So you're onstage in front of an empty theater and singing your number. Good, you got it. She also won four Best Actress Emmys for her role as Jessica Fletcher in the long-running CBS mystery series "Murder, She Wrote." And congratulations on the Kennedy Center Honor. Fox News Digital's Lori Bashian. Do forgive me if me head's a little vague. "Substitutionary Locomotion" from Bedknobs and BroomsticksLong before she sang a tale as old as time, Lansbury starred in another Disney musical, the 1971 hit Bedknobs and Broomsticks, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. And in "Sweeney Todd," Mrs. Lovett was running an unsuccessful bakery in London in the Victorian era, when she was inspired to team up with a local barber named Sweeney Todd. My mother had been widowed five years earlier by the death of my father. And I must say, when people would come backstage after the performance, they would be in tears. It's interesting, the things you do remember. Yeah. One of the last Golden Age of Hollywood stars & a Broadway & West End icon. Angela Lansbury is set to grace movie screens one last time. Angela Lansbury accepts the Tony for best performance by a featured actress in a play for "Blithe Spirit" at the 63rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 7, 2009, in New York City . It's been six years since Angela Lansbury won her fifth Tony for playing Madame Arcati in a Broadway revival of Blithe Spirit. What I inferred was a great deal more than what I was saying. Lansbury won four of her five Tony Awards for performances in musicals, but the only musical performance preserved on film is her spectacularly original work as Mrs. Lovett in Stephen. What are you doing with your evening out? It just had never really sunk in. The actress, who is 96 years old, is scheduled to appear at next month's Tony Awards and be presented with a special lifetime achievement award. Let's get back to Terry's 2000 interview with Broadway, movie and TV actress Angela Lansbury. The actor Angela Lansbury, best known as Jessica Fletcher in the TV series Murder, She Wrote and for numerous film and theatre roles, has died aged 96. I know they - I don't know whether they're mixing me up with the character. GROSS: Was that your bit of business, singing that vaudeville kind of song, "Up In A Balloon?". You gave me such a fright. I really enjoyed talking to you. Market data provided by Factset. All rights reserved. I consider that she was the Lear among, you know, movie women. The film was a huge success, grossing $331 million at the box office worldwide. RIP dearest Angela., Celeb obsessed? (Singing) Up in a balloon, boys, up in a balloon. BOYER: (As Gregory Anton) Oh, now, you know, Nancy - don't you? Terry Gross spoke to Angela Lansbury in 2000. LANSBURY: I was completely nonplussed. And she loved doing it, but it put a tremendous strain on her, whereas I seem to do it with one hand tied behind my back. And really, working with the best, there's not much you do. The family of Dame Angela Lansbury announced today that the legendary actor has died, having passed peacefully in her sleep at the age of 96 (she would have been 97 in just a few days) (via NBC News). Although based for much of her life in the United States, her work attracted international attention. Fans can remember legendary Hollywood icon Angela Lansbury in her magical role as Mrs. Potts in "Beauty and the Beast." But you wanted to stay home. Don't I get a dream for myself? RIP to the legendary Dame Angela Lansbury, whose astonishing career spanned nine decades, from her debut Hollywood performance in GASLIGHT to her final role in the upcoming GLASS ONION.. We thought, my God, would either of them ever do it? And that's what sells the song. So, for those curious, what was the last film that Lansbury was in before she died? I know that eventually - I think it crept in. "Lansbury is joined by late actor Jerry Orbach, who voiced Lumiere the candlestick in "Beauty and the Beast," in the dynamic performance. Andrew Gans Aged 93, and wearing a long red cardigan and cream trousers, the Broadway star attended the Robert Osborne Celebration of Classic Film event at The Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills. But when it extended and I realized the deep inroads it had made into family life in America, I couldn't stop. Angela Lansbury, a formidable actress who captivated Hollywood in her youth, became a Broadway musical sensation in middle age and then drew millions of fans as a widowed mystery writer on the. I'm not going to just spout the lyric. I dreamed it for you, June. On TV, she starred as amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher in "Murder, She Wrote." And I could not allow it to intrude into my own emotional, you know, state. Just listen and hear and do what I was told and asked to do. And it really doesn't matter. In 2013, Dame Angela was given an honorary Academy Award for her lifetime achievements in the film industry and was also awarded a lifetime achievement award by Bafta in 2002. She died in her sleep on Tuesday, just. In the Cool of the Day. GROSS: