British and American actress Angela Lansbury was known for her prolific work in theatre, film, and television.

Lansbury's career spanned eight decades. She made her film debut in Gaslight (1944), and followed it up with an appearance in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). She earned two consecutive Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, and won the Supporting Actress Golden Globe for the latter film. Subsequent films throughout the late 1940s and the 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).

She drifted towards more complex, mature work with The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), All Fall Down (1962), In the Cool of the Day (1963), Dear Heart (1964); and, in one of her most infamous roles, as the Machiavellian Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). For the latter, she received stellar reviews, winning a second Golden Globe and earning her third Oscar nomination.

Meanwhile, Lansbury also found success on stage. She starred on Broadway in A Taste of Honey, Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, and later on as Anna Leonowens in The King and I. But that time with Sondheim began a collaborative partnership that would garner them both frequent success. Together, they also worked on Mame, the Broadway revival of Gypsy, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. And for those three successful hits (plus one considered a flop, for which she was nonetheless praised, Dear World; albeit not by Sondheim), Lansbury won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical an unprecedented, and undefeated, four times.

Intermittently, she returned to do films, appearing in the dark comedy, Something for Everyone (1970). The following year, she starred in Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). She earned Best Comedy/Musical Actress Golden Globe nominations for both roles. For the Hercule Poirot yarn, Death on the Nile (1978), she won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress and earned a BAFTA nomination as well. She portrayed Miss Marple two years later in another Agatha Christie tale, The Mirror Crack'd (1980), earning a Saturn Award nom.

In the 1980s, she began to direct her efforts towards television. She earned her first Primetime Emmy nomination alongside Bette Davis, both for the miniseries Little Gloria...Happy at Last (1982). However, it would be her iconic role as mystery author Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote (1984–1996) which would immortalize her with a whole new generation. She starred in every episode for twelve seasons, and received an Emmy nomination for each of them, although she never won. She did win four more Golden Globe Awards, however, for Best Actress in a TV Drama Series, bringing her grand total to six. In total, she received eighteen unsuccessful Emmy bids, rendering her the most nominated individual performer never to win that award.

Lansbury lent her talents as a voice actress to Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) as Mrs. Potts, who sang the titular song in the film, as well as Anastasia (1997). She acted sporadically throughout various films, TV shows, and stage productions throughout the next two and a half decades, including playing the wicked Great Aunt Adelaide in Emma Thompson's Nanny McPhee (2005). She made a return to the stage opposite Marian Seldes in Deuce, and received her fifth nomination. She earned a sixth nomination for Blithe Spirit and won her fifth Tony as a result. Lansbury earned a seventh and final nomination for A Little Night Music, at the following year's ceremony. For her distinguished career, she has been presented with several honorary tributes, including the Honorary Academy Award and a Special Tony Award, plus damehood from Queen Elizabeth II. 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.

Film

+ List of film creditsYearTitleRole(s)Notes1944GaslightNational Velvet19451946 EmTill the Clouds Roll ByStar of London Gaieties 1947If Winter Comes1948Tenth Avenue AngelState of the Union 1949Samson and DelilahSemadar1951Kind Lady1952Mutiny1953Remains to Be Seen19551956Please Murder Me!19581959Summer of the Seventeenth DollPearl19601961Blue Hawaii1962 (voice)Provided dubbing for Ingrid ThulinAll Fall Down 1963In the Cool of the Day1964Dear HeartPhyllis1965ClaudiaHarlow1966Mister BuddwingGloria1970Something for Everyone1971Bedknobs and Broomsticks1978Death on the Nile197919801982 (voice)1983Ruth1984 Granny1991 Beauty and the Beast (voice)1997Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted ChristmasDirect-to-video Anastasia (voice)2000 Fantasia 2000HerselfSegment "Firebird Suite - 1919 Version"2003 Broadway: The Golden AgeDocumentary 2005Nanny McPhee2008Heidi 4 PawsGrandmamma (voice)2011Mr. Popper's Penguins2014 Driving Miss DaisyTheatrical release of stage production2018 (voice)Mary Poppins ReturnsBalloon LadyButtons: A Christmas TaleRose2022 Glass OnionHerself (cameo) Posthumous release; final film role

