Vanity Fair Portrait: Angela Lansbury by By Len Cariou

[Will42]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 6:29am

THE BEST WOMAN Angela Lansbury, photographed by Annie Leibovitz in the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, in New York City.

The young British war refugee who idolized Bette Davis and Ginger Rogers has herself become a legend of stage and screen. As Angela Lansbury returns to Broadway, in Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, her 1979 Sweeney Todd co-star Len Cariou testifies to her cooking, her courage, and her ultimate gift.

I first met Angela in 1973 at rehearsal for a musical tribute to Stephen Sondheim at the Schubert Theatre in New York. I had never seen her on the stage, where she had left her indelible stamp on roles such as Mame and Mama Rose in Gypsy—only in films, most recently at the time Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but of course also Gaslight, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and many others, including her brilliant performance in The Manchurian Candidate. Director Harold Prince introduced us, and I was amazed she even knew who I was. When the concert was over she sought me out to say how she thought we should work together someday. “Let’s get after Hal,” she proposed. Six years later we helped create one of the great musicals, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, for which we both won Tony Awards—my first, her fourth.

Angela is a consummate actress. She loves the craft. Nothing excites her more than jumping in to create whatever the playwright and director suggest, while always adding her own impeccable take on the character. During rehearsals for Sweeney Todd her passion for detail, and her generosity as both performer and friend, made working with her a joy. We both remember our daily lunches at Gallagher’s with great fondness. Years later, as the star of Murder, She Wrote, she brought many of her friends back to work with her, including yours truly.

Fatherless by age nine, Angela was raised by a brave and resourceful mother, the Irish actress Moyna MacGill. Ange (as I call her) has come a long way from the young teen who studied drama in London and New York, and the adolescent who worked as a chanteuse in a Montreal nightclub, as well as a salesclerk at Bullock’s makeup counter in L.A. Her early idols were Bette Davis and Ginger Rogers. At 19 Angela bagged the first of her three Oscar nominations (for Gaslight). Hollywood recognized her remarkable talent, but struggled with how to cast a beautiful ingénue who was a character actress.

When the late-60s/early-70s drug culture threatened to wreck the lives of her children, she and her husband (the late Peter Shaw) packed up the family, left Hollywood, and moved to rural Ireland. You have to admire that kind of courage and fortitude. It was there, she told me, that she learned to cook. Having been a guest at her table, I can tell you she’s terrific. (Her tarte Tatin is heavenly.)

Her beloved Peter died in 2003, and there was no solace but to keep working. This spring she’s back on Broadway in The Best Man. I hope she wins her sixth Tony. Her list of nominations, awards, and honors is a mile long. Yet when you ask her what she’s most proud of, she’ll speak of her loving 53-year marriage and her children, Deirdre, Anthony, and David. She’ll brag to you about her grandchildren.

Ange is classy and elegant, warm and generous, but she’s also tough and expects everyone around her to give their all. As far as she is concerned, there is no challenge that can’t be at least partially met with a “cuppa” very strong Yorkshire Gold. Working on the stage keeps her vibrant. A healthy regimen keeps her beautiful. What keeps her ageless is her immense curiosity, her exuberance for life, and her tremendous gift for holding on to joy.
Original source

[GottaHaveAGimmick]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 9:51am

Beautiful, just beautiful. Plan to see Angela in April.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 10:31am

I was lucky enough to meet her backstage after a performance of "Blithe Spirit" and fell thoroughly in love with her. Elegance, class, vivacity -- and she is so tiny!!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 3/8/12 at 11:31am

I'd hit dat.

Posted: 3/8/12 at 12:55pm

They spelled Shubert incorrectly!