50 Fun Facts About Angela Lansbury

In which city was Angela Lansbury born in 1925?

She insisted she was born in Regent's Park, central London, not Poplar in the East End as often reported.

Her mother, the actress Moyna Macgill, was born in which city?

Macgill appeared regularly in London's West End and in several films before the family moved to America.

Her 1944 film debut, which earned an Oscar nomination, was which thriller?

She was still a teenager when she was cast in the George Cukor mystery after meeting co-writer John van Druten at a party.

In her 1944 debut film, who played the tormented heroine Paula Alquist?

Bergman won the Best Actress Oscar for the role; Lansbury played the insolent maid Nancy.

Who directed her 1944 debut film?

Cukor was known as a "woman's director" and guided Bergman to an Oscar in the same film.

Her 1945 film The Picture of Dorian Gray adapted a novel by which author?

The film earned her a Golden Globe and a second Oscar nomination in as many years.

She lost the 1945 supporting-actress Oscar to Anne Revere, her co-star in which film?

National Velvet also starred a young Elizabeth Taylor; Revere played her mother.

Which studio held Lansbury under contract until 1952?

MGM cast her in 11 more films after her two Oscar-nominated debuts, often in roles older than her real age.

In The Harvey Girls (1946), whose voice dubbed her singing?

She played Em, a honky-tonk saloon singer, in the Oscar-winning Western musical opposite Judy Garland.

In what year did she marry actor and producer Peter Shaw?

The marriage lasted until Shaw's death in 2003, and he later ran her production company with her.

When they met, Peter Shaw had just left a relationship with which star?

Shaw was an aspiring MGM actor when they were introduced at a party in the Ojai Valley in 1946.

In The Manchurian Candidate (1962) she played which character?

She was only three years older than Laurence Harvey, who played her son; biographers call it her finest film performance.

Who directed The Manchurian Candidate?

The film brought her a third Best Supporting Actress nomination; she never won a competitive Oscar.

Her first Tony Award came for the title role in which 1966 musical?

The role involved more than 20 costume changes and 10 songs, and made her a Broadway superstar at 40.

Who wrote the score for Mame?

Herman later wrote Dear World for her too, earning her a second Tony.

The novel Auntie Mame, basis of the musical, was written by whom?

Patrick Dennis was a pen name of Edward Everett Tanner III; the 1955 novel was a huge bestseller.

Who was the director's first choice to play Mame before Lansbury?

Russell had played Mame in the 1958 non-musical film but declined the stage musical.

Who was cast instead of Lansbury in the film version of Mame?

Lansbury had hoped for the part, but the studio wanted an established box-office name.

Dear World, which won her a second Tony, adapted which Jean Giraudoux play?

She played Countess Aurelia, a 75-year-old Parisian eccentric, while still in her early forties.

In which 1971 Disney film did she play the apprentice witch Eglantine Price?

It was her first lead in a screen musical, and she promoted it on shows like the David Frost Show.

Her third Tony came for playing which role in Gypsy?

She first played Mama Rose in London, then toured the US, winning Chicago's Sarah Siddons Award along the way.

In the 1979 Sweeney Todd she played Mrs. Lovett opposite which actor in the title role?

She stayed in the role for 14 months and won her fourth Tony Award for it.

Who directed the original Broadway production of Sweeney Todd?

She said she leapt at the role because of Stephen Sondheim's "extraordinary wit and intelligence".

Who replaced her as Mrs. Lovett after her 14-month run?

Loudon was fresh from her Tony-winning turn as Miss Hannigan in Annie.

Her first stage musical was a short-lived Sondheim show. Which one?

Written by Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim, it closed after just nine performances in 1964.

On Murder, She Wrote she played which amateur sleuth?

The role ran for twelve seasons and brought her four Golden Globes and 12 Emmy nominations.

Her Murder, She Wrote character lived in which fictional town?

The town is in Maine, though the exteriors were filmed in Mendocino, California.

Before turning to mystery writing, her Murder, She Wrote character had been a what?

The character was described as a retired school teacher from a small Maine town.

Murder, She Wrote aired on which US network?

It ran from 1984 to 1996 and was followed by four made-for-television films.

In what year did the final episode of Murder, She Wrote air?

The finale ended with Lansbury voicing a "Goodbye from Jessica" message to viewers.

For its 12th season the show was moved to Thursdays opposite which new NBC sitcom?

The schedule change hurt ratings and the series ended after that season.

What production company did she co-create with her husband in 1989?

Through it she co-produced Murder, She Wrote and served as an executive producer.

How many episodes of Murder, She Wrote did her son Anthony direct?

Working with family was a theme: her husband Peter Shaw also produced the series.

In Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) she voiced which character?

She also sang the film's title song, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

She voiced a role in which 1997 animated film?

She played the Dowager Empress Marie in the Fox Animation film.

In Nanny McPhee (2005) she played which character?

She said the film "pulled me out of the abyss" after her husband's death in 2003.

In Mary Poppins Returns (2018) she had a cameo as whom?

Her cameo included singing "Nowhere To Go But Up"; she was 92 when the film was released.

Her 2009 Broadway return in Blithe Spirit cast her as which medium?

The role won her a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play, and later an Olivier Award in London.

Her fifth Tony, for Blithe Spirit, tied the record then held by which actress?

Harris had won five competitive Tonys; Lansbury later added a sixth, a Lifetime Achievement Tony in 2022.

In 2009–10 she played Madame Armfeldt in a revival of which Sondheim musical?

The role at the Walter Kerr Theatre brought her seventh Tony nomination.

Her 2014 West End run of Blithe Spirit took place at which venue?

It was her first London stage appearance in nearly 40 years and won her an Olivier Award in 2015.

In which year was she made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire?

She had been appointed CBE in 1994; the damehood was for services to drama, charity and philanthropy.

She received an Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in which year?

Emma Thompson and Geoffrey Rush paid tribute at the Governors Awards where she received the statuette.

How many Primetime Emmy nominations did she receive without ever winning?

As of 2009 that was a record for the most unsuccessful Emmy nominations by any performer.

How many Tony Awards did she win in total?

Five competitive Tonys plus the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2022.

She died in 2022, five days short of her 97th birthday, in which Los Angeles neighborhood?

Her husband Peter Shaw had died at the same Brentwood home in 2003.

Her sister Isolde stayed in Britain in 1940 after marrying which actor?

Lansbury later co-hosted the 1968 Tony Awards with Ustinov, by then her former brother-in-law.

In 1956 she played Princess Gwendolyn in which Danny Kaye comedy?

She followed it with Please Murder Me, playing a wife who kills her husband.

Which 1955 film did she describe as "the worst movie I ever made"?

Her film career stalled in the mid-1950s until her 1957 Broadway debut in Hotel Paradiso revived it.

After 1970 she and her husband split their time between New York and which Irish county?

They left California after a brush fire destroyed their Malibu home in 1970.