And Gypsy Rose Lee has become - your daughter has become a famous stripper. Sit you down. (SOUNDBITE OF GYPSY ORCHESTRA AND RICHARD LEONARD'S "OVERTURE"). Both those latter musicals had lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and both were very juicy leading roles. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE WORST PIES IN LONDON"). "I Don't Want to Know" from Dear World Although the Jerry Herman musical Dear World played only 132 performances, Lansbury's performance as Countess Aurelia brought her a second Tony Award in 1969. Angela Lansbury died Tuesday, October 11, at the age of 96. Actress Angela Lansbury has died at 96 years old. Acting, for her, required tremendous concentration and devotion to duty. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. ANGELA LANSBURY, MURDER, SHE WROTE STAR AND HOLLYWOOD ACTRESS, DEAD AT 96. In September, Netflix released a sneak preview of Glass Onion that featured writer-director Johnson introducing the film and its premise, which brings Benoit Blanc into a new mystery set in Greece with a new cast of suspects, including characters played by Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista and more. All I meant is that I haven't seen a customer for weeks. In 1989 she opened the awards show with the first act finale from Gypsy. What's your hurry? She became a TV icon in Murder She Wrote as Jessica Fletcher, a murder mystery novelist who helped the police solve homicide cases. And congratulations again on the Kennedy Center Honor. "But what it meant for me, besides just how special it is to have both of them in the movie, it meant that I just got to spend 10 minutes with each of them to film this little moment." And this - my ability to do that worked, thank goodness, because I understood exactly what Cukor was asking me to do. We didnt think they would. I would be drinking a glass of water and breathing a big sigh of relief. GROSS: Why don't we hear a short scene from your screen debut in "Gaslight?" March 2, 2023, By | The last time I saw Lansbury was in 2014 in Toronto as Madame Arcati in "Blithe Spirit . LANSBURY: (As Nancy Oliver) Oh, I'm going to a musical. Lansbury died Oct. 11. And I - thank goodness I chose to do that or that she agreed to let me do that. I'm David Bianculli, professor of television studies at Rowan University in New Jersey, sitting in for Terry Gross. 38. LANSBURY: No, except to say that it's one of the most rewarding pieces of musical theater to perform there is and one of the hardest. 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. Tributes from across the world of entertainment have been paid to Dame Angela. LANSBURY: (As Mrs. Iselin) You are to shoot the presidential nominee through the head. Many . And at the end of that scene, before you send your son off to kill the candidate, you kiss him on each cheek, then kiss him fully on the mouth. Writer-director Rian Johnson honored Lansbury's life and career in a Twitter post Tuesday. I think you worked out a deal with your mother that you would be tutored at home and then also take singing and dancing lessons. Armfeldt's solo to celebrate Stephen Sondheim's Special Olivier Award. He's piling up bodies, and she offers a uniquely advantageous means of disposal. Angela Lansbury, the legendary star of television, movies and the Broadway stage, died Oct. 11 at the age of 96. I have a serviceable voice. What I inferred was a great deal more than what I was saying. GROSS: We've talked about your long and really wonderful career on stage and screen. Starting now it's going to be my turn. I do remember very well. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, And I always remember it because Ingrid and Charles and George Cukor were so wonderfully kind. GROSS: Did you learn a different style of singing from being exposed to all the singers in his collection? LANSBURY: And John Van Druten, who was the screenwriter of that. Angela Brigid Lansbury, born in London to actress Moyna McGill and politician Edgar Lansbury, moved to the United States in 1940, still a teenager. And a pussy's good for maybe six or seven at the most. You know LANSBURY: That came - I mean, totally, I understood that. Lansbury, notably, worked as an actor for over seven decades on both stage and screen. GROSS: Was that your bit of business, singing that vaudeville kind of song, "Up In A Balloon?". GROSS: And how did you feel about playing such a really evil role? | Star-studded. Andrew Gans Angela Lansbury, the award-winning stage and screen actress who rose to stardom in Sweeney Todd and Murder, She Wrote, died at home in Los Angeles on October 11.She was 96. "Beauty and the Beast" had a huge impact on the film industry and left a lasting legacy after being nominated for six Academy Awards, three of them being in the best original song category. When I heard Angela Lansbury had died, I immediately thought . And Ingrid gave me lovely bottles of Strategy, which was a lovely, smelly cologne, which - I'd never had anything as lovely as that - and powder, you know, sort of talcum powder and things that, you know, set. So I was never going to get to play the girl next door. LANSBURY: Well, simply that he felt that she was a naughty, rather dirty girl, and that was the way he saw her. Did you