Profile of the Day: Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury

Do you remember watching Murder, She Wrote? Today star Angela Lansbury celebrates her 92nd birthday!

On October 16, 1925, legendary actress Angela Lansbury was born to an upper middle class family in London, England. She was the daughter of English stage actress Moyna Macgill and Edgar Lansbury, a politician and timber merchant. Her paternal grandfather, George Lansbury, was the leader of the Labor Party. At the age of 9, Lansbury lost her father to stomach cancer. She turned to film and played characters as a coping mechanism for her loss. At the onset of the Blitz during World War II, Lansbury and her family immigrated to the United States.

At the age of 17, she landed her first big role in the Ingrid Bergman film, Gaslight, for which she would earn her first Academy Award nomination. She would earn her second nomination a year later for her supporting role in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Although she had a successful film and television career for decades, she didn’t gain international stardom until she took on her beloved role of Jessica Fletcher in the highly successful detective series Murder, She Wrote. Over the course of 12 seasons, Lansbury would earn a total of 12 Emmy award nominations, a record for most nominations for a lead actress in a drama series.

Today, Lansbury continues to remain active in the industry. She will next appear on the big screen in the upcoming Mary Poppins sequel, Mary Poppins Returns.

Explore Angela Lansbury’s family tree on Geni and share how you’re related to the star.
 

View Angela Lansbury’s Geni Profile

Image: Wikimedia Commons