Dame Angela Lansbury had the same “marvelous gumption” as her character in Murder, She Wrote, her son and director Anthony Pullen Shaw told PEOPLE in 1992.
She needed it. Born in London on October 16, 1925, into the privileged world of Regents Park, her father, Edgar Isaac Lansbury, Major of Poplar (1924-25), would die of stomach cancer before Angela’s 10th birthday, sending her comfortable town and country life crashing.
To cope, she escaped into the consoling world of theater and, while attending South Hampstead High School, imagined herself playing the roles of characters flickering up on the screen of the local cinema. It was in her blood. Her mother Moyna Macgill was an Irish film actress. She also studied piano and dance and, by age 15, began studying acting, too — making her theatrical debut in the Webber Douglas School’s production of Mary of Scotland about devoutly Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, whose rivalry with her Protestant cousin Elizabeth I cost her her life.
By 1940, after the death of Lansbury’s paternal grandfather, George, a prominent Labour leader, and the start of “the Blitz,” the family fled to America, where, along with her younger twin brothers, they lived at the Mahopac, New York home of Wall Streeter Charles T. Smith, while Angela, securing an American Theatre Wing scholarship, studied acting at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art.
She was on her way, touring with her mother in Canada, then moving with her to the Hollywood Hills — landing her first film role in Gaslight (1944), that of a cunning Cockney maid, after she met screenwriter John Van Druten. A seven-year Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract was not far behind.
Just 19, flush with success, Lansbury wed fellow actor Richard Cromwell, 15 years her senior, though he was gay and the marriage, though not the friendship, ended. A year later, she met and married the love of her life, talent manager Peter Shaw. His death in 2003 triggered a two-year depression that only abated when she landed a plum role in Nanny McPhee (2005) after moving back to New York City.
Lansbury was indefatigable. As she was starting out, along with MGM films, she made her radio and television debuts in 1948 and 1950, respectively — and, by 1953, with two of her own children to raise, plus a stepson, left MGM for freelance work. Her Broadway debut came in 1957, leading to five competitive Tony Awards including, her final one, for Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit (2015) — the tour ending with her performance at National Theatre in Washington. DC, which this author was privileged to see.
Fighting heroin
By 1959, the family was living in Malibu where the children attended public school. While Angela’s star was rising with many critically acclaimed film roles, including that of Eleanor Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and her first two Tony-winning Broadway roles, notably Mame Dennis in Mame (1966), and Countess Aurelia in The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969; her daughter, Deidre, became hooked on heroin under the malign influence of charismatic lowlife Charles Manson, Lansbury told the Daily Mail in 2014.
Responding with her usual resourcefulness, in 1968, Angela moved the family to a rustic farmhouse in County Cork — having “(fallen) in love with Ireland when she was nine,” she told the Irish Independent in 2016. The change of milieu, during which she initially focused solely on homemaking, especially gourmet cooking, saved the life of her daughter and possibly that of her son.
God rewarded her with the starring role of good witch, Miss Eglantine Price, in Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1970), and a wider audience of children and families.
Next up, the British stage — musicals and Shakespeare — then back to the American stage and The King and I, subbing for the lead, followed by more cinema including the film adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel, and more Tony-winning Broadway roles.
All preparation for the role of a lifetime — that of Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote — her husband and son producing and directing, respectively, dozens of episodes. The Emmy-winning show would make her one of the richest television actresses ever via Corymore Productions.
Yet, money and fame were secondary. Faith and family came first.
Tellingly, Murder, She Wrote was infused with Christian sensibilities, manifested, for instance, by how the producers — many of whom, like Robert F. O’Neill, were Catholic — cast film legends of yesteryear in the series. That takes a special refinement of spirit — in tune with the Holy Spirit, as Lansbury surely was.
Faith and gratitude
“I pray all the time,” she also told the Irish Independent. “I believe in God, in a Christian way. I’m not a great church-goer, but I do put my faith in God. I’m very thankful to him.” That spirit was charmingly reflected in the series (1984-1996) as well as in films Corymore produced such as Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris (1992).
As a crowning glory, Queen Elizabeth gave Lansbury the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), in 2014, for her contributions to the arts and philanthropy.
She kept contributing till the end, as exemplified by this poignant 2019 reading of The Importance of Being Earnest at age 94, breathing her last just five days shy of her 97th birthday.
Yet, in spite of her illustrious career, she eschewed biographies and documentaries. Her only book was Angela Lansbury’s Positive Moves: My Personal Plan for Fitness and Well-Being, published in 1990. The demons she fought, as we all do, she would not speak of. It all went into her work, which spoke for itself.
What class, and, yes, gumption.