Well, if this isn't an example of singing the scene, as the way you put it, I don't know what it is - what is. Dame Angela was known for playing crime novelist Jessica Fletcher in the long running TV series Murder, She Wrote, Broadway musicals Mame and Gypsy, and for voicing Mrs Potts in the Disney animation Beauty and the Beast. And that's acting (laughter). ", In a captivating video featured on the Disney+ original documentary "Howard," the talented singer and actress is seen stepping into a recording booth to work on the classic song "Be Our Guest.". Audiences were immediately reeled in for the pairs delightful duet, as Orbach began recording the iconic song, and Lansburys enchanting voice followed. I said, I could no more approach that role having treasured the recording of Ethel Merman singing Rose. Though Lansbury and Sondheim were certainly memorable, they're far from the only cameos Glass Onion. Can you explain how you got a lead for that movie but ended up making "Gaslight" first? James Frawley, Angela Lansbury and Arnold Soboloff in, Friedman-Abeles / The New York Public Library, Angela Lansbury, Jane Connell, Sab Shimono and Frankie Michaels in, Bonnie Langford, Lisa Peluso, and Angela Lansbury, Charles Rule, Rex Robbins, and Angela Lansbury, Zan Charisse, Angela Lansbury, and Maureen Moore, Martha Swope/NYPL for the Performing Arts, Zan Charisse, Angela Lansbury, and Rex Robbins, Mary Louise Wilson, Zan Charisse and Angela Lansbury in, Zan Charisse, Angela Lansbury and Rex Robbins in, Len Cariou, Merle Louise, and Angela Lansbury, Len Cariou, Victor Garber, and Angela Lansbury, Angela Lansbury, Rupert Everett and Susan Louise O'Connor, Deborah Rush, Rupert Everett, Angela Lansbury, Jayne Atkinson and Simon Jones, A Little Night Music Playbill - Opening Night, Angela Lansbury, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Keaton Whittaker, Kerry Butler, Eric McCormack and Angela Lansbury in, John Larroquette, Angela Lansbury and Candice Bergen in, By LEN CARIOU: (As Sweeney Todd, singing) Mrs. Lovett, what a charming notion BIANCULLI: Angela Lansbury grew up in England and came to the U.S. during World War II. Fox News Digital's Lori Bashian contributed to this report. LANSBURY: People ask me that often. Dame Angela Lansbury smiled for the camera and posed with fellow veteran actors at a red carpet event, in the last public pictures taken of the actress before her death. The only, let's say, the comfort I took was - and even then, I kind of leant on it - was the fact that I knew that I was an actress and that I could play different roles because I was continuously being offered extraordinary stretches, shall we say, as an actress, to play parts which were way out of my range. Andrew Gans What convinced you then that you liked acting after being so ambivalent about your mother's career? And I wasn't allowed to inhale, as Mr. Clinton would say. And I stopped smoking 30 years ago. ANGELA LANSBURY: (As Mrs. Lovett, singing) I mean, with the price of meat what it is, when you get it, if you get it. Paige Gawley. Well, there you go. Perhaps best known for her work as TV sleuth Jessica Fletcher on the long-running Murder, She Wrote, Broadway fans will always think of the beloved Angela Lansbury, who passed away October 11 at the age of 96, as the woman who sensationally created the roles of Mame and Mrs. Lovett in two classic, hit musicals. LANSBURY: Well, he had an extraordinary group of friends, wonderful people in the business who I never would have met. Legendary actress Angela Lansbury, who died on October 11 just shy of her 97th birthday, was a beloved movie, television, and stage presence for over . And he had a great, great recording machine that used to slam down - you could put 12 records on it. Come here. And when you're a student and you are given a role, something is assigned to you. Will and Grace actor Eric McCormack, who starred with Dame Angela in a play, and described her as an "incredible woman", adding there was "no one like her," on Twitter. Something went wrong, please try again later. LANSBURY: My mother was an Irish actress, and she appeared in a number of various plays during the time that she was working. LANSBURY: (As Nancy Oliver) Oh, no, sir - not with me. Prior to joining PEOPLE, Tommy covered the entertainment industry at Looper and sports at The Sporting News and Boston.com. The London-born actor took her life's final bow as one of the most decorated players in stage history. "Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music Lansbury played Mme. So she played a variety of roles, actually. We would do scenes from "Romeo And Juliet," and she would do scenes as Desdemona. She had a talent. But how I use it, it's the emotion under the note that sells the song from my point of view. She will will be sadly missed. And being Jessica was second nature to me because she embodied all of the qualities that I like about women. The . Both those latter musicals had lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and both were very juicy leading roles. In 2014 she returned to a London stage