London: Angela Lansbury, the London-born actress who for seven decades brought a commanding, ladylike presence to stage, screen and television — especially over the 12 years she played dauntless mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher on CBS’ Murder, She Wrote — has passed away. She was 96.
“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.
The London-born actor took her life’s final bow as one of the most decorated players in stage history.
Lansbury won five Tony Awards, most recently in 2009 for best featured actress in a play for her work in Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit.”
Her best known work on the Great White Way was probably as ghoulish pie maker Nellie Lovett, in “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” She cooked up a Tony for best musical actress in 1979 for that role.
Her other three Tony wins were for best actress in a musical for “Mame” in 1966, “Dear World” in 1969 and “Gypsy” in 1975.
Audra McDonald and Julie Harris are the only actors to win six Tonys; Harris’ sixth Tony was for lifetime achievement.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Angela Lansbury,” according to statement by Actors’ Equity, the union representing live stage performers.
Lansbury earner her Actors’ Equity card in 1957 with her work in “Hotel Paradiso.”
“A star of stage, TV and movies, Lansbury was an Equity member for an astounding 65 years. She leaves behind a library of work to enjoy for many generations. We send our condolences to her friends and family.”
Actor Eric McCormack, best known for his work on the long-running NBC sitcom “Will & Grace,” fondly recalled his time with Lansbury on Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man” in 2012.
“So privileged I got to spend time with this incredible woman,” he said in statement. “No one like her.”
Lansbury took her singing skill from Broadway to the big screen, via an animator’s drawing board in the 1991 musical “Beauty and the Beast.”
She voiced the sentimental Mrs. Pott, which scored as one of the popular movie’s most beloved moments.
She took to the stage at Lincoln Center in New York in 2016 to celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary, and brought the house down with a rendition of the title’s lead tune.
Referencing the lyrics to the “Beauty and the Beast” theme, NASA paid tribute to Lansbury by posting a photo of a “cosmic rose.”
The actor had already enjoyed a long and successful career when she took on the small-screen role that many Americans will remember most — as mystery writer and amateur crime fighter Jessica Fletcher on the CBS Sunday night hit “Murder, She Wrote.”
