Legendary actress Angela Lansbury has died at the age of 96. The TV, film and theatre star's death has been announced by her family just days before her 97th birthday.
The Murder, She Wrote star died “peacefully in her sleep” on Tuesday, October 11, her family have announced.
“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,” her family said in a statement.
“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 preceded in death by her husband of 53 years, Peter Shaw.”
London-born Lansbury was best known known for her portrayal of mystery writer and amateur detective, Jessica Fletcher in the hit American crime drama series, Murder She Wrote, which ran for 12 seasons from 1984-1996.
For the role, she received 10 Golden Globe nominations, winning four, along with nominations for 12 Emmy Awards, earning her the record for the most Golden Globe nominations and wins for Best Actress in a television drama series and the most Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
Earlier big screen roles include All Fall Down and The Manchurian Candidate and she famously voiced the teapot Mrs Potts in the 1991 Disney film Beauty And The Beast. In latter years she appeared in Nanny McPhee and Mrs Popper's Penguins. Lansbury made her final film appearance in the 2018 film Buttons: A Christmas Tale, starring alongside Dick Van Dyke.
She was also renowned for her theatre work, winning five Tony Awards for her starring performances on the New York stage, from Mame in 1966 to Blithe Spirit in 2009, when she was 83.
Lansbury was born in London in 1925 to an Irish actress mother and English politician father. To escape the Blitz, in 1940 she moved to America, there studying acting in New York City. She started her long and successful career in 1944. She became a Dame in 2014.
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