A few hours ago, Hollywood lost another great actor and musical theater legend. OUR Angela Lansbury died at her home in Los Angeles, just a few days before her 97th birthday.

Lansbury, best known for her performance as Golden Globe-winning author and detective Jessica Fletcher on the CBS series Murder, She Wrote, is the recipient of six Tony Awards (including an Honorable Mention in the Arts, which she again received in 2014 Oscars), she was unlike any other artist. Impressive appearance, a special tone of voice and wonderful articulation made the actress recognizable and easily reincarnated from one character to another. He could play any role.

According to the Los Angeles Times report, the great composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim in 2014, he said of Lansbury, “Every playwright should include her in his work, and so should every songwriter in musicals.”

The daughter of a wealthy British lumber merchant and politician who died when she was just 9 years old, Lansbury was a teenager when she signed with media company and film and series distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was shortly after she left the UK with her actress mother and siblings during World War II. At the time, she was selling cosmetics at a Los Angeles department store to financially support her family when studio manager Louis B. Meyer, impressed by the audition, gave her a job.

She initially participated as an assistant on MGM programs as well as in minor roles in Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), even receiving Oscar nominations for her performance in both films. She played the older sister of Elizabeth Taylor’s character in National Velvet (1944), a saloon singer who was Judy Garland’s rival in The Harvey Girls (1946), and part of a love triangle with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy in State. Union” (1948).

Working with Hollywood’s biggest stars was something of a learning experience for Lansbury, but also a frustration, as she was often given roles that didn’t suit her personality and skills.

He aspired to the stage, having studied acting when he came to America through a scholarship from the American Theater Wing. But she had to support her family, and when the contract ended, she began to appear frequently on television programs in the 1950s.

Surprisingly, after one of her most memorable roles in the classic movie The Manchurian Candidate, she decided it was time to fulfill her dream of going into musical theater.

He starred on Broadway in Sondheim’s production of Anyone Can Whistle, which was not a success. But two years later, she gained recognition for her role in Jerry Herman’s musical Mame. It was then that he won the first of six Tony Awards. But besides that, she also earned something even more important: the title of one of the most deserving stars of Broadway.

Her second Tony came after her performance in Herman’s musical Dear World. But a few years later, the Broadway star shone again in the revived play “Gypsy”.

Lansbury’s ability to play large and lesser characters was essential for her integration into the world of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and the role of Mrs. Lovett.

Sondheim found the perfect actress, who he said could play any role.

The talent of the actress was that she adapted to all sorts of roles and requirements – regardless of the environment. At the same time, she was not at all embarrassed in front of the cameras and in the spotlight.

Relationships with fans were very important to her. After 12 years of invading viewers’ living rooms on Murder, She Wrote, he wanted to maintain the unique connection that television offers to its audience. In 1991, she voiced Mrs. Potts in the Disney classic Beauty and the Beast, which contributed to her desire to connect with fans of all ages.

Proud of her British citizenship, her Irish heritage and the America she called home, she embraced her past, tragedy and triumph with the same confidence with which she approached the wide range of characters she embodied.

According to the Los Angeles Times