Star of stage and screen Dame Angela Lansbury, who was best known for her role as Jessica Fletcher in American drama series Murder, She Wrote, has died aged 96.
Tributes have been paid from people across the entertainment industry to the “truly inspirational” Irish-British-American actor – who appeared in more than 50 films – including roles such as Mrs Potts in Beauty and the Beast and Miss Price in Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
Here are some of the most beautiful pictures from Lansbury’s long career…
Moving from New York to LA in 1942, and according to Pink News Lansbury got involved in the city’s underground gay scene. Soon after she landed her breakout role as the maid in Gaslight when she was just 17 – a film that first helped the word enter the lexicon.
Running for 376 performances, Lansbury took to the stage in 1960 in A Taste of Honey, alongside Joan Plowright and Nigel Davenport. She spent much of this decade on stage and starred in films such as Harlow and Dear Heart. In 1960, she was dubbed as the First Lady of Musical Theatre by The New York Times.
As the 1970s began, she took to the screen in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Death on The Nile, for which she achieved icon status.
In true Eighties celebrity style, Lansbury released her first fitness video, Angela Lansbury’s Positive Moves, in 1988, followed by a book of the same name two years later, detailing her personal exercise routine.
In 1984, Lansbury began her most famous role, as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. She was also the voice of Mrs Potts in Disney’s original Beauty and The Beast in 1992, which she considered a gift to her three grandchildren, winning a whole host of awards for the title song.
Named a CBE in 1994, three years later she was presented with the National Medal of the Arts by the American president at the time, Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton.
Lansbury stunned in emerald green at an event in her honour in 1993 – the American Ireland Fund Awards Gala. She was never afraid to rock a showstopping gown, at any age.
Across her career, Lansbury received five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes and an Olivier Award as well as an Honorary Oscar and a Lifetime Achievement Award from BAFTA.
In 2017, Lansbury performed in her final television role as Aunt March in the BBC mini-series Little Women. Lansbury received rave reviews for her performance with Variety film critic Jaqueline Cutler saying: “That’s Aunt March, played with magnificent imperiousness by Angela Lansbury, wielding power by lording her wealth over all.”
No matter the role, the event or the shoot, Lansbury brought glamour, grace, humour and emotion.
