Angela Lansbury Biography

(1925–)

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Related Works

  • Films
  • 1944 Gaslight
  • 1944 National Velvet
  • 1945 The Picture of Dorian Gray
  • 1946 The Harvey Girls
  • 1946 The Hoodlum Saint
  • 1946 The Private Affairs of Bel Ami
  • 1948 If Winter Comes
  • 1948 Tenth Avenue Angel
  • 1948 State of the Union
  • 1948 The Three Musketeers
  • 1949 Samson and Delilah
  • 1950 The Red Danube
  • 1952 Mutiny
  • 1953 Remains to be Seen
  • 1955 The Purple Mask
  • 1955 The Court Jester
  • 1955 A Lawless Street
  • 1956 Please Murder Me
  • 1958 The Long Hot Summer
  • 1958 The Reluctant Débutante
  • 1959 Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (US Season of Passion)
  • 1960 A Breath of Scandal
  • 1960 The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
  • 1961 Blue Hawaii
  • 1962 All Fall Down
  • 1962 The Manchurian Candidate
  • 1962 In the Cool of the Day
  • 1964 The World of Henry Orient
  • 1964 Dear Heart
  • 1965 The Greatest Story Ever Told
  • 1965 Harlow
  • 1966 Mister Buddwing
  • 1970 Something for Everyone (UK Black Flowers for the Bride)
  • 1971 Bedknobs and Broomsticks
  • 1978 Death on the Nile
  • 1979 The Lady Vanishes
  • 1980 The Mirror Crack'd
  • 1982 The Pirates of Penzance
  • 1984 The Company of Wolves
  • 1991 Beauty and the Beast (voiceover)
  • 1997 Anastasia (voiceover)
  • Theater Roles
  • 1964 Anyone Can Whistle
  • 1966 Mame
  • 1969 Dear World
  • 1973 Gypsy
  • 1978 The King and I
  • 1979 Sweeney Todd
  • 2007 Deuce
  • 2009 Blithe Spirit
» More
Angela Lansbury

Actress. Born on October 16, 1925, in London, England. Angela Lansbury is an accomplished film, theater, and television actress who has been nominated for nearly every acting honor imaginable. She has been (at least) nominated for an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. This beloved actress is known by many for her role as the crime-solving mystery writer Jessica Fletcher on the long-running television series Murder, She Wrote.

Not long after arriving in the United States in 1940, Lansbury scored an important film role. She appeared in 1944's Gaslight opposite Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. Playing the house maid Nancy, Lansbury held her own against such established stars and earned an Academy Award nomination for Actress in a Supporting Role. She was nominated again the next year for playing Sibyl Vane in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Angela Lansbury continued making films, including The Manchurian Candidate (1963), which brought her a third Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. A versatile performer, she appeared in the movie musical Bedknobs and Broomsticks in 1971 and on stage in such musical productions, such as Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1974), and Sweeney Todd (1979). Lansbury won the Best Actress in a Musical for all four of these plays.

In 1980s, Angela Lansbury found success on the small screen. In beginning in 1984, she played the role of Jessica Fletcher in the popular TV mystery series Murder, She Wrote. As the diplomatic, kind, and clever Mrs. Fletcher, she earned Emmy Award nominations in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category every year from 1985 to 1996.

After the show ended, Lansbury has appeared in television movies including some Murder, She Wrote specials and in feature films, such as Nanny McPhee (2005). She has also made television guest appearances. The most notable one was on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2005, which earned her an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. During her career, she has voiced several animated characters for such films as Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Anastasia (1997).

In 2007 she returned to Broadway, performing in the show Deuce. Lansbury played a former tennis pro who reunites with her doubles partner for an honors ceremony at the US Open. In 2009, she appeared again on stage for Blithe Spirit, a play about a man who is haunted by the ghost of his ex-wife. The performance earned Lansbury a Tony award for Best Supporting Actress in 2009. The recent win ties Lansbury with performer Julie Harris for the record number of Tony wins.

© 2009 A&E Television Networks. All rights reserved.

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