Trivia

The Oscar-winning song "Beauty and the Beast" almost wasn't sung by Lansbury. As it is a slow, romantic ballad, something she was not used to singing, she suggested another character should sing it. The filmmakers asked her to try it just once, and she nailed the song in that one take, which is the one heard in the film.

In an interview, Lansbury once stated that her nicest co-star was Hedy Lamarr, calling her sweet, loving, kind and considerate to everybody on the set, actor or crewman.

While filming Death on the Nile (1978), aboard ship, no one was allowed his or her own dressing room, so she shared a dressing room with Bette Davis and Maggie Smith.

She, her mother Moyna MacGill and her twin younger brothers (Edgar Lansbury and Bruce Lansbury) were in the last boatload of family members evacuated from London to the United States during the Blitz.

She was awarded 2 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Motion Pictures at 6623 Hollywood Boulevard; and for Television at 6259 Holywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

1997: She was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts by the National Endowment of the Arts in Washington, D.C.

On the last episode of Murder, She Wrote (1984), she didn't work on the final day of production as there was too much emotion going on.

In 1951, Angela Lansbury became a naturalized United States citizen.

She created the role of Mame Dennis in Jerry Herman's "Mame". When Jack L. Warner decided to make the movie, he refused to cast Angela Lansbury (despite intense pressure from Jerry Herman to do so) because she wasn't a big enough star. He cast Lucille Ball, instead. The film was a flop and, to this day, Angela Lansbury has never forgiven Warner.

She was one of the speakers at Jerry Orbach's memorial service.

She was offered the role of Nurse Ratchet in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) but turned it down because she didn't think she could handle the role.

After a 40-year absence triumphantly returned to London's West End stage in her Tony-winning role as Madam Arcati in Sir Noël Coward's 'Blithe Spirit'. She won her only Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2015 at the age of 89.

She has been the co-recipient of 3 Grammy Awards for the Broadway stage shows, "Mame" (1966) and "Sweeney Todd" (1979) in which she played the female lead.

She was among the special guests who were invited to the Grand Opening of the first Disney Park in Europe (Disneyland Resort Paris, formerly known as EuroDisney Resort), where she impressed her hand prints.

She was longtime friends with the late Bob Hope and gave a speech at his memorial service on August 27, 2003. She and Hope appeared on Bob Hope: The First 90 Years (1993), and she sang with him.

She has appeared in five films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Gaslight (1944), National Velvet (1944), The Court Jester (1955), The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Beauty and the Beast (1991).

As for February 2010, she holds the record for youngest actress to get two Oscar nominations (by the age of 20). Was tied with Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson and Alan Alda for the most Golden Globe Award wins: six, until Streep's seventh win on January 17, 2010.

Played Elvis Presley's mother in Blue Hawaii (1961), despite his being only 10 years her junior.

Before becoming a professional performer she went by her middle name Brigid. MGM wanted her to take the name Angela Marlowe but she refused.

2006: To date, she has hosted (or co-hosted) more Tony Awards telecasts than any other individual: (1968, 1971, 1987, 1988 and 1989).

Her performance as Mrs. Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) is ranked #91 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. The same performance was ranked #21 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains for villains.

July 21, 2000: She withdrew from a proposed Broadway musical, "The Visit", due to her husband's precarious health and impending heart surgery.

A recent authorized biography, "Balancing Act", states that her first husband, Richard Cromwell was gay, a fact she didn't know until after their separation.

She won four Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical, and is best known for being in musicals, although her singing voice was dubbed in the romantic musical The Harvey Girls (1946).

Wearing just conventional makeup (i.e., not studio made-up to look "old"), she was most chilling and unforgettable (and convincing!) as the manipulating mother of Laurence Harvey in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), while in real life being scarcely three years Harvey's senior.

Held British, United States, and Irish citizenship; acquired in that chronological order.

She had performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in their annual public Christmas concerts at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Best friends with Bea Arthur, since appearing together in the Broadway version of "Mame".

2000: She was the recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center Honors in 2000 for her services to the arts.

In November 2013, it was announced that NBC would reboot Murder, She Wrote (1984) with Octavia Spencer in the role of Jessica Fletcher. Lansbury was unhappy about the idea, and was relieved when, in January 2014, the network decided not to go forward with the project.