Television

+ List of television creditsYear(s)TitleRole(s) Notes 19501953Robert Montgomery Presents RosieEpisode: "The Citadel"Episode: "Cakes and Ale"1950195219521954Lux Video TheatreLeslieLucy LandorTina RaffertyElsaEpisode: "That Wonderful Night"Episode: "Operation Weekend"Episode: "Stone's Throw"Episode: "A Chair for a Lady"1953Episode: "Dreams Never Lie"Ford Television TheatreEpisode: "The Ming Lama"Pantomime QuizGuestSchlitz Playhouse of StarsFlorie VandropEpisode: "Storm Swept"1954Your Show of ShowsGuest HostGeneral Electric True TheaterEpisode: "The Crime of Daphne Rutledge"1954–1955Four Star PlayhouseMrs. HallertonEpisode: "A String of Beads" Episode: "Madeira, Madeira"1954Guest1955Fireside TheatreEpisode: "The Indiscreet Mrs. Jarvis"Stage 7Vanessa PetersEpisode: "Billy and the Bride"1955–1956Mrs. Jane Pritchard Episode: "The Treasure"Episode: "The Force of Circumstance"1955–1956Celebrity PlayhouseUnknownDeborahEpisode: "Empty Arms"Episode: "Deborah"1956Chevron Hall of StarsEpisode: "Crisis in Kansas"Front Row CenterJoyce Episode: "Instant of Truth"Screen Directors PlayhouseVera WayneEpisode: "Claire"Studio 57KatyFlossie NorrisEpisode: "The Rarest Stamp"Episode: "The Brown Leather Case"1956–1957Climax!Judith BeresfordEpisode: "Bury Me Later"Episode: "The Devil's Brood"1958–1959Playhouse 90Hazel WillsEpisode: "Verdict of Three"Episode: "The Grey Nurse Said Nothing"1963Episode: "Something Crazy's Going on in the Back Room"1965Episode: "The Deadly Toys Affair"Episode: "Leave It to Me"1975 / Narrator (voice)Television special1982Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetTelevision special (filmed stage performance)Little Gloria... Happy at LastMiniseries1983Television film1984LaceMiniseriesAlice Garrett1984–1996Murder, She Wrote264 episodes1986Magnum, P.I.Episode: "Novel Connection"Rage of Angels: The Story ContinuesTelevision film1988Shootdown198919901992Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris1996Mrs. Santa Claus1997Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest19992000Murder, She Wrote: A Story to Die For2001Murder, She Wrote: The Last Free Man2002Touched by an AngelEpisode: "For All the Tea in China"2003Murder, She Wrote: The Celtic RiddleFletcherTelevision film2004Dora2005Law & Order: Special Victims UnitEpisode: "Night"Law & Order: Trial by JuryEpisode: "Day"2014Great Performances: Driving Miss DaisyFilmed stage performance2017Little WomenMiniseries

Radio Year(s)TitleRole Notes 1947SuspenseUnknownEpisode: "A Thing of Beauty"1948–1949NBC University TheatreMildredEpisode: "Of Human Bondage"Episode: "Pride and Prejudice"1950UnknownEpisode: "Stamboul Quest"1952Theatre Guild on the AirEpisode: "Dear Brutus"Stars over HollywoodEpisode: "The Lady and the Beachcomber"

Stage

+ List of theatre creditsYear(s)TitleRoleTheatre Notes 1952Nancy WillardUnknownSummer tour1952Affairs of StateBucks County PlayhouseSummer tour1957Hotel ParadisoMarcelleHenry Miller's Theatre11 April – 13 July1960–1961HelenLyceum Theatre4 October 1960 – 15 April 19611964Anyone Can WhistleMajestic Theatre 4–11 April1966–1968MameWinter Garden Theatre18 May 1966 – 30 March 19681969Dear WorldMark Hellinger Theatre6 February – 31 May1971PrettybelleShubert Theatre1 February – 6 March1972All OverAldwych Theatre1973–1975GypsyRosePiccadilly TheatreWinter Garden Theatre 29 May – December 197323 September 1974 – 4 January 19751975–1976HamletGertrudeNational Theatre1978Uris Theatre 11–30 April(replacement for Constance Towers)1979–1981Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet StreetUris TheatreJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtsShubert TheatreBoston Metropolitan TheatreArie Crown TheaterGolden Gate TheatreDorothy Chandler PavilionBroadwayAmerican tour1982Ahmanson TheatreMartin Beck Theatre8 October – 20 November15–26 December 1983MameGershwin Theatre24 July – 28 August2007DeuceMusic Box Theatre6 May – 19 August2009Blithe SpiritShubert Theatre15 March – 19 July2009–2010Walter Kerr Theatre24 November 2009 – 20 June 20102012Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre1 April – 22 July2013Driving Miss DaisyQueensland Performing Arts CentreTheatre Royal, SydneyComedy Theatre, MelbourneHer Majesty's Theatre, AdelaideHis Majesty's Theatre, PerthAustralian tour2014–2015Blithe SpiritGielgud TheatreAhmanson TheatreGolden Gate TheatrePrincess of Wales TheatreNational TheatreWest EndNorth American tour2017Hunter College19 June2019American Airlines Theatre18 November2021Beauty and the BeastUK Tour (prerecorded prologue)

Video games YearTitleRole(s)Notes2000 Disney's Beauty and the Beast Magical BallroomMrs. Potts (voice)2005 Kingdom Hearts II2007 Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+

Miscellaneous YearTitleRole(s)Notes1988Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves: A Personal Plan for Fitness and Well-Being at Any Age Herself Exercise video

References

Further reading