Angela Lansbury Dies: Beloved ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Star Was 96

Angela Lansbury at the 70th Annual Directors Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, USA 03 Feb. 2018 — Photo by Featureflash

Angela Lansbury, a London-born actress who gained fans around the globe with her roles in Murder, She Wrote and Beauty and the Beast, died Tuesday, her family said. She was 96.

“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 AM today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” the family said in a statement.

Lansbury had a 75-year career that included musicals, movies, and television.

She sang the theme song for the animated movie Beauty and the Beast (1991) and played amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the hit television series Murder, She Wrote from 1984 to 1996.

She was born Angela Brigid Lansbury in London on Oct. 16, 1925. Her father was a factory owner and her mother Moyna MacGill was a successful actor.

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Lansbury’s family moved to Los Angeles during World War II. Young Angela was just 19 when she landed her first film role in Gaslight (1944), and earned an Oscar nomination for her performance.

Among her other film credits were National Velvet (1944), The Harvey Girls (1946), If Winter Comes (1947), The Three Musketeers (1948), and Samson and Delilah (1949). She had parts in numerous television series before landing the lead role in Murder, She Wrote.

Over the years, Lansbury won five Tony Awards for Blithe Spirit, Sweeney Todd, Gypsy, Dear World, and Mame. She was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards, received two Oscar nominations and took home an honorary Oscar in 2014. The actress was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014.

Lansbury was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years, Peter Shaw, her family said.

She is survived by her three children, Anthony, Deirdre and David, three grandchildren, plus five great grandchildren and her brother, producer Edgar Lansbury.