Dame Angela Lansbury, best known to a generation for the series Murder, She Wrote, and who won children's hearts as the voice of Mrs. Potts in the animated movie Beauty and the Beast, has died aged 96.
In a statement to the BBC, Lansbury's children confirmed that she died in her sleep just five days before turning 97. "The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles," the family told the publication.
Lansbury came to international acclaim in the 1944 movie Gaslight, a movie that would eventually spawn the phrase "gaslighting" as it revolved around a man manipulating events to cause a woman distress. Lansbury played a maid in the film and she was later nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars for her performance. The following year, she was again nominated in the same category at the prestigious award show for her role in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Although she continued to work in Hollywood, awards were less forthcoming in the immediate years after, until she was once again nominated for the Oscar for her part in John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate alongside Frank Sinatra in 1962. In the meantime, Lansbury had built an impressive CV on television and on stage, appearing as the lead in A Taste of Honey on Broadway. She went on to win five competitive Tony Awards and was given the Lifetime Achievement award in 2022.
In 1971, she appeared in Disney's hugely successful Bedknobs and Broomsticks, endearing her to a generation of children. She would later return to the studio on multiple occasions, perhaps most famously voicing Mrs. Potts in the animated version of Beauty and the Beast. She also had a role in Mary Poppins Returns.
However, it was her role as detective Jessica Fletcher in the American TV series Murder, She Wrote that won her millions of fans around the world. She played the role for 12 years, starting in 1984, and Lansbury was nominated for a staggering 10 Golden Globes for her continued performance in the role. At its peak, 30 million viewers tuned in every week.
She was later given lifetime achievement awards by both the Oscars and Bafta, and had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was made a Dame in 2014. She is survived by three children, as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
