Line #10 Creator/AngelaLansbury


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/angela_lansbury.jpg]]
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3	->''"I think of myself as a journeyman actress. I will attempt almost anything that I think that I can bring off. It could be almost anything."''
4
5	[[UsefulNotes/KnightFever Dame]] Angela Brigid Lansbury (16 October 1925 – 11 October 2022) was an English-American actress and singer whose career spanned eight decades on stage, film, and television.
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7	Born in London, she was [[BlitzEvacuees moved]] to New York City in 1940 to avoid [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII German air raids]]. Her first film roles were in ''Film/{{Gaslight}}'' (1944) and ''Film/{{The Picture of Dorian Gray\|1945}}'' (1945), both of which earned her MediaNotes/AcademyAward nominations for Best Supporting Actress (at age 20, she was – and still is – the youngest actress with two nominations). She went on to extensive and acclaimed work in film, television, and theatre, in the process earning another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, seven MediaNotes/{{Tony Award\|Winners}} nominations (winning two), fifteen MediaNotes/{{Golden Globe\|Award}} nominations (winning six), and eighteen Primetime MediaNotes/EmmyAward nominations. In 1994, Lansbury was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen UsefulNotes/ElizabethII. In 2013, she received an Honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement.
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9	Additional memorable roles came in such films as ''Literature/NationalVelvet'', ''Film/TheHarveyGirls'', ''Film/NannyMcPhee'', ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'', ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', ''Film/TheCourtJester'' and ''Literature/TheManchurianCandidate''. On Broadway, she won acclaim in ''Theatre/{{Mame}}'', ''Theatre/{{Gypsy}}'' and ''Theatre/{{Sweeney Todd\|TheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet}}''. On television, she is best known for starring as Jessica Fletcher in ''Series/MurderSheWrote''. She's also noteworthy as the only individual to have an original song written for her from four of Creator/{{Disney}}'s most famous songwriters: "The Age of Not Believing" from ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'' (by Music/TheShermanBrothers) and "Beauty and the Beast" from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (by Howard Ashman and Music/AlanMenken; she also ''recorded the entire song'' in one take – after turning up late for the session, due to her flight being interrupted by a bomb threat – and reduced everyone in the studio to tears).
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11	Her paternal grandfather was British politician George Lansbury, who led the [[UsefulNotes/BritishPoliticalSystem Labour Party]] in the 1930s. Her first cousin, writer and animator Creator/OliverPostgate, created some of Britain's most beloved children's television programmes ever in the 1950s-70s, including ''WesternAnimation/TheSagaOfNogginTheNog'', ''WesternAnimation/IvorTheEngine'', ''WesternAnimation/TheClangers'' and ''Series/{{Bagpuss}}''.
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13	Creator/EmmaThompson apparently once threw a pie at her and Angela "spent the rest of the day throwing food at people", after bursting out laughing after being hit by said pie.
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15	She passed away on October 11, 2022, five days short of her 97th birthday.
