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| Angela Lansbury was a versatile star, with films including, clockwise from top left, The Court Jester, The Manchurian Candidate, Bedknobs And Broomsticks and Beauty And The Beast |
The British-born star, who would have turned 97 on October 16, had a wide-ranging career on stage, TV and screen spanning 75-years, including roles in classics such as Bedknobs And Broomsticks, The Manchurian Candidate and Beauty And The Beast.
The three-time Oscar nominee - who also became a household name for TV fans with Murder She Wrote - "died peacefully at her home in Los Angeles" her family said.
Born in London in 1925, Lansbury moved to the US as a young woman and picked up her first movie role, in George Cukor's Gaslight, in 1944, for which she picked up her first Academy Award nomination. She was nominated again for the role of Sibyl Vain in Albert Lewin's 1946 adaption of The Picture Of Dorian Grey and picked up her third Oscar nod as the scheming mother in 1962 conspiracy thriller The Manchurian Candidate.
She finally got to lift a statuette in 2013, when at the age of 88, she was given an honorary Oscar.
As an actress she proved exceptionally versatile, whether it was in lighter fare like The Court Jester, children's drama, including Bedknobs and Broomsticks or voice work, such as Mrs Potts in Beauty And The Beast. She also featured in Agatha Christie adaptations including Death On The Nile and The Mirror Crack'd before becoming world famous as sleuth Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote, a role that saw her garner a record 12 Emmy nominations.
A life-long socialist, whose grandfather was Labour leader George Lansbury, she was also a prominent activst for HIV and AIDS awareness and support, raising money for research.
In addition to her TV and film work, she also had a successful Broadway career, earning a clutch of Tonys in the process.
Last night, social media was alight with fans - both famous and not - from across the globe paying tribute and sharing their favourite moments from Lansbury's back catalogue.
Among the stars paying tribute was actor Josh Gad, who played LeFou in the live-action remake of Beauty And The Beast, who tweeted: "It is rare that one person can touch multiple generations, creating a breadth of work that defines decade after decade. Angela Lansbury was that artist."
Star Trek actor George Takei wrote: "Angela Lansbury, who graced the stage for decades winning five Tony awards and brought the sleuthing Jessica Fletcher into our living rooms for a dozen years, has passed. A tale old as time, our beloved Mrs. Potts will sing lullabies to us now from the stars. Rest, great soul."
The UK HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust tweeted: “Dame Angela Lansbury was a prominent advocate of HIV activism in the 1980s and 90s – even fronting a TV information campaign. Going on to say: ‘I’ve lost so many friends to AIDS that it’s very, very close to me.’ May she rest in peace.”
Lansbury, who held dual British and American citizenship, was made a dame in 2014 a was married twice, to actor Richard Cromwell at 19, a match which only lasted a year and later to the British actor and producer Peter Shaw.