Angela Lansbury died on October 11, 2022, at age 96. Four months before she passed away, in June 2022, she received a special award for Lifetime Achievement at the 75th Tony Awards, but was unable to accept the award in person.

Nominated 12 times for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series on Murder, She Wrote (1984), plus four more before, during and after the series, but has never won. As of 2018, Lansbury holds the record for the most Emmy nominations without a single win among performers with 18 unsuccessful nominations.

Aunt of David Lansbury, who was married to Ally Sheedy from 1992 to 2008.

Alongside Norman Lloyd, William Daniels, Christopher Lee, Dick Van Dyke, Ernest Borgnine, Mickey Rooney, Estelle Parsons, Betty White, Edward Asner, Adam West, Marla Gibbs, William Shatner, Larry Hagman, Florence Henderson, Shirley Jones, Hal Linden, Connie Sawyer, and Alan Alda, Lansbury is one of the few actors in Hollywood who lived into their 80s and/or 90s without retiring from acting or stopped getting work.

She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1994 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama. She was elevated to DBE (Dame Commander of Order of the British Empire) in the 2014 Queen's New Year Honours List for services to drama and for charitable and philanthropic services. She was invested by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at Windsor Castle on April 15, 2014.

Is the only actor to appear in every single one of Murder, She Wrote (1984)'s 264 episodes.

She was one of the last guest stars on the situation comedy Newhart (1982).

Had always been protective of her character on Murder, She Wrote (1984).

She trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, England whose alumni include Terence Stamp, Elizabeth Knowelden, Hugh Bonneville, Rupert Friend, Antony Sher, Daniel Hunt, Matthew Goode, Sue Johnston, Minnie Driver and Julian Fellowes.

Gave birth to her 2nd child at age 27, a daughter Deirdre Angela Shaw on April 26, 1953. Child's father was her 2nd husband, Peter Shaw. Grandmother, via son Anthony Pullen Shaw, of Ian Lansbury.

She never retired from acting.

Throughout her long life, she had 10 hobbies: housekeeping, spending time with her family, reading, dancing, riding, playing tennis, cooking, playing the piano, gardening and letter writing.

A member of St. David's Anglican Church in North Hollywood, California.

At 96 years 11 months and 25 days, Lansbury is the longest-lived actress to have portrayed Agatha Christie's Miss Marple [The Mirror Crack'd (1980)] in any media.

The granddaughter of George Lansbury, British Labour Party leader, and thus Leader of the Opposition in parliament, in the 1930s, Lansbury's father was prominent merchant and politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury. Her mother was Belfast-born actress Moyna MacGill, who appeared with her in The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) and Kind Lady (1951). Lansbury and her twin brothers (Edgar Lansbury and Bruce Lansbury), who are film and television producers, have English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry. Half-sister of Isolde Denham , from her mother's first marriage to Reginald Denham. Isolde was married to Peter Ustinov, with whom she had one daughter, Tamara Ustinov, Lansbury's niece.

She and Mildred Natwick were both in The Court Jester (1955) and were reunited in the Murder, She Wrote (1984) episode, Murder in the Electric Cathedral (1986), 30 years later.

On November 25, 1975, Lansbury's mother, Moyna MacGill, died of cancer at age 79.

She was reunited with her Death on the Nile (1978) co-star, Olivia Hussey, in the Murder, She Wrote (1984) episode, Sing a Song of Murder (1985), seven years after that film. Olivia played Rosalie Otterbourne in the movie and she was the daughter of Salome Otterbourne, played by Lansbury.

She was reunited with her The Court Jester (1955) co-star, Glynis Johns, in the Murder, She Wrote (1984) episode, Sing a Song of Murder (1985), 29 years after that film.

By her marriage to her 2nd husband, Peter Shaw, Lansbury gave birth to her 1st child at age 26, a son Anthony Pullen Shaw (on January 7, 1952), and to her 2nd child at age 27, a daughter Deirdre Angela Shaw (on April 26, 1953). Delivered both of her children naturally; she gave birth to her son at home in Malibu and her daughter Deirdre at hospital in Santa Monica. Lansbury is the grandmother (via her son) of Ian Lansbury.