R.I.P. Angela Lansbury: A Grand Dame for the Ages

Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury has died at the age of 96.

You can read obituaries and appreciations of her career in:

• The AV Club
• Collider
• Deadline
• NPR
• The New York Times
• Variety
• Vogue
• The Washington Post, and
• Disney (she was, of course, a “Disney Legend”)

And if you want to celebrate her many parts singing memorable songs, Playbill has a wonderful video compilation. Amazing that she simply termed her voice “serviceable.”

Indeed, if you find many folks feeling blue, it’s not only the longevity of her career resulted in so many memorable roles, but the fact that she was an icon, role model, and graceful force to be reckoned with in film, on stage, and on television.

I know many of the remembrances point to her amazing performance in The Manchurian Candidate. If you haven’t seen the film, its worth seeing for her alone (I picture Lady Macbeth seeing Lansbury’s machinations and saying, “No notes.”). However, my favorite villain role for her is probably 1955’s The Court Jester, where her petulance as a pampered princess is only matched by the peril she poses.

Of course, there’s also the wonderfully caring yet callous (and, at least for quality control, cannibalistic) Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd.

All this before she was Mrs. Potts or Jessica Fletcher.

So 96 years is a damn fine run, especially because she spent so many of them working, but it’s sad to see her go. What a Dame.