I never met Angela Lansbury, but she was one of those icons that felt like a trusted friend and family member. Every Sunday evening, I devoured Jessica Fletcher’s activities in Murder, She Wrote – catching the bad guys and saving another poor victim from eternal damnation. The younger generation discovered her as Mrs Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and more recently as the balloon seller in Mary Poppins returns (a role created as a cameo appearance for Julie Andrews, who turned it down so attention was not taken away from Emily Blunt). Disney considered Lansbury for the original casting of Mary Poppins, so it is fitting that one of her last film appearances return full circle to her earlier Hollywood career.
Lansbury, who died on October 11 2022, was a constant presence in film, stage and TV for nearly 70 years. She was one of the original Hollywood greats from the silver screen, but she did not fade into obscurity; she worked far longer and harder than many of the starlets of her age, who said no to unbecoming roles.
