United Artists
Angela Lansbury, in a publicity photo for "The Private Affairs of Bel Ami" (1947).
The three-time Academy Award-nominee, who has dominated both screen and
stage in a career spanning nearly seven decades, will be honored with a
lifetime achievement Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts &
Sciences, at the 5th annual Governors Awards, on Saturday, Nov. 16,
2013.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
The Ingenue
MGM
Angela Lansbury was born in London to Irish actress Moyna MacGill and Edgar Lansbury, a timber merchant; her grandfather, George Lansbury, was the charismatic leader of the Labor Party.
She was sent by her mother to drama school - first in London, then in New York and, ultimately, Hollywood, where she was signed by MGM.
"Gaslight"
MGM
By 17, she was making her first film, as the flirtatious cockney maid who only adds to the intrigue between Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, in the 1944 suspense classic, "Gaslight."
For her debut, Lansbury received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
"Gaslight"
MGM
The director of "Gaslight," George Cukor, was appalled that a woman of Angela Lansbury's youth could pull off playing such a convincing seductress.
"I know. Isn't that curious?" Lansbury told CBS' "Sunday Morning" in 2009. "'Cause you'd think I'd been around the block, as they say. I hadn't, you know. I really hadn't!"
"National Velvet"
MGM
Angela Lansbury with Elizabeth Taylor, Jackie Jenkins and Juanita Quigley in "National Velvet" (1944).
"The Picture of Dorian Gray"
MGM
Angela Lansbury played a young singer who becomes engaged to a man harboring a terrible secret, in the 1945 film of Oscar Wilde's macabre novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray."
"The Picture of Dorian Gray"
MGM
Angela Lansbury in "The Picture of Dorian Gray," For the second consecutive year, Lansbury earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
"The Harvey Girls"
MGM
Angela Lansbury in "The Harvey Girls" (1946), an MGM musical which starred Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Ray Bolger and (in her first speaking role) Cyd Charisse.
"The Private Affairs of Bel Ami"
United Artists
Angela Lansbury joins in the frivolity in "The Private Affairs of Bel Ami" (1947), a Production Code-friendly adaptation of the Guy de Maupassant novel about a cad pursuing numerous females in Paris.
"State of the Union"
MGM
Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson and Angela Lansbury in "State of the Union" (1948), directed by Frank Capra. Lansbury played a media maven who pushes Tracy to seek the nomination for president.
"The Three Musketeers"
MGM
Angela Lansbury appeared as Queen Anne in the 1948 adventure, "The Three Musketeers," which starred Gene Kelly, Lana Turner, Van Heflin, George Sidney, June Allyson and Vincent Price.
"Samson and Delilah"
Paramount Pictures
Victor Mature starred as Samson and Angela Lansbury as Semadar, his betrothed, before the Biblical strongman crossed paths with Semadar's younger sister, Delilah, in Cecil B. De Mille's colorful 1949 epic, "Samson and Delilah."
"Remains to Be Seen"
MGM
Angela Lansbury starred with Juen Allyson and Van Johnson in the 1953 mystery-comedy "Remains to Be Seen," a tale of murder in a posh New York City apartment building. Ads proclaimed the film to be a "Fright-fully Funny Mirthquake."
"A Lawless Street"
Columbia Pictures
Randolph Scott is the lawman out to clear out the corrupt businessmen of Medicine Bend, and Angela Lansbury is the singer who rides into town from out of Scott's past only to complicate matters, in the 1955 Western, "A Lawless Street."
"The Court Jester"
Paramount Pictures
Danny Kaye's 1995 musical-comedy "The Court Jester" (1955), also starred Glynis Johns and Angela Lansbury.
"The Reluctant Debutante"
MGM
Kay Kendall, Rex Harrison and Angela Lansbury star as socialites eager to secure reputable partners for their daughters being introduced during debutante season, in Vincente Minnelli's 1958 comedy, "The Reluctant Debutante."
"The Manchurian Candidate"
United Artists
Despite back-to-back Oscar nominations, Lansbury spent her twenties and
thirties hopelessly typecast as a mother, in "The World of Henry
Orient," "Blue Hawaii" (as Elvis' mom), and "The Manchurian Candidate"
(left), in which she gives son Laurence Harvey advice only a loving
mother could give: "You are to shoot the presidential nominee through
the head."
"This is what you have to have, that ability to dominate the other
characters," Lansbury explained to "Sunday Morning." "And if you can do
that effectively at any age, you'll be cast in that role. And I was
really cast in that role over, and over, and over again."
Lansbury received her third Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for "Manchurian Candidate."
"In the Cool of the Day"
MGM
Angela Lansbury and Peter Finch play a couple traveling in Greece divided by tragedy - and by the entrance of Jane Fonda - in the 1963 romantic drama, "In the Cool of the Day"
"Mame"
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts/Kenn Duncan Photograph Archive
With fewer opportunities in film, Lansbury took to the Broadway stage. After winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a musical for "Mame" (left) in 1966, she repeated wins for "Dear World," "Gypsy," and "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street," and later won for Best Featured Actress in a Play for "Blithe Spirit."
