Murder, She Wrote actress Angela Lansbury has died at the age of 96

The dead star of “Murder, She Wrote”, five-time Tony winner and cultural icon Angela Lansbury. She was 96 years old.

“The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sorry to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Los Angeles at 1.30am today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days before her 97th birthday,” her family said in a statement.

Lansbury played mostly supporting roles before landing in the big breakthrough in “The Manchuria Candidate” in 1962 which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The actress, whom Queen Elizabeth II finally honored with the title of Dame in 2014, moved to musical theater, establishing herself as a star with her role in 1966’s “Mame”.

In her career, she has won five Tony Awards for her roles in “Mame”, “Dear World”, “Gypsy”, “Sweeney Todd” and most recently “Blithe Spirit” from 2009.

“Theater is magical and addictive,” Lansbury once said.

It was only her leading and iconic role as fictional writer and detective Jessica Fletcher in “Murder, She Wrote” that made Lansbury internationally famous. The series premiered in 1984 and ran until 1986. For this role, she won over a dozen Emmy nominations and four Golden Globes.

She is also adored for her voice work, including her iconic role as Mrs. Potts in Disney’s 1991 “Beauty and the Beast,” and Dowager Empress Marie in 1997, “Anastasia.”

Born on October 16, 1925 in London, Lansbury moved to the United States in 1940 with her two younger brothers and her mother. She studied acting for two years in New York before moving to Hollywood where she signed with MGM.

Lansbury’s first film roles were “Gaslight” in 1944 and “Portrait of Dorian Gray” in 1945, which earned her Oscar nominations. For the latter, she won her first Golden Globe.

“One minute I was packing Christmas presents at a department store and the next I was playing alongside Ingrid Bergman” Lansbury Daily Mail said in 2014. “It was almost a miracle.”

In 1945, Lansbury married her first husband, Richard Cromwell, but they divorced less than a year later after being revealed to be gay.

“I was completely devastated when he passed away, although we found a way to remain friendly until his death from liver cancer in 1960,” she said.

Lansbury married Peter Shaw in 1949. They share two children together, Anthony and Deidre Shaw.

Lansbury eventually moved her family to County Cork, Ireland in 1970 to help her children fight drug addiction. Since then, Lansbury has a home in Ireland.

Peter Shaw died in 2003 of heart failure, and Lansbury told Mail of their marriage: “We had a perfect relationship. Few people can say that. He was everything to me: we were partners at work, as well as husband, wife and lovers.

“I don’t know how we had such a long marriage, but the simple fact was that we were committed to each other.”

Lansbury, who has worked all her life in the entertainment industry while caring for her family, has credited her long career and life expectancy to her genetics and “many vitamins.”

“I always say there are two things in life that I know how to do – one is running the house and the other is doing,” she laughed to UK Express in 2014. “And acting usually comes first, so the venue is a little messy at times.”

Lansbury left behind two children.