Angela Lansbury was born on October 16th, 1925, to actress Moyna MacGill and politician Edgar Lansbury in Poplar, London, England. Her mother had great influence on Lansbury and encouraged her acting talents, taking her out of a private school for girls and enrolling her in the Webber-Douglas School of Singing and the Dramatic Art. After her father died, her mother remarried a tyrant of a stepfather and under the cover of night, Moyna moved herself and her children to (ultimately) Hollywood.
After working for a department store in Los Angeles, Lansbury was introduced to Mel Ballerino, a casting director. He offered her the role of Nancy, the slightly evil maid, in Gaslight. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her debut performance and then nominated again the next year for playing Sibyl in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Angela Lansbury has had a glorious career on the silver screen. She enjoyed many roles in film at a young age, including that of Semadar in Samson and Delilah and Queen Anne in The Three Muskateers. She went on to play Mrs.
Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate and later Miss Price in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, one her most well known roles. Angela has also voiced one of Disney’s most loved and well known characters, Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast.
Her first foray into television wasn’t until 1953 when she appeared on Robert Montgomery Presents. She had many roles here and there in various spots, but it wasn’t until she played Jessica Fletcher in The Murder of Sherlock Holmes that she found her television home. Murder, She Wrote was born, the story of a former English teacher and mystery writer who helps the local police catch murderers wherever she goes. The show went on to have 264 episodes over the span of 1984-1996.
It was Angela Lansbury who led with the title role of Mame in the theatres, to which she won a Tony award in 1966. She also won additional Tonys for her roles in Dear World, Gypsy, and Sweeney Todd (which recently became a rather popular movie). Most recently she won a Tony for her portrayal of Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit. She will be returning to the theatre in December of this year to play Madame Armfeldt in Broadway’s first revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.
It has been recently announced that Lansbury will be the first recipient of the Stephen Sondheim award from the Signature Theatre, a theatre that has produced more of his musicals than any other theatre. There will be a gala for her in April.
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