Perhaps best known for her work as TV sleuth Jessica Fletcher on the long-running Murder, She Wrote, Broadway fans will always think of the beloved Angela Lansbury, who passed away October 11 at the age of 96, as the woman who sensationally created the roles of Mame and Mrs. Lovett in two classic, hit musicals.
In fact, she received Tony Awards for her performances in both Mame and Sweeney Todd as well as for her work in Gypsy, Dear World, and Blithe Spirit. And, earlier this year, Ms. Lansbury received her sixth Tony, a Special Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Ms. Lansbury also brightened The Great White Way with her performances in Gore Vidal's The Best Man, A Little Night Music, Deuce, Hotel Paradiso, A Taste of Honey, Anyone Can Whistle, The King and I, and A Little Family Business, and her numerous film credits include Gaslight, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Manchurian Candidate, all of which brought the Kennedy Center Honoree Academy Award nominations.
Ms. Lansbury also provided the voice for Mrs. Potts in the 1991 blockbuster Disney film Beauty and the Beast and played Miss Price in another Disney favorite, 1971's Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
Ms. Lansbury was the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Silver Mask for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, as well as a BAFTA/LA Britannia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Television and Film. A recipient of an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures, she was a member of the Theatre and Television Halls of Fame, and in 2014 Queen Elizabeth II named her a Dame Commander of the British Empire.
As Broadway mourns the loss of one its brightest lights, Playbill takes a look back at the career of this stellar artist with a gallery of Playbill covers and production photos from her decades-long stage career.
Hotel Paradiso
A Taste of Honey
Angela Lansbury and company of A Little Family Business, 1982
Angela Lansbury in A Little Family Business, 1982
Angela Lansbury and John McMartin in A Little Family Business, 1982
Angela Lansbury in Mame, 1966
Angela Lansbury in Mame, 1966
Mary Louise Wilson, Zan Charisse, and Angela Lansbury in Gypsy
Zan Charisse, Angela Lansbury, and Rex Robbins in Gypsy
Angela Lansbury and Zan Charisse in Gypsy
Angela Lansbury and children in The King and I
Angela Lansbury in The King and I
Angela Lansbury in Sweeney Todd
Angela Lansbury
