Actress Angela Lansbury: biography, family, filmography

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Star of stage, television and screen, actress Angela Lansbury has been surprising audiences with her unimaginable talent, high skill and insane beauty for seven decades. The versatile English artist has won four Tony Awards, three Oscar nominations and ten Emmy Awards.

Her fans are people of all ages. Even younger people will recognize Angela as Jessica Fletcher from the successful series Murder, She Wrote. And thanks to her perfect English diction, little viewers simply adore the cartoons "Beauty and the Beast", "Anastasia", which were voiced by Lansbury.

Angela Lansbury: Biography

The famous actress and singer was born on October 16, 1925 in London, then still in the British Empire. Her mother, Moyna McGill, was an Irish entertainer who appeared regularly on stage in the West End and even starred in several successful films. Father - Edgar Lansbury - was a we althy English timber merchant and politician, a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain and the former mayor of the capital city of Poplar.

Her paternal grandfather, GeorgeLansbury, was the leader of the Labor Party and a prominent figure. It was this man who had a huge influence on Angela in her youth. In January 1930, when she was four years old, her mother gave birth to twin boys, Bruce and Edgar. So she became the eldest child in the family. Her cousin Coral Lansbury was a scholar and novelist whose son Malcolm Turnbull became a prominent Australian politician.

In interviews, the actress often said that she was infinitely grateful for the combination of Irish and English blood. Otherwise, she would not have gained an incomparable sense of comedy and fantasy and would not have become such a genius person.

Childhood and youth

Angela Lansbury experienced a very terrible loss in her youth: when she was 9 years old, her father died of stomach cancer. After that, she began to overcome unprecedented difficulties in life. Due to financial difficulties, her mother has to marry Scottish military colonel Lecky Forbes and move to Hampstead.

From 1934 to 1939 Angela attended South Hampstead High School. She was self-taught and learned from books, theatrical performances and films. In 1940 she began studying acting with Webber Douglas at the School of Singing and Dramatic Art in Kensington, West London. Then she first appeared on stage.

In the same year, her grandfather died. The young actress was on the verge of depression. Then her mother decides to move to the United States. Together with British children who were evacuated to NorthAmerica, they got to Montreal (Canada), and from there they came by train to New York. Angela began receiving a scholarship from the American Wing Theatre. This enabled her to attend the School of Drama and Radio, from which she graduated in 1942 when the family moved into an apartment on Morton Street, Greenwich Village.

The famous "Gaslight"

Angela Lansbury got her first theatrical job at the age of 16 in a nightclub, telling everyone that she was already 19 years old. Her partner was Arthur Bourbon, with whom she performed songs by Noel Coward.

In 1942 they move to Hollywood, Los Angeles, because my mother wanted to be an actress again. But soon she was fired for incompetence, and they lived only on Angela's salary - $ 28 a week.

At a party hosted by her mother, she meets John Van Druten, who co-wrote the screenplay for the new film Gaslight (1944). And he invited Lansbury to play the part of Nancy Oliver's maid. But since Angela was only 17 years old, a social worker was present on the set with her. Soon she signed a seven-year contract with the "Metro-Golden-Mayer", earning $ 500 a week. After the release of the film Gaslight, Lansbury's role was highly appreciated and even nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

At 19, she first marries actor Richard Cromwell. This marriage was short, as soon Angela found out that her husband was gay.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

In 1945 she was removedin The Picture of Dorian Gray, directed by Albert Levin. Angela's work was again highly appreciated by critics, and for this she is expected to receive an award - the Golden Globe Award. Then she is again nominated for an Oscar, where she loses to actress Ann Revere.

In 1949, she marries again - to the British actor Peter Shaw. For fifty years of marriage, he was not only her loving husband, but also a personal producer.

In 1952, after the end of the contract with the "Metro-Golden-Mayer", in a break between tours, she gives birth to her first child, Anthony Peter, and a year later, a daughter, Deirdre Angela.

Angela Lansbury: filmography of the 50s-60s

In film, Angela returns as a freelance actress, playing small roles in such films as "Life by the Boiler" (1954), "Jester" (1956), "Please Kill Me" (1956).), "Long Hat Summer" (1958), "Summer of the Seventeenth Doll" (1959), "Breath of Scandal" (1960), "Blue Hawaii" (1961).

Her performance as Widow Mavis in Darkness at the Top of the Stairs (1960) was critically acclaimed. In 1962, her role as Eleanor Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate was her cinematic triumph and earned her a third Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Tony Award

In 1966, Angela Lansbury starred in Jerry Herman's musical Mami. After the premiere in the New York Times, they will say about her that such an actress is goodunites intelligence, poise and warmth on stage. Lansbury receives her first Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. Such incredible success allowed Angela to appear in several popular television shows. And in 1968, members of the Hastie Pudding Club at Harvard University elected her "Woman of the Year".

Great theater performances

Lansbury did not stop there and soon played another major role - Countess Aurelia in the musical production of "Mad of Chaillot" by Gene Giraudoux. It premiered on Broadway in February 1969. Feedback on her performance was positive, and Angela was again awarded the Tony Award.

Then she appears in the title role in the musical Prettybelle. The controversial theme of the production was not rightfully appreciated by critics.

In September 1974, Angela Lansbury received her third Tony award for her role in Gypsy. In December 1975, she played the role of Gertrude in Hamlet at the Royal National Theatre.

In April 1978, he played Anna in the Broadway production of The King and I. In 1979, Angela becomes Mrs. Lovett in the musical thriller Sweeney Todd. The New York Times would say of her that Lansbury sings "frighteningly well."

Detective roles and cartoon voiceovers

After many years of starring on stage, Lansbury returned to the screen for Death on the Nile (1978) and later portrayed Miss Marple in The Mirror Cracked (1980).

Soon she will star in the film "Talent for Killing"(1983) with Laurence Olivier. Then she continued to work in this genre and took part in the filming of the TV series Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996). The role of Jessica Fletcher will bring the actress worldwide fame.

She began voicing animation films with interest: "Last Unicorn" (1982) and "Anastasia" (1997). And in the cartoon "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), Mrs. Potts (teapot) also "revived" Angela Lansbury. The children were delighted with her title song. The creators will later receive an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture.

Active 21st century

After a long absence from the stage due to the death of her husband Peter Shaw, the famous "Miss Marple" will return to Broadway in the play "Diez" by Terence McNally. Premiered in May 2007 as a limited edition.

In May 2009, she plays the role of Madame Arcati in the production of Blyth Spirit. She has received many awards for her impeccable acting skills, including the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.

Lansbury stars in Gore Vidal's Broadway musical The Best Man, alongside James Earl Johnson, John Laroquette, Candice Bergen and Eric McCormack. The premiere took place on April 1, 2012. Critics praised Angela's talent. For this, she was nominated for a Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play.

In June 2011, Lansbury starred in the film PenguinsMr. Popper with Jim Carrey.

In 2013, together with James Earl Johnson, he plays in the play Driving Miss Daisy. She then tours Australia with the theater for the rest of the year.

Angela Lansbury is now eager to receive the Academy Award for Great Achievement in Musical Theater and Film, which will be a big reward for her contribution to the small screen.

16 October 2015 she turned 90 years old! The amazing actress still looks amazing, plays in the theater, as she herself admitted, drinks strong tea and eats canned sardines.

Having watched her films, each time you are convinced that Angela Lansbury is endowed with amazing talent and impeccable acting skills. Her biography was rather complicated. But she proved that, despite all the downfalls, you need to continue to work hard and achieve your goal. She has been nominated three times for an Oscar without ever winning, Angela says she is not disappointed because she would not have had such a successful career otherwise.