Dame Angela Lansbury has died at the age of 96, her family has announced.
The three-time Oscar nominee had a career spanning eight decades across film, theatre and television and was best known for for her portrayal of Jessica Fletcher in American drama series Murder, She Wrote.
Born in London in 1925 before moving to the US to avoid the Blitz, she was one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.
She died in her sleep just five days before her 97th birthday, her family said in a statement.
They said: “The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1.30am today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday.
“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.”
The Irish-British and American actress , who trained at New York’s Feagin School of Drama and Radio, won five Tony Awards for her Broadway performances and a lifetime achievement award.
She earned Academy Award nominations as supporting actress for two of her first three films, Gaslight and The Picture of Dorian Gray, and was nominated again in 1962 for The Manchurian Candidate.
In 2014 she was made by a dame by Queen Elizabeth II.
Her mature demeanor prompted producers to cast her much older than her actual age. In 1948, when she was 23, her hair was streaked with gray so she could play a newspaper publisher in her forties in State of the Union.
Her stardom came in middle age when she became the hit of the New York theater, winning Tony Awards for Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1975) and Sweeney Todd (1979).
She was back on Broadway and got another Tony nomination in 2007 in Terrence McNally’s Deuce, playing a scrappy, brash former tennis star, reflecting with another ex-star as she watches a modern-day match from the stands.
In 2009 she collected her fifth Tony, for best featured actress in a revival of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit and in 2015 won an Olivier Award in the role.
But Dame Angela’s widest fame began in 1984 when she launched Murder, She Wrote on CBS.
Based loosely on Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple stories, the series centered on Jessica Fletcher, a middle-aged widow and former substitute school teacher living in the seaside village of Cabot Cove, Maine.
She had achieved notice as a mystery novelist and amateur sleuth.The actress found the first series season exhausting.
“I was shocked when I learned that had to work 12-15 hours a day, relentlessly, day in, day out,” she recalled.
“I had to lay down the law at one point and say ‘Look, I can’t do these shows in seven days; it will have to be eight days.’”
CBS and the production company, Universal Studio, agreed, especially since Murder, She Wrote had become a Sunday night hit.
Despite the long days - she left her home at Brentwood in West Los Angeles at am and returned after dark - Dame Angela maintained a steady pace.
She was pleased that Jessica Fletcher served as an inspiration for older women.
“Women in motion pictures have always had a difficult time being role models for other women,” she observed.
“They’ve always been considered glamorous in their jobs.”
