Angela Lansbury, Star of Family Films and Murder, She Wrote, Dies at 96

Angela Lansbury, who came to fame during Hollywood’s Golden Age and who was known for her work in family-friendly projects and a popular detective series, died Tuesday. She was 96.

Lansbury starred in the detective series Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996) but was best known to multiple generations of children for her roles in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Anastasia (1997), The Grinch (2018), Bedknobs and Broomsticks(1971) Fantasia 2000 (1999) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018). Her final on-screen role as an actress was in a family musical, Buttons (2018).

Her family announced her death in a statement, “The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 a.m. today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday.”

Lansbury won four Golden Globe Awards for her role in Murder, She Wrote and two more for The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).

She won Tony Awards for Blithe Spirit (2009), Sweeney Todd (1979), Gypsy (1975), Dear World (1969), Mame (1966) and The Subject Was Roses (1965). She also was nominated for three Academy Awards.

In 2019 prior to the release of Mary Poppins Returns on home video, Lansbury said she enjoyed making family movies.

“To play a role in which I am working with children, to make them feel comfortable and happy, certainly that’s something as a mother, and as a woman, I’m anxious to do,” she said, according to LaughingPlace.com, a Disney-centric website. “I’ve had a couple of opportunities to [do that], mainly through Disney, and I’m so thankful for that. Working in a Disney film is something totally apart and different from any other roles that I’ve ever played, because it requires a simplicity and a warmth and a humanity that doesn’t really exist in most shows that I’ve done over the years, and there have been a lot of them. It’s a rarity to have the opportunity as an actress to be in a Disney film.”

Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Bryan Bedder/Staff

Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

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