She was an icon of the small screen, but also of the big one. British-born actress Angela Lansbury, star of the “Arabesque” series (“Murder she wrote” in English), broadcast between the 80s and 90s in France, died at the age of 96 on Tuesday, announces his family to American media.
The actress, born in London in 1925, “died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Los Angeles (…), just five days before her 97th birthday”, explained her relatives.
Nominated three times for the Oscars, and crowned with an Oscar of Honor in 2013 for her entire career, the naturalized American actress was one of the glories of the golden age of Hollywood cinema.
From theater to Disney
She had distinguished herself in several roles on the big screen, such as “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1945), “A crime in the head” (1962), “The Apprentice witch” (1971), or even “Death on the Nile” (1978). “She had a crazy talent and they did not know what to do with her”, lamented in 1998 Hurd Hatfield, her partner in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” for which she won, in 1946, the Golden Globe for best actress in a supporting role.
Daughter of an Irish theater actress, the actress has also distinguished herself with numerous roles on Broadway, notably in productions of Stephen Sondheim’s musicals such as “Gypsy” and “Sweeney Todd”.
Angela Lansbury has also lent her voice to many notable characters in animated films, such as Mrs Potts (Madame Samovar in French) in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”, or Empress Marie, in “Anastasia”, released in 1997.
But it was her portrayal of Jessica Fletcher, mystery writer and outstanding investigator, in “Arabesque”, which marked several generations – and earned her four of her six Golden Globes. The American series was broadcast on 264 episodes on CBS between 1984 and 1996, and has had multiple reruns, especially in France.
“I had an incredibly interesting and varied career which took me all around the world”, rejoiced in 2014 this British naturalized American, who has become the most famous of the novelists-detectives of the small screen.
She leaves behind three children, three grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, as well as her brother according to the press release. Her husband, British actor Peter Shaw, died in 2003. “A private ceremony for the family will be held on a date to be determined,” his family added in the statement.