ever feel competitive with your mother? Well, someone tell me, when is it my turn? So I'd like to play part of "Rose's Turn." And you learn how to do certain things vocally and also interpretively, how to interpret something in a certain way. Let's get back to Terry's 2000 interview with Broadway movie and TV actress Angela Lansbury. LANSBURY: Very well. LANSBURY: Any actress will tell you that evil roles to play are the best. And I sort of felt that, although I didn't get big-headed about it, but I felt it - gave me tremendous confidence. In 1945 she eloped with the matinee idol Richard Cromwell, who was 16 years her senior but the relationship failed after less than a year after he revealed he was. This is FRESH AIR. And when I say that, I don't mean that I was aware of that, but I know from my own uncertainty about my personal - you see; I've always been a very private person. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @SGiangPaunon. So, for those curious, what was the last film that Lansbury was in before she died? LANSBURY: Well, he had an extraordinary group of friends, wonderful people in the business who I never would have met. "Open a New Window" from Mame At the 1971 Tony Awards, Lansbury got the chance to re-create one of the Jerry Herman classics from her Tony-winning performance in the 1966 musical. And she was a most beautiful woman, my mother. GROSS: So you say you learned a lot from him. I got to dress up and look kind of staggering and terrific with all this paraphernalia that was laid on me. Margaret Hall Please consider supporting us bywhitelisting playbill.com with your ad blocker.Thank you! She held out gallantly, but the material didn't. She held out gallantly . We want you to - we know you can sing it as far as your own rendition of the songs. I said no. And I fought it. But in that case, I was doing it eight performances a week, you have to understand. And you're going to do a little scene at the end of the term. She won her first Tony Award for that performance . 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. Sondheim, meanwhile, died in November 2021 at age 91. Viewers can see Lansburys energetic and jubilant performance, as the iconic late actress sang flawlessly during the heartwarming studio session. CHARLES BOYER: (As Gregory Anton) You would please not refer to your mistress as she. The hit production of the Alan Menken-Howard Ashman musical co-stars Tony winner Matt Doyle as Seymour. And I was being paid, good heavens, you know? Directed by Tim Janis, "Buttons" follows two orphaned girls who dream of finding a family to adopt them in time for Christmas and are aided in the search by two guardian angels, played by Lansbury and Van Dyke. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. In 1944, she made her film debut with "Gaslight" alongside Ingrid Bergman, followed by 1945's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" she received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for both roles. LANSBURY: My mother was an Irish actress, and she appeared in a number of various plays during the time that she was working. GROSS: Do you remember any of the more helpful or interesting directions that Cukor gave you? 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. I know that eventually - I think it crept in. Must have been pretty heady to be nominated your first time out. What was it like right after that number on - you know, onstage? And she wanted to get away from it. LANSBURY: (As Nancy Oliver) Oh, no, sir - not with me. It's been six years since Angela Lansbury won her fifth Tony for playing Madame Arcati in a Broadway revival of Blithe Spirit. That's absolutely the most thrilling thing in the world. I'm sure many of our LANSBURY: Listeners will remember those. And you were asked to do this in England by Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book and directed the British production. And people don't really always believe this. He felt she was - and when I gave him that, he thought it was terribly funny. 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.. And I know now that it was a difficult period of trying to be what I really wasn't. It was the kind of role she'd always dreamed of having. And I tried hard. Scroll down to see who appears briefly in the flick alongside stars Craig, Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn, Edward Norton, Janelle Mone, Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline and Dave Bautista. LANSBURY: Yes. And in this scene, you're telling your son, who has been brainwashed, that he has to be the assassin. And I was playing older women. But I think she also was quite happy to have me stay with her as I was the only - I was the sort of remaining sibling who was around. She was only in her 40s. And - but your school was moving, so you weren't able to go to school. And I think some of the shots of Ingrid Bergman are some of the most beautiful, tremulous, lovely shots I've ever seen in black-and-white photography, except for what he did for Garbo and those. Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury DBE (October 16, 1925 - October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American actress and singer. 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.