Angela Lansbury

About Angela Lansbury

Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury, DBE is a British-American actress and singer who has appeared in theatre, television and film. Her career has spanned seven decades, much of it based in the United States, and her work has attracted international attention. Lansbury was born to an upper-middle-class family in central London. To escape the Blitz, in 1940 she moved to the United States, there studying acting in New York City. Angela gained a scholarship from the American Theatre Wing allowing her to study at the Feagin School of Drama and Radio.

Proceeding to Hollywood, Los Angeles in 1942, she signed to MGM and obtained her first film roles, in Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), earning her two Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe Award. Moving into musical theatre, Lansbury finally gained stardom for playing the leading role in the Broadway musical Mame (1966). These included leading roles in the stage musicals Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, and The King and I, as well as in the hit Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). Moving into television in 1984, she achieved worldwide fame as fictional writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the American whodunit series Murder, She Wrote, which ran for twelve seasons until 1996, becoming one of the longest-running detective drama series in television history. Lansbury has received an Honorary Oscar and has won five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes and an Olivier Award. She has also been nominated for numerous other industry awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on three occasions, and various Primetime Emmy Awards on eighteen occasions.