She said stage roles were liberating for her: "Oh, no question about it. I felt liberated the minute I came to Broadway. Those years at MGM - I hadn't really been judged as an actress until I made it on Broadway."
"Mame"
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts/Kenn Duncan Photograph Archive
Angela Lansbury and Beatrice Arthur in the 1966 Broadway production of "Mame."
"Sweeney Todd"
Showtime
Angela Lansbury and George Hearn in Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street."
"Bedknobs and Broomsticks"
Walt Disney Pictures
Angela Lansbury entered a magical world of 2-D animation, playing a
witch in the musical, "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971), which featured
many of the creatives (and co-star David Tomlinson) from "Mary Poppins."
About a half-hour of the film's 2.5-hour running time was cut by the
studio following its U.K. premiere; while attempting to restore songs
for home video it was discovered that some of the footage subsequently
was lost and presumed destroyed.
"Death on the Nile"
EMI
The international success of the 1974 film, "Murder on the Orient
Express," led to a plethora of Agatha Christie adaptations with all-star
casts.
"Death on the Nile" (1978) starred David Niven, George Kennedy, Peter
Ustinov (as Hercule Poirot), Bette Davis, Jack Warden, Lois Chiles and
Angela Lansbury.
"The Mirror Crack'd"
Columbia Pictures
In "The Mirror Crack'd" (1980), Angela Lansbury played Agatha Christie's
Miss Marple in a movie-star murder mystery that also featured Rock
Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak.
"The Company of Wolves"
Cannon
Angela Lansbury played a kindly grandmother in Neil Jordan's 1984
horror-fantasy of big bad wolves and a young girl wearing a red hood,
"The Company of Wolves" (1984).
"Murder, She Wrote"
CBS
Produced by the creators of "Columbo," "Murder, She Wrote," about a writer of mysteries and incredibly successful amateur sleuth, earned Angela Lansbury 12 consecutive Emmy Award nominations for her role.
"Beauty and the Beast"
Walt Disney Studios
A scene from the animated Disney musical, "Beauty and the Beast" (1991),
featured the voice of Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Potts, who had been
turned by witchcraft into a teapot. Other magic castle denizens were
Kimmy Robertson as the Feather Duster, David Ogden Stiers as Cogsworth,
Jerry Orbach as Lumiere, and Bradley Michael Pierce as Chip.
Kennedy Center Honors
CHRIS KLEPONIS/AFP/Getty Images
President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton welcome the
Kennedy Center Honorees to the White House in Washington, December 3,
2000. From left: dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, rock-and-roll pioneer Chuck
Berry, tenor Placido Domingo, actor-director Clint Eastwood and actress
Angela Lansbury.
Referring to the British emigrant who became "American royalty,"
President Clinton remarked, "Over her career her acting has given us a
window into the full range of human emotion and experience. Her
inventiveness and courage have inspired her colleagues, and her
commitment to charity, especially the fight against AIDS, should inspire
us all."
Kennedy Center Honors
NESHAN H. NALTCHAYAN/AFP/Getty Images
Kennedy Center Honorees, actor-director Clint Eastwood and actress
Angela Lansbury are seen during the Kennedy Center Honors Gala, hosted
by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, at the State Department in
Washington, D.C., December 2, 2000.
International Emmy Awards
Lawrence Lucier/Getty Images)
Actress Angela Lansbury attends the 30th Annual International Emmy Awards Gala on November 25, 2002 in New York City.
The Actors' Fund
Scott Gries/Getty Images
Bernadette Peters and Angela Lansbury appear on stage during the Actors'
Fund of America Gala, at the Waldorf Astoria, October 30, 2004 in New
York City.
"Nanny McPhee"
Universal Pictures
Angela Lansbury played Lady Adelaide Stitch, the source of some
consternation in the household of widower Cedric Brown (Colin Firth), in
the comedy-fantasy, "Nanny McPhee" (2005), co-starring Emma Thompson.
"Nanny McPhee"
Universal Pictures
Angela Lansbury comes up on the losing end of a food fight in the comedy "Nanny McPhee."
"Nanny McPhee"
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Emma Thompson and Angela Lansbury arrive at the premiere of "Nanny McPhee," at CityWalk, January 14, 2006 in Los Angeles.
American Film Institute
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for AFI
Presenters George Lucas and Angela Lansbury pose for a portrait during
AFI's 40th Anniversary celebration, at Arclight Cinemas on October 3,
2007 in Hollywood, California.
"A Little Night Music"
Neilson Barnard/Getty Images
Actresses Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones appear onstage along
with fellow cast members during the curtain call at the opening of "A
Little Night Music," at the Walter Kerr Theatre, December 13, 2009 in
New York City.
Tony Awards
Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images
Actress Angela Lansbury speaks onstage during the 64th Annual Tony
Awards at Radio City Music Hall, June 13, 2010 in New York City.
Grande Dame
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts/Kenn Duncan Photograph Archive
An undated portrait of actress Angela Lansbury.
The Governors Awards for lifetime achievement, to Steve Martin, actress
Angela Lansbury, and costume designer Piero Tosi, and the Jean Hersholt
Humanitarian Award, to Angelina Jolie, will be presented by the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on Saturday, November 16, 2013, at
the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in Los
Angeles, Calif.