Angela Lansbury has had quite the career, conquering both stage and screen (big and small) in her sixty-plus years in show business. And she did it with a mug that, while not typically glamorous, sure was interesting. Not to mention a voice that was equally unique.Lansbury hit the ball out of the park with her first film, Gaslight, netting her first of three Oscar nominations. She would alternate roles between "loose women" meant to make the leading lady look better (The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Harvey Girls) to the star's eccentric sister or mother (National Velvet, Blue Hawaii) until she shocked everyone with her manipulative mother from hell in The Manchurian Candidate.
Broadway was next, with her Tony Award-winning turns in Mame, Gypsy and Sweeney Todd (Helena Bonham Carter has huge shoes to fill in the upcoming movie version). Musicals continued to dominate her filmography as well, such as the Disney favorites Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Beauty and the Beast, but it was her long-running television series Murder, She Wrote that cemented her status as pop culture icon.
From Mrs. John Iselin to Mrs. Potts to Mrs. Lovett to Miss Jessica Fletcher: what a range. And that is why we love Miss Angela Lansbury.
Links via Imdb.com and Ibdb.com.
7 comments:
Love her! I wish I could have seen her on the stage, in Mame, Sweeney, or Gypsy. But even seeing her recreation of her Sweeney role on the Tony Awards show was amazing.
Charles met her at a Seder (or something) this summer. He was starstruck. He and his partner got to walk her home. He said she was very nice and down-to-earth. He was so thrilled.
I just watched the DVD of her in "Sweeney", you should rent it. She is amazing, so funny.
She has always been on my "list" of famous people I would love to meet. Big Edie's too, she worships her.
Didn't know there was a DVD of Sweeney! I will definitely look for it. Thanks.
Netflix has the Angela Lansbury version, as well as a Patti Lupone concert version.
I just ordered the the Angela Lansbury version on Amazon, along with "Into the Woods". Thanks again for the tip.
Angela Lansbury is the best actress that I've ever seen. She should do a movie or something with Julie Andrews & Dick Van Dyke sometime
Comment moderation? You're no fun!
I wanted to say that movies that have lulls in them where nothing interesting happens should have a random scene where Angela Lansbury suddenly appears, beats people up, sneers, and leaves. Can I still say that?
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