage. 

“I did a great deal of live television. It absolutely saved my bacon,” she said. Lansbury explained that she turned to work in TV after terminating her contract with MGM, where she was dissatisfied with the roles she was being offered. 

Angela Lansbury’s other TV roles 

While Jessica Fletcher is Lansbury’s best-known TV role, she appeared in a number of shows, TV movies, and miniseries over her long career. They include Little Gloria… Happy at Last (where she played real-life socialite Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney), the 1992 TV movie Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris, and a 2017 adaptation of Little Women, where she played the imposing Aunt March. Lansbury also appeared in episodes of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Touched By an Angel,  Magnum P.I., Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Law & Order: Trial By Jury.

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