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On this day, October 16, 1925, one hundred years ago today, Angela Lansbury was born.
New for 2025. Hat tip, Wikipedia.
Angela Lansbury
Lansbury in 1950
Born: Angela Brigid Lansbury; October 16, 1925; London, England
Died: October 11, 2022 (aged 96); Los Angeles, California, US
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was a British-American-Irish actress. In a career spanning 80 years, she played various roles across film, stage, and television. Although based for much of her life in the United States, her work attracted international attention. In 2014, she was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II.
Lansbury was born into an upper-middle-class family in central London, the daughter of Irish actress Moyna Macgill and English politician Edgar Lansbury. To escape the Blitz, she moved to the United States in 1940, studying acting in New York City. Proceeding to Hollywood in 1942, she signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and obtained her first film roles, in Gaslight (1944), National Velvet (1944), and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). She appeared in 11 further MGM films, mostly in minor roles, and after her contract ended in 1952, she began to supplement her cinematic work with theatrical appearances. Lansbury was largely seen as a B-list star during this period, but her role in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) received widespread acclaim and is frequently ranked as one of her best performances. Moving into musical theatre, Lansbury gained stardom for playing the leading role in the Broadway musical Mame (1966), winning her first Tony Award and becoming a gay icon.
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Mid-career
The Manchurian Candidate and minor roles: 1952–1965
{snip}
After a well-reviewed appearance in Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959) – for which she had filmed in Australia – and a minor role in A Breath of Scandal (1960), Lansbury appeared in 1961's Blue Hawaii as the mother of a character played by Elvis Presley, just ten years her junior. Although believing that the film was of poor quality, she commented that she agreed to appear in it because she "was desperate".[60] Her role as Mavis in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) drew critical acclaim, as did her appearance in All Fall Down (1962) as a manipulative, destructive mother. In 1962, she appeared in the Cold War thriller The Manchurian Candidate as Eleanor Iselin, cast for the role by John Frankenheimer. Although Lansbury played actor Laurence Harvey's mother in the film, she was in fact only three years older than him. She had agreed to appear in the film after reading the original novel, describing it as "one of the most exciting political books I ever read". Biographers Edelman and Kupferberg considered this role "her enduring cinematic triumph," while Gottfried stated that it was "the strongest, the most memorable and the best picture she ever made... she gives her finest film performance in it." Lansbury received her third Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for the film.
{snip}
Lansbury in 1950
Born: Angela Brigid Lansbury; October 16, 1925; London, England
Died: October 11, 2022 (aged 96); Los Angeles, California, US
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was a British-American-Irish actress. In a career spanning 80 years, she played various roles across film, stage, and television. Although based for much of her life in the United States, her work attracted international attention. In 2014, she was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II.
Lansbury was born into an upper-middle-class family in central London, the daughter of Irish actress Moyna Macgill and English politician Edgar Lansbury. To escape the Blitz, she moved to the United States in 1940, studying acting in New York City. Proceeding to Hollywood in 1942, she signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and obtained her first film roles, in Gaslight (1944), National Velvet (1944), and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). She appeared in 11 further MGM films, mostly in minor roles, and after her contract ended in 1952, she began to supplement her cinematic work with theatrical appearances. Lansbury was largely seen as a B-list star during this period, but her role in The Manchurian Candidate (1962) received widespread acclaim and is frequently ranked as one of her best performances. Moving into musical theatre, Lansbury gained stardom for playing the leading role in the Broadway musical Mame (1966), winning her first Tony Award and becoming a gay icon.
{snip}
Mid-career
The Manchurian Candidate and minor roles: 1952–1965
{snip}
After a well-reviewed appearance in Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959) – for which she had filmed in Australia – and a minor role in A Breath of Scandal (1960), Lansbury appeared in 1961's Blue Hawaii as the mother of a character played by Elvis Presley, just ten years her junior. Although believing that the film was of poor quality, she commented that she agreed to appear in it because she "was desperate".[60] Her role as Mavis in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) drew critical acclaim, as did her appearance in All Fall Down (1962) as a manipulative, destructive mother. In 1962, she appeared in the Cold War thriller The Manchurian Candidate as Eleanor Iselin, cast for the role by John Frankenheimer. Although Lansbury played actor Laurence Harvey's mother in the film, she was in fact only three years older than him. She had agreed to appear in the film after reading the original novel, describing it as "one of the most exciting political books I ever read". Biographers Edelman and Kupferberg considered this role "her enduring cinematic triumph," while Gottfried stated that it was "the strongest, the most memorable and the best picture she ever made... she gives her finest film performance in it." Lansbury received her third Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination for the film.
{snip}
This is just a superb movie. Lansbury should have won an Academy Award for her performance.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) - I Wanted a Killer Scene (11/12) | Movieclips
Movieclips
125,505 views Jun 20, 2017
The Manchurian Candidate - I Wanted a Killer: The obsessed Mrs. Iselin (Angela Lansbury) gives her son (Laurence Harvey) the final instructions on how to assassinate the Presidential nominee.
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Movieclips
125,505 views Jun 20, 2017
The Manchurian Candidate - I Wanted a Killer: The obsessed Mrs. Iselin (Angela Lansbury) gives her son (Laurence Harvey) the final instructions on how to assassinate the Presidential nominee.
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