The Best Man: Angela Lansbury's Guide To Excellence

Angela Lansbury was a British, Irish and American actress with a career spanning eight decades. She was born in London in 1925 and moved to the United States in 1940 to escape the Blitz. She signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1942 and obtained her first film roles in 'Gaslight' (1944), 'National Velvet' (1944) and 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1945). She went on to star in numerous films and stage productions, including 'Mame' (1966), for which she won her first Tony Award, and 'Murder, She Wrote' (1984-1996), which brought her worldwide fame. In 2012, Lansbury returned to Broadway in Gore Vidal's 'The Best Man'.

Angela Lansbury's career in film, television and stage

Angela Lansbury's career spanned eight decades and saw her play various roles across film, stage, and television.

Lansbury's first film roles were in the 1944 films Gaslight and National Velvet, and The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1945. She earned two consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, and won the Supporting Actress Golden Globe for the latter film. Her subsequent films throughout the late 1940s and 1950s included National Velvet (1944), The Harvey Girls (1946), State of the Union (1948), Kind Lady (1951), The Court Jester (1956), and The Long, Hot Summer (1958).

Lansbury drifted towards more complex and mature work with The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), All Fall Down (1962), and The Manchurian Candidate (1962), in which she played the infamous role of the Machiavellian Mrs. Iselin. For the latter, she received stellar reviews, winning a second Golden Globe and her third Oscar nomination.

Lansbury also found success on stage. She starred on Broadway in A Taste of Honey, Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, and later as Anna Leonowens in The King and I. Her collaboration with Sondheim garnered them both frequent success, and they also worked together on Mame, the Broadway revival of Gypsy, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. For these three hits (plus one considered a flop, Dear World), Lansbury won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical an unprecedented, and undefeated, four times.

Lansbury moved into television in 1984, achieving worldwide fame as the sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the American whodunit series Murder, She Wrote, which ran for twelve seasons until 1996. She starred in every episode, receiving an Emmy nomination for each of them, and won four more Golden Globe Awards, bringing her total to six. In total, she received eighteen unsuccessful Emmy bids, making her the most nominated individual performer never to win that award.

Lansbury also lent her talents as a voice actress to Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) as Mrs. Potts, and Anastasia (1997). In the 21st century, she toured in several theatrical productions and appeared in family films such as Nanny McPhee (2005) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018).

Lansbury's final role was a cameo as herself in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022), which was released posthumously shortly after her death in October 2022.

Angela Lansbury's early life and career

Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into an upper-middle-class family in London. Her father was a socialist politician and her mother was an Irish actress. Tragedy struck when Lansbury was nine years old and her father passed away from stomach cancer. To cope with the loss, she retreated into playing characters. The family moved to Mill Hill, north London, and spent weekends in a farmhouse in Berrick Salome, Oxfordshire.

Lansbury attended South Hampstead High School from 1934 to 1939. She considered herself largely self-educated, learning from books, theatre and cinema. She was a self-professed "movie maniac", regularly visiting the cinema. She also briefly studied music at the Ritman School of Dancing and, in 1940, began studying acting at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art in Kensington, west London. She made her theatrical debut in the school's production of Maxwell Anderson's 'Mary of Scotland', playing one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting.

In 1940, Lansbury and her family moved to the United States to escape the Blitz. They were financially sponsored by a Wall Street businessman, Charles T. Smith, and lived with his family in Mahopac, New York. Lansbury gained a scholarship from the American Theatre Wing to study at the Feagin School of Drama and Radio, where she appeared in performances of William Congreve's 'The Way of the World' and Oscar Wilde's 'Lady Windermere's Fan'. She graduated in 1942 and soon after gained her first theatrical job as a nightclub act at the Samovar Club in Montreal, singing songs by Noël Coward. Although only 16 years old, she claimed to be 19 to secure the job.

Lansbury and her family moved to Los Angeles in 1942, where she and her mother obtained Christmas jobs at the Bullocks Wilshire department store in Los Angeles. Through her mother, Lansbury was introduced to screenwriter John van Druten, who suggested that Lansbury would be perfect for the role of Nancy Oliver, a cockney maid, in the film 'Gaslight' (1944). This led to Lansbury being signed to a seven-year contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), earning $500 a week. 'Gaslight' received critical acclaim and Lansbury's performance earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Lansbury's next film appearances included 'National Velvet' (1944), in which she played Elizabeth Taylor's older sister, and 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1945), for which she was again nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards. In 1945, she married actor Richard Cromwell, but the marriage was troubled and they divorced in 1946. In 1949, she married actor and producer Peter Shaw.

Following the success of 'Gaslight' and 'The Picture of Dorian Gray', MGM cast Lansbury in 11 further films until her contract with the company ended in 1952. However, she was repeatedly cast in older, often villainous, roles and became dissatisfied with working for MGM. She terminated her contract in 1952 and began to supplement her cinematic work with theatrical appearances. During this period, she was largely seen as a B-list star.

In 1962, Lansbury appeared in the Cold War thriller 'The Manchurian Candidate', playing the mother of her co-star Laurence Harvey, who was only three years younger than her. This role received widespread acclaim and is frequently ranked as one of her best performances.

In 1966, Lansbury took on the title role of Mame Dennis in the Broadway musical 'Mame', a role which gained her stardom and her first Tony Award. She became a gay icon and was elected "Woman of the Year" by Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Club in 1968.