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17	----
18	!!Roles on TV Tropes:
19	[[foldercontrol]]
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21	[[folder:Film roles]]
22	* ''Film/{{Gaslight}}'' (1944) as Nancy Oliver
23	* ''Film/NationalVelvet'' (1944) as Edwina Brown
24	* ''Film/{{The Picture of Dorian Gray\|1945}}'' (1945) as Sibyl Vane
25	* ''Film/TheHarveyGirls'' (1946) as Em
26	* ''Theatre/StateOfTheUnion'' (1948) as Kay Thorndyke
27	* ''Film/{{The Three Musketeers\|1948}}'' (1948) as Queen Anne of France
28	* ''Film/{{Samson and Delilah\|1949}}'' (1949) as Semadar
29	* ''Film/TheCourtJester'' (1956) as Princess Gwendolyn
30	* ''Film/PleaseMurderMe'' (1956) as Myra Leeds
31	* ''Film/TheLongHotSummer'' (1958) as Minnie Littlejohn
32	* ''Theatre/SummerOfTheSeventeenthDoll'' (1959) as Pearl
33	* ''Film/ABreathOfScandal'' (1960) as Countess Lina
34	* ''Film/BlueHawaii'' (1961) as Sarah Lee Gates
35	* ''Literature/TheManchurianCandidate'' (1962) as Mrs. Eleanor Iselin
36	* ''Film/TheWorldOfHenryOrient'' (1964) as Isabel Boyd
37	* ''Film/TheGreatestStoryEverTold'' (1965) as Claudia Procula
38	* ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'' (1971) as Miss Eglantine Price
39	* ''Film/{{Death on the Nile\|1978}}'' (1978) as Salome Otterbourne
40	* ''Film/TheLadyVanishes'' (1979) as Miss Froy
41	* ''[[Literature/TheMirrorCrackdFromSideToSide The Mirror Crack'd]]'' (1980) as Literature/MissMarple
42	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn'' (1982) as Mommy Fortuna (voice)
43	* ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'' (1983) as Ruth
44	* ''Film/TheCompanyOfWolves'' (1984) as Granny
45	* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (1991) as Mrs. Potts (voice)
46	** ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeastTheEnchantedChristmas'' (1997)
47	** ''WesternAnimation/MickeysMagicalChristmasSnowedInAtTheHouseOfMouse'' (2001)
48	* ''Film/MrsSantaClaus'' (1996) as Mrs. Santa Claus
49	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'' (1997) as Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (voice)
50	* ''WesternAnimation/Fantasia2000'' (2000) as herself – ''The Firebird'' introduction
51	* ''Film/NannyMcPhee'' (2005) as Great Aunt Adelaide
52	* ''Film/MrPoppersPenguins'' (2011) as Mrs. Selma Van Gundy
53	* ''WesternAnimation/JustinAndTheKnightsOfValour'' (2013) as The Witch (voice)
54	* ''[[WesternAnimation/TheGrinch2018 The Grinch]]'' (2018) as Mayor [=McGerkle=] (voice)
55	* ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'' (2018) as Balloon Lady
56	* ''Film/{{Buttons}}'' (2018) as Rose
57	* ''Film/GlassOnion'' (2022) as herself (posthumous release)
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Television roles]]
61	* ''Series/Playhouse90'' (2 episodes, 1958–59) as Hazel Wills / Victoria Atkins
62	* ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'' (1 episode, 1965) as Elfie von Donck
63	* ''Series/{{Lace}}'' (1984) as Aunt Hortense Boutin
64	* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' (1984–96) as Jessica Fletcher
65	** ''Series/MagnumPI'' (1 episode, 1986)
66	* ''Series/{{Newhart}}'' (1 episode, 1990) {{as Herself}}
67	* ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' (1 episode, 2002) as Lady Berrington
68	* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' (1 episode, 2005) as Eleanor Duvall
69	** ''Series/LawAndOrderTrialByJury'' (1 episode, 2005)
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Theatre roles]]
73	* ''Theatre/{{Mame}}'' (1966–68, 1983) as Mame Dennis
74	* ''Theatre/{{Gypsy}}'' (1973–75) as Rose Hovick
75	* ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' (1975–76) as Gertrude
76	* ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'' (1978) as Anna Leonowens
77	* ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'' (1979–81) as Mrs. Nellie Lovett
78	* ''Theatre/BlitheSpirit'' (2009, 2014–15) as Madame Arcati
79	* ''Theatre/ALittleNightMusic'' (2009–10) as Madame Armfeldt
80	* ''Theatre/DrivingMissDaisy'' (2013) as Miss Daisy Werthan
81	* ''Theatre/TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'' (2019) as Lady Bracknell (stage reading)
82	[[/folder]]
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84	----
85	!!Her career provides examples of:
86	* BlondeRepublicanSexKitten: Possibly the TropeMaker in ''Theatre/StateOfTheUnion'' (1948). Ironically, in real life, she was a lifelong Democrat.
