Angela Lansbury

British-American actress who achieved stardom in the '60s, first as a Broadway musical star in "Mame" then, from September 1984, as Jessica Fletcher in the popular hit TV series, "Murder She Wrote." Lansbury was the daughter of a lumber merchant and a noted stage actress, Irish beauty Moyna MacGill, Lansbury's dad passed away when she was nine. It was her grandfather who was a noted public figure, a Labour Party leader. Her sister Isolde married Peter Ustinov. Her mom took her and her twin brothers to the U.S. during wartime, 1940. The family was always close and mutually supportive. Lansbury's film debut as a cockney maid in "Gaslight" in 1944 brought in her first of three Oscar nominations, along with "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "The Manchurian Candidate." Her starring role in the Broadway musical "Mame" won four Tony Awards. She has done voice-over for the Disney studio in a main screen production and the ensuing video series releases. Lansbury made an early marriage at 20 for nine months to Richard Cromwell, who was gay and trying to convince himself that it was not so. She then settled into a productive and happy enduring marriage to studio executive Peter Shaw on 8/12/1949 in London; they have three children. They commute between a home in Los Angeles and an apartment in New York. Lansbury is said to be as gracious personally as she is on camera. While her kids were in their early teens, Lansbury had a problem common to many parents with her kids getting into hard drugs. It seemed an appropriate move in 1970 after a firestorm destroyed her Malibu house, that she and Peter move the family to Ireland. They commuted for the next ten years and after the great popularity of "Murder," the family continued to spend two months a year in Europe. Lansbury has suffered with debilitating arthritis for many years. Her second hip replacement was done in May 1994 when she had her left hip replaced by surgeon Dr. John Moreland who did the surgery also for Liz Taylor. She was up and about in just two weeks following surgery, attending a gala at Jimmy's Restaurant in Beverly Hills. She was widowed when Peter Shaw died of coronary arrest on January 29, 2003. She and the gracious theater agent were married for 53 years, from 1949-2003. Link to Wikipedia biography