for the first time in almost 40 years to star in a West End production of Noel Cowards Blithe Spirit. Tributes from across the world of entertainment have been paid to Dame Angela. And both of them were so cool, Johnson said at the London Film Festival via Deadline. LANSBURY: Thank you. Starting now, I bat 1,000. GROSS: So sometimes you worked as a team. You play the maid that he hires. So I had to marry those two rather carefully. So upset to hear the news that the legendary Dame Angela Lansbury has died, Paige tweeted, sharing a picture of the pair together. GROSS: Well, you were still a minor when you were making "Gaslight." And during that scene, I suddenly got this - the feel and the smell of being able to make an effect by the way I played the role, the way I comported myself. LANSBURY: Very well. The Company of Wolves. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. The iconic actress, who died Tuesday at 96, will make her final film appearance in Netflix's upcoming Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. To me, when it's over, it's over, you know? And she wanted to get away from it. LANSBURY: Oh, it was required that there was a social worker with me until my 18th birthday, which I celebrated on the set of "Gaslight," actually. GROSS: Did you and your mother both want to act in the United States? The actress continued appearing on screen well into her eighties and nineties. And I'm sure they can't compare as far as taste. Everything's coming up Rose's. This is FRESH AIR. Would that the ultimate of her many triumphs on the stage was turned into a Lansbury-led film in her heyday, but thankfully there is a recorded 1982 performance of Stephen Sondheim's macabre . But it's the most rousing speech I've ever read. GROSS: "Gaslight" is one of those movies with really nice black-and-white lighting. She started off doing Shaw - George Bernard Shaw and also Shakespeare, and became also the leading lady of the great English sort of matinee actor who was Sir Gerald du Maurier. I relish the - having had that opportunity to play that role because I don't think there are many written like that. It's a technique. https://t.co/hdW1XJs2H7pic.twitter.com/COmVlrS6ET. And she was a most beautiful woman, my mother. I wanted to be like the rest of the girls. But, in 2010, she sat down with The New York Times and reporter Mervyn Rothstein to record an extraordinary final interview that was not to be published until after her death.. Lansbury was born in London on October 16, 1925, to actress Moyna Macgill, and timber merchant and politician . Thanks a lot, and out with the garbage. Here, she joins the cast in the Sherman Brothers song "Substitutionary Locomotion.". When I heard Angela Lansbury had died, I immediately thought . Next month, she's scheduled to be honored at the Tonys with a special Lifetime Achievement Award. LANSBURY: Learned about lyrics, learned about clarity, learned that, in my instance, because I'm an actress, I am going to sing the scene. We want the role to be played by an actress, and we would really encourage you to do this. The beloved "Murder, She Wrote" and five-time Tony Award winner died "peacefully in her sleep" at her home in Los Angeles. And a pussy's good for maybe six or seven at the most. March 2, 2023, By Dame Angela Lansbury smiled for the camera and posed with fellow veteran actors at a red carpet event, in the last public pictures taken of the actress before her death. LANSBURY: No, nothing was my idea in that movie. But she - but mainly, No. I have a serviceable voice. He was a serial killer intent on murdering many of his customers. ", Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is streaming on Netflix Dec. 23. The Private Affairs of Bel Ami. Not counting next month's Lifetime Achievement Tony Award, she already has five Tonys for both musicals and dramas. "She. And - but I don't regret it because I learned so much during my - the short time that we were together, which was probably less than a year. What kind of special provisions were made for you on the set? On October 11, Hollywood and the culture at large lost one of the last great icons of stage and screen when Dame Angela Lansbury passed away in her sleep just days short of her 97th birthday. In 2019, Janis spoke to Home Theater Forum about what it was like to work with such legendary stars Lansbury included which was a major career moment for him. All rights reserved. I'm going to sing the scene. - I forget the name; I should remember - and also some of the great prep schools outside of the city, and for $25, which in those days was quite a lot of money. And I got a laugh, you know, the first time I did it. Lansbury was cast in the starring role of 75-year-old Countess Aurelia, despite her actual age of 44. And I - thank goodness I chose to do that or that she agreed to let me do that. In 1991, Lansbury starred in the Disney classic, "Beauty and the Beast" as Mrs. Potts, the former castle cook who turned into a teapot after the curse was placed on the castle. Performances of the Jessica Chastain-led revival began February 13.