87	* CareerResurrection: She debuted in Hollywood with a bang, earning Oscar nominations for ''Film/{{Gaslight}}'' and ''Film/ThePictureOfDorianGray1945'', and was a critical darling. However, MGM miscast her in several films, leading her to break her contract. She struggled in minor roles in several B-movies of decreasing quality. It wasn't until ''The Reluctant Debutante'' and ''The Long Hot Summer'' that she returned to prominence. And then ''Film/TheManchurianCandidate'' solidified her star status.
88	* CoolOldLady: She was already nearly sixty when she began playing Jessica Fletcher and her coolness didn't fade in the slightest with age, on screen or off.
89	* CreatorBacklash:
90	** Said of her early years at [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]], "I kept wanting to play the Creator/JeanArthur roles, and Mr. Mayer kept casting me as a series of venal bitches."
91	** Described ''The Purple Mask'' as the worst movie she ever made.
92	** She also disowned ''In the Cool of the Day''.
93	* EvilMatriarch: In ''Literature/TheManchurianCandidate''. Also ''Film/TheWorldOfHenryOrient'', where she's not so much evil, but a hypocrite who's a {{Jerkass}} to her troubled daughter.
94	* ExecutiveMeddling: She fought the network's attempts to put Jessica Fletcher into a relationship, wanting her to remain a strong single woman.
95	* FakeAmerican: As Em in ''Film/TheHarveyGirls''.
96	* GrandeDame: In ''Film/NannyMcPhee''.
97	* HollywoodOld: She was frequently cast as characters older than her actual age before she became genuinely elderly.
98	* TheIngenue: In ''Film/ThePictureOfDorianGray1945''.
99	* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: She brought many of her old co-stars from past films and her time on Broadway to do guest posts on ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' to boost their careers and help them out financially, knowing they would get good royalties from it's popularity and being used on reruns.
100	* KindlyHousekeeper: In ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''.
101	* LittleOldLadyInvestigates: Her role on ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' and in ''[[Literature/MissMarple The Mirror Crack'd]]'' as well as a 1999 MadeForTVMovie based on the ''Literature/MrsPollifax'' books. For this reason, her character Jessica Fletcher is often considered an American equivalent to Miss Marple.
102	* MoneyDearBoy: Her reason for being in ''Blue Hawaii'' - "I was desperate."
103	* NonSingingVoice: She was dubbed by Virginia Rees in ''Film/TheHarveyGirls''. This was apparently because her voice was thought to be unsuitable for a lowlife saloon singer.
104	* PlayingAgainstType: It might surprise younger fans to discover that Lansbury was typecast as bitches and villains for most of her career. Her most famous roles among modern audiences are as CoolOldLady Mrs. Potts in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', MagicalNanny Eglantine Price in ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'' and of course spunky detective Jessica Fletcher in ''Series/MurderSheWrote''.
105	--> "Hollywood made me old before my time."
106	* ReallyGetsAround: Anyone who is familiar with Lansbury from ''Murder She Wrote'' or her later stage and film work may be startled to watch ''Gaslight'' and see a 17-year-old Lansbury as a saucy, slutty housemaid.
107	* SoMyKidsCanWatch: She called her role as Mrs. Potts a "present to [her] grandchildren".
108	* SorcerersApprenticePlot: ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks''.
109	* TheVamp: In ''Film/{{Gaslight}}''.
110	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
111	** She was seriously considered for the title role of ''Film/MaryPoppins'' before Creator/JulieAndrews was finally cast. She did later star in a similarly magical role as Miss Eglantine Price in ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'', which shared a ProductionPosse with the earlier film. Julie Andrews had also turned down the lead. Additionally, Lansbury did make it into ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns'', as the Balloon Lady.
112	** She was Bryan Fuller's first choice for the role of Hannibal Lecter's psychiatrist in ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'', but she was already committed to a production of ''Driving Miss Daisy'', so the character was rewritten from being an octogenarian to a fortysomething woman when Creator/GillianAnderson was cast.
113	** In the '80s she was offered two TV roles: a sitcom and a detective series. Obviously, she chose the latter.

Context Creator / AngelaLansbury