Publisher's Synopsis
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury DBE born in Regent's Park, St Pancras, London, England, UK on 16th October 1925, was an actress & singer who played roles in movies, on stage and TV. Her career spanned 8 decades, mostly in the US, her work getting a lot of international attention. Angela was one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. She was given many accolades, including 6 Tony Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, 6 Golden Globe Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, and the Academy Honorary Award. Lansbury was nominated for 3 Academy Awards, 18 Primetime Emmy Awards & a Grammy Award. Queen Elizabeth II appointed her Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire during 2014. Angela was born into an upper-middle-class family in central London, the daughter of Irish actress Moyna Macgill and English politician Edgar Lansbury. She moved to the US in 1940 to escape the blitz, having studied acting in New York City. Traveling to Hollywood during 1942, Angela signed with MGM being cast in her first film roles, in Gaslight (1944), National Velvet (1944) then The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), receiving 2 Academy Award nominations & a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Lansbury appeared in 11 more MGM pictures, mainly in minor roles then after her contract ended in 1952, she began to make theatrical appearances, as well as in the cinema. Although Angela was mainly a B-list star during this period, her role in the movie The Manchurian Candidate (1962) was widely praised, often being cited as one of her best performances. It led to her 3rd Academy Award nomination, along with another Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Lansbury transitioned to the Broadway stage in her 1st musical, Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle (1964). She became a star playing the title role in Jerry Herman's musical Mame (1966), for which she won her first Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and established her as a gay icon. Angela moved from California to County Cork, Ireland during 1970 while having problems in her personal life. She continued to star in a varied roles onstage including Countess Aurelia in Dear World in 1969, Rose in Gypsy during 1973 then Anna in The King and I in 1978. Lansbury established herself the following year as a Broadway icon by portraying Mrs. Lovett in Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street for which she was given her 4th Tony Award.
