Angela Lansbury enjoyed a colourful career spanning multiple decades, scooping numerous awards for her superb talent from screen to the Broadway stage.
The Murder, She Wrote star died aged 96 at her Los Angeles home on Tuesday, just days before her 97th birthday, her family have confirmed.
As tributes poured in paying tribute to the legendary actress, here we take a look back at her stellar career and how she became one of the biggest names in showbusiness.
Angela is best known for playing amateur detective Jessica Fletcher in the hit-US crime drama series, which ran for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996.
For her role in the much-loved programme, she was nominated for ten Golden Globes, scooping four of them – along with nominations for 12 Emmy Awards.
Angela actually held the record for the most Golden Globe nominations and wins for Best Actress in a television drama series and the most Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
Murder, She Wrote itself received three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, as well as six Golden Globe nominations in the same category, with two wins.
The show was a staple of Sunday night TV at 8pm in the US and it turned out to be one of network CBS’ biggest hits in the 1980s.
"We found our audience and they were loyal to the end," Angela previously said in an interview with the television academy in 1998.
Her first major award nomination goes as far back as 1944 when she was up for an Oscar for her first role, the maid in Gaslight – which propelled her forward to later work with stars including Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
She also won five Tony Awards, most recently in 2009 for best featured actress in a play for her work in Noel Coward’s 'Blithe Spirit'.
Her other three Tony wins were for best actress in a musical for 'Mame' in 1966, 'Dear World' in 1969 and 'Gypsy' in 1975.
It was in 1991, Angela made her major break onto the big screen when she voiced Mrs. Potts in the hit-musical Beauty and the Beast.
In 2016, she wowed audience members at the film's 25th anniversary celebrations at the Lincoln Center in New York when she sang a rendition of the title’s lead tune.
The song, which won numerous awards, went down as one of Disney's most beloved moments.
Angela grew up in London and was the granddaughter of working-class hero George Lansbury, the man who led Labour from 1932 to 1935.
Her grandmother, Bessie, was a suffragette and dad Edgar was a Communist mayor in Poplar, East London, who died of cancer when Angela was nine.
At 15, mum Moyna Macgill, a former West End actress, took Angela to New York to escape the Blitz and from there she went to Hollywood.
At 19, she wed 35-year-old actor Richard Cromwell but it ended less than a year later. Angela then fell for British actor Peter Shaw. They had two children, Anthony and Deidre.
Peter died of heart failure aged 84 in 2003, after 54 years’ marriage.
Angela previously said: "I think I’m interested in every part of life – not just acting... my grandchildren, my life, cooking, driving."
Her children announced the actress had died peacefully at home in Los Angeles this afternoon.
"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."
