Dame Angela Lansbury, star of stage and screen, dies aged 96

Dame Angela Lansbury has died aged 96.

The award-winning Murder She Wrote star was five days away from her 97th birthday.

Lansbury's family released a statement confirming the news: "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 AM today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday.

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"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. 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."

Born in London in 1925, Lansbury is best known to modern audiences for playing Jessica Fletcher in the long-running crime show Murder She Wrote which ran for 12 seasons until 1996.

She appeared in Gaslight, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Manchurian Candidate, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Death on the Nile, Nanny McPhee and provided the voice of Mrs. Potts in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. In 2018 she appeared in Mary Poppins Returns as a balloon seller, in one of her final screen roles.

She enjoyed a hugely successful 80-year acting career, receiving an honorary Academy Award, six Tony awards, six Golden Globes, one Olivier award and was nominated for 18 Emmys in total.

In 2014, Lansbury was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.

In a Telegraph interview in 2015, she said: “I’ve never been particularly aware of my age.

“It’s like being on a bicycle – I just put my foot down and keep going. I never look at my face and think ‘God, you’re getting old’ or think of running out of steam.”