Thursday, October 16, 2014

Happy 89th birthday, Angela Lansbury!

Film, television, and theater star Angela Lansbury turns 89 today. In a career that has spanned 70 years, Lansbury has seemingly done it all. Let's take a look at a small slice of her work:

Broadway

Mame (1966)
Won the Tony award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the title role. Lansbury is one of the women interviewed by author Eddie Shapiro in the book Nothing Like a Dame: Conversations with the Great Women of Musical Theater (2014). She talks about her roles on Broadway, including what was so great about Mame: "You have to understand that up until that point I had had a career that was technically interesting and diverse and full of acting opportunities but I never had a chance to touch a universal audience, really. Men, women, children, dogs, cats, the whole shebang."
Listen to the original cast recording: Mame Soundtrack  

Sweeney Todd (1979)

Won the Tony award for Best Actress in a Musical as Mrs. Lovett.
Listen to the original cast recording: Sweeney Todd Soundtrack 

Television
Murder, She Wrote (1984-1996)
Nominated for Lead Actress in a Drama Emmy as mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher for each of the show's twelve seasons.
Find it in the catalog!

Film noir
Gaslight (1944)
Nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 1945
Find it in the catalog!

Drama

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 1946
Find it in the catalog!
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 1963
Find it in the catalog!

Family films
National Velvet (1944)
Find it in the catalog!

Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Find it in the catalog!
Nanny McPhee (2005)
Find it in the catalog!

Voiceover work

Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Find it in the catalog!
Do you have a favorite role of Angela Lansbury's? One of my favorite childhood movies was Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Compiling this list has compelled me to seek out her earlier work; I am just amazed to see the scope Angela Lansbury's enduring career!