LOS ANGELES — British actress Angela Lansbury, whose career spanned seven decades and earned her an honorary Oscar, has died.
Lansbury died Tuesday, according to family. She was 96 years old.
“The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are saddened to announce that their mother passed away 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.” – said the family. the statement said.
Lansbury, born in 1925, was the daughter of Irish actress Moina McGill and British politician Edgar Lansbury. Her paternal grandfather was George Lansbury, founder of the British Labor Party.
At the age of 9, Lansbury’s father died – a moment she spoke about in an interview that changed her life. The actress’ family then fled Great Britain in 1940 during World War II and moved to the United States, where she began her acting career.
After signing with MGM in 1942, Lansbury’s first acting gig was in 1944’s Gaslight, a role that earned her an Oscar nomination. The actress won two more Oscars for her roles in The Picture of Darian Gray in 1945 and The Manchurian Candidate in 1962. Lansbury was eventually awarded the honorary trophy in 2013.
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With roles on both sides of the pond, Lansbury has amassed five Tony Awards and six Golden Globes. She has also been nominated 19 times for the Emmy Award. In 2014, Queen Elizabeth II made her a woman.
Lansbury is best known for her role as mystery writer Jessica Fletcher on the hit series She Wrote Murder. Four years into the series, which began in 1984, Lansbury’s Corymore Productions began producing the series in association with Universal. Lansbury owned the series and served as an executive producer for its final four seasons. The show ended in 1996 after 12 seasons on television.
Lansbury married her husband, the late British actor Peter Shaw, in 1949. The couple had two children.
The actress talked about her marriage Telegraph in 2012.
“We were a unit. We didn’t shut out the world, but we were too self-absorbed,” she told the publication. “He was in full control of my career over time and allowed me to do what I did – we kind of made it work.”
They were married until he died in 2003, but it wasn’t Lansbury’s first marriage. In 1945, Lansbury married actor Richard Cromwell at the age of 19. The marriage ended after a few months, and the actress filed for divorce on September 11, 1946.
Lansbury told The Telegraph that she was told after the divorce that Cromwell was gay.
“It was a terrible shock. I was devastated,” she said when she found out her ex-husband was gay. “But once I got over the shock, I said, ‘OK, I’m going to take charge of my life and make sure I’m never in this pain again.’
However, Lansbury and Cromwell remained friendly until his death in 1960.
After her popular television series, Lansbury made many film appearances, such as voicing Mrs. Potts in the 1991 animated film Beauty and the Beast. She also starred in 2005’s Nanny McPhee and 2011’s Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Lansbury also returned to Broadway in 2007 after a 23-year hiatus, starring in Two.
She even returned to television, starring in the sixth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Her look earned her an Emmy nomination in 2005.
Lansbury is survived by her children, Anthony and Deirdre, as well as three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
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