In 1970, Lansbury and her husband moved from California to County Cork in Ireland, following personal difficulties and a fire that destroyed their Malibu home. In 1972, she returned to London's West End, performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1973, she appeared in the musical 'Gypsy' and, in 1974, she toured the US with the show, winning the Sarah Siddons Award and her third Tony Award.

In 1978, Lansbury appeared in her first film role in seven years, playing novelist Salome Otterbourne in the mystery film 'Death on the Nile' (1978). In 1979, she appeared as Nellie Lovett in the Sondheim musical 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street', winning her fourth Tony Award.

In 1984, Lansbury achieved worldwide fame as the sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the American whodunit series 'Murder, She Wrote', which ran for twelve seasons until 1996. She assumed ownership of the series and was its executive producer during its final four seasons.

Lansbury continued to work in film, television and theatre throughout her later years, appearing in family films such as 'Nanny McPhee' (2005) and 'Mary Poppins Returns' (2018), and providing voice roles in animated films like 'Beauty and the Beast' (1991) and 'Anastasia' (1997). She received numerous accolades for her work, including six Tony Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, and the Academy Honorary Award. She died in her sleep at her home in Los Angeles in 2022, at the age of 96.

Angela Lansbury's awards and nominations

Angela Lansbury's career spanned over 80 years, and she received numerous accolades for her work in film, television, and theatre. She was nominated for three Academy Awards, 18 Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Grammy Award. She won six Golden Globe Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, and five Tony Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Lansbury's first Academy Award nomination was for her performance in Gaslight (1944). She received two further nominations for Best Supporting Actress for The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962). In 2013, she was awarded an Honorary Academy Award for her lifetime achievements in film.

Lansbury's first Tony Award was for her performance in the Broadway musical Mame (1966). She won three further Tonys for Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1975), and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979). In 2009, she won her fifth Tony for Blithe Spirit, tying her with Julie Harris for the most Tony Awards from a performer. In 2022, she received a Special Tony Award.

Lansbury's six Golden Globe Awards were for The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Manchurian Candidate, and four for her role as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. She was also recognised with a Grammy nomination for Beauty and the Beast (1991), a BAFTA nomination, two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, and a People's Choice Award.

Angela Lansbury's personal life and family

Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 in London, to an upper-middle-class family. Her mother, Moyna Macgill, was an Irish actress, and her father, Edgar Lansbury, was an English timber merchant and politician. She had an older half-sister, Isolde, and two younger twin brothers, Bruce and Edgar. When Lansbury was nine, her father died of stomach cancer, and the family faced financial difficulties. Her mother moved in with a Scottish colonel, Leckie Forbes, and Lansbury attended South Hampstead High School from 1934 to 1939. She considered herself largely self-educated, however, learning from books, theatre, and cinema.

Lansbury moved to the United States in 1940 to escape the Blitz, studying acting in New York City. In 1942, she moved to Hollywood, signing with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and obtaining her first film roles in "Gaslight" (1944), "National Velvet" (1944), and "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1945). In 1945, she married Richard Cromwell, an artist and decorator, but the marriage lasted only a year as Cromwell was gay and hoped that marrying Lansbury would turn him heterosexual. In 1949, Lansbury married Peter Shaw, an aspiring actor, and the couple settled in Malibu, California. They had two children together, Anthony and Deirdre, and Lansbury became the stepmother of Shaw's son, David, from a previous marriage.

In the 1960s, Lansbury's career began to take off, with her performance in "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) receiving widespread acclaim. She gained stardom for playing the leading role in the Broadway musical "Mame" (1966), winning her first Tony Award. In 1970, Lansbury and her family moved from California to County Cork, Ireland, due to difficulties in her personal life and the drug addiction of her son, Anthony. She continued to make theatrical and cinematic appearances throughout the 1970s, including leading roles in the stage musicals "Gypsy", "Sweeney Todd", and "The King and I".

In 1984, Lansbury achieved worldwide fame as the sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the American whodunit series "Murder, She Wrote", which ran for twelve seasons until 1996. She assumed ownership of the series and was its executive producer during its final four seasons. Lansbury continued to act in films and on stage later in her life, appearing in family films such as "Nanny McPhee" (2005) and "Mary Poppins Returns" (2018). She also lent her voice to animated films like "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) and "Anastasia" (1997). Lansbury passed away in her sleep at her home in Los Angeles in 2022, at the age of 96.

Angela Lansbury's views on acting and her career

Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 and began her career in acting at a young age. She first appeared onstage as a lady-in-waiting in her school's production of 'Mary of Scotland'. She studied acting at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art in Kensington, West London, and made her professional theatrical debut in Montreal, singing at the Samovar Club.

Lansbury's first film role came in 1944, in George Cukor's 'Gaslight', for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to star in several films, including 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1945), 'National Velvet' (1944), and 'The Manchurian Candidate' (1962), for which she received her third Oscar nomination.

Lansbury's career spanned eight decades and included theatre, film, and television. She starred in fourteen Broadway shows and over a hundred movies and television episodes. She won five Tony Awards, including for her performances in 'Mame' (1966), 'Dear World' (1969), 'Gypsy' (1975), and 'Sweeney Todd' (1979). She also received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Screen Actors Guild, New Dramatists, The Acting Company, BAFTA, and the Actor's Fund of America.

Lansbury's views on acting are perhaps best reflected in her own words: "Actors are not made, they are born." She considered herself very proud of her status as a gay icon, attributing her popularity among the gay community to her performance in 'Mame'. She also described herself as a "Democrat from the ground up" and supported various charities, including those combating domestic abuse and rehabilitating drug users.

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