For 12 years she was known as Jessica Fletcher, the epic mystery novelist on CBS’s Murder, She Wrote. And before that, she was the soothing voice we all grew up with when she became Mrs. Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Best.
Now, just five days before her 97th birthday, Dame Angela Lansbury’s family revealed in a statement that the legendary actress as passed away on October 11. Lansbury was born in London on October 16, 1925.
Lansbury had one of the longest-running careers in Hollywood which spanned more than 80 years. She was married twice, her first husband was actor Richard Cromwell from 1945 to 1946 and her second husband was producer Peter Shaw.
Lansbury was only 19 when she married Cromwell. As she told People in a previous interview, “I was a young woman looking for glamor and attention, and I didn’t really get it. So what did I do? I got married at 19.”
As the story goes, Cromwell was gay. But Lansbury wasn’t aware of that until they separated nine months after becoming husband and wife.
While Cromwell and Lansbury remained friends until his passing in the 1960s, Lansbury said this of their divorce. “My first great, great romance. It was a terrible tragedy.”
Lansbury and Shaw remained married for nearly 55 years until Shaw passed away in 2003. The couple shared three children together, Deidre, Anthony, and David.
“The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 a.m. today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” her family says in their statement obtained by People.
“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,” the statement adds.
“She was proceeded in death by her husband of 53 years, Peter Shaw. A private family ceremony will be held at a date to be determined.”