Good Morning Britain host Richard Madeley paid a sweet tribute to Dame Angela Lansbury after her death at the age of 96.
The actress, who starred in TV drama Murder, She Wrote, died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles early on Tuesday, her family said.
The star won five Tony Awards for her Broadway performances, was nominated for three Oscars, and in 2013 she received an honorary Academy Award for her lifetime achievement in film.
Her death has been met with an outpouring of tributes from fellow stars across the entertainment industry.
During Wednesday morning’s instalment of Good Morning Britain, Richard told his co-host Susanna Reid how he had once met the Murder She Wrote star.
He said: "We interviewed her on This Morning 25 years ago. She was so funny. Really sweet and funny and self-deprecating."
He continued: "I remember distinctly, she was laughing and she said, 'I always looked old'.
"She said, 'When I was 23 I auditioned for a Spencer Tracy movie to play the young lead and they put grey streaks in my hair and cast me as a 42 year old.' That was her first big film."
"The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 a.m. today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday," her family said in a statement.
"In addition to her three children, Anthony, Deirdre and David, she is survived by three grandchildren, Peter, Katherine and Ian, plus five great grandchildren and her brother, producer Edgar Lansbury.
"She was proceeded in death by her husband of 53 years, Peter Shaw. A private family ceremony will be held at a date to be determined."
Following the news on Tuesday evening, Catherine Zeta-Jones, who starred alongside Dame Angela in the Broadway musical A Little Night Music, was among those to pay tribute and said their time together will ‘forever be one of the joys of my life’.
Will and Grace actor Eric McCormack, who starred with Angela in a play, described her as an ‘incredible woman’, adding there was ‘no one like her’
He wrote: "So privileged I got to spend time with this incredible woman. No one like her. Rest In Peace, Ms Angela."
Actor Josh Gad shared a photo of himself with Dame Angela, writing on Twitter : "It is rare that one person can touch multiple generations, creating a breadth of work that defines decade after decade. #AngelaLansbury was that artist.
"From ‘Mame’ to ‘Bedknobs’ to ‘Murder She Wrote’ to ‘B&TB’ to ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ she touched 4 generations. RIP Legend."
