Angela Lansbury, Screen and Stage Legend, Dead at 96

Dame Angela Lansbury, legend of screen and stage, has passed away. She was 96 years old. 

"The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 a.m. today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday," Lansbury's family said in a statement. 

Perhaps best known for playing amateur sleuth and novelist Jessica Fletcher on Murder, She Wrote for 12 seasons, the London-born actress also had a prolific stage career, earning five Tony Awards for her work on Broadway.

Her film career began with an impressive best supporting actress Oscar nomination for Gaslight, and she went on to star in titles like The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Manchurian Candidate, Death on the Nile, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Lansbury also voiced beloved animated characters like Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast and the Dowager Empress in Anastasia. 

Lansbury received an Emmy nomination for every season of Murder, She Wrote, though she never took home the trophy. She was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards over the course of her career, and received an honorary Oscar in 2013 for her work as "an entertainment icon who has created some of cinema’s most memorable characters, inspiring generations of actors."

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. She was previously a reporter/producer at Decider and is a member of the Television Critics Association. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.