'Murder, She Wrote' star Dame Angela Lansbury dies aged 96

The British-born actress Angela Lansbury has passed away, according to a statement from her family which said she died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles. She was 96. 

Lansbury's family statement continued with, "In addition to her three children, Anthony, Deirdre, and David, she is survived by three grandchildren, Peter, Katherine, and Ian, plus five great-grandchildren and her brother, producer Edgar Lansbury. She was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years, Peter Shaw. A private family ceremony will be held at a date to be determined".

Angela Lansbury, who’s career spanned eight decades, played a wide range of characters notably a crime-solving mystery writer in the long-running TV series “Murder, She Wrote”.  

Lansbury was born in London in 1925 and went to the United States in 1940 to avoid the war with her mother, actress Moyna McGill, who appeared in several Hollywood films.

Lansbury studied drama and her movie career got off to a quick start.

Her movie debut as a teenager was playing the conniving Cockney made in “Gaslight” in 1944.

Angela was in dozens of films over the course of her career, with notable films including “The Long, Hot Summer” (1958), “The Manchurian Candidate” (1962), “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (1971), and “The Pirates of Penzance” (1983).

Though Lansbury would be nominated for three Oscars, she never won a competitive Academy Award. In 2013, she was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement aged 88.  

She also won five Tony awards for Broadway performances.