Angela Lansbury in real life

[Will42]

Posted: 3/17/12 at 3:04pm

Reading people's anecdotes about people meeting the legendary Lauren Bacall, made me think about another Hollywood and Broadway legend. How is Ms. Lansbury in real life? I imagine a little bit nicer and more down-to-earth than Ms. Bacall?
The late Bea Arthur, her close friend, said that she has the mouth of a longshoreman, wonder of it's true. Can't imagine her swearing, for some reason.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 3/17/12 at 3:14pm

I met her at a screening of The Blackwater Lightship (in which she appeared) in about 2005, and she was absolutely lovely. I was still very young and she basically ignored the adults I was with and doted on me, asking me about school and my teachers etc.... Of course back then, I only knew her from Murder, She Wrote so I look back with both fondness and regret that I didn't appreciate quite who I was talking to.

Not exactly real life, but she was a delight!

Updated On: 3/17/12 at 03:14 PM

[Will42]

Posted: 3/17/12 at 3:21pm

She was great in that film. Should have won that Emmy (can't believe she has never won one despite 18 nominations) over Mary-Louise Parker.
By the way, Sam Robards, who play one of the lead roles in The Blackwater Lightship, is Lauren Bacall's son.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/17/12 at 3:36pm

I thought this thread was going to be about that movie where Steve Carell played Angela Lansbury as a widowed father living with his three children and finding new love.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 3/17/12 at 3:42pm

As it happens, I worked with Angela twice (GYPSY and MAME) in the same calendar year I worked with Lauren Bacall. Lansbury was a huge draw in Miami Beach (in those days before TV made her a big star everywhere), so there was a great deal of excitement about her arrival. (And a line around the block just hoping for cancellations at the final sold-out matinee of MAME.)

Nobody, least of all I, was disappointed. Of all the stars who appeared at what was basically a star-package house, Lansbury was not only among the most talented, she was easily the classiest and best to work with.

I will say that her husband, Peter Shaw, functioned as the man who made the demands, which relieved Angie of any need to be "difficult". It was my job to say "no" at that theater, so Peter would make demands and I would resist until (usually) I gave in. Because unlike other stars we hosted, Lansbury and Shaw's demands were always about the show (GYPSY needed an extra clarinet in the orchestra, say), not about her hotel room or personal contract requirements such as fruit baskets. (In contrast, Yul Brynner made us paint his dressing room a particular shade of brown.)

I can't speak highly enough of Angela Lansbury, onstage and off. And even though we had been adversaries, technically, Peter and I remained casually friendly until I moved out of New York City. (I.e., we would stop and chat when we ran into each other on the Upper West Side; I don't mean to imply I was ever a close friend.)

I've since heard the joke, "Nobody kicks higher than Angela Lansbury" and I know Sondheim talks about her counting songs in ANYONE CAN WHISTLE. I'm not doubting the veracity of these tales; I don't suppose anybody becomes so big a star without a little temperament. But as I said, in my experience, Lansbury was extraordinarily generous.

I've had at least two friends who wrote her letters and got long replies in response. But that was 35 years ago; I don't know whether she still has the time or energy to respond at such length.

(ETA as for her having a mouth like a sailor, I didn't hear any indication of that. But obviously Bea Arthur spent far more personal time with Lansbury than I did.) Updated On: 3/17/12 at 03:42 PM

[D2]

Posted: 3/17/12 at 4:27pm

During the run of SWEENEY TODD I designed a poster for the show for one of my design classes featuring pen and ink drawings of the cast. I sent it backstage to be autographed -- when I came back to pick it up, Ms. Lansbury was just coming out of the stage door. She stopped to compliment me on the design and the likenesses.

Several years later I was in Bloomingdale's and ran into her. She took a moment, and then said "I remember you -- you drew that pen and ink poster." I was flabbergasted. Lovely, lovely lady.

[castlestreet]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 10:01am

I've had the absolute pleasure of meeting her twice- once backstage at Night Music and again last weekend at The Best Man- she is such a sweet and charming person- she instantly puts you at ease despite the fact that you are thinking the entire time "oh my God I am standing here with a living legend". She never makes you feel rushed, but rather takes her time with you and asks you questions about the show, about your life and where you are from, hell, she even took five or so minutes with one of my older friends who was with us at Night Music and went off on a long tangent about Murder She Wrote. In person she is literally everything you would want her to be, and having had the opportunity to meet many different celebrity types that is NOT always the case. She is a true class act and I just can not say enough good about her.

[bwaybby]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 10:28am

I met her in an elevator and she was super nice about me freaking out :). She let me take a picture and wished me a "lovely day"

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 10:39am

"I imagine [Angela Lansbury is] a little bit nicer and more down-to-earth than Ms. Bacall?"

By all accounts, that's like saying Ingrid Bergman was a little bit nicer and more down-to-earth than Joan Crawford.

"The late Bea Arthur, [Angela Lansbury's] close friend, said that she has the mouth of a longshoreman."

By all accounts, the late Bea Arthur made Bob Saget sound like Anne of Green Gables.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 11:25am

I'm reminded of a scene from the film "Morning Glory" where Patrick Wilson tells Rachel McAdams after she just hired Harrison Ford:

"Congratulations, you just hired the third worst person in the world. So now is a good time for you to take up drinking."

"Who are the other two worst people in the world?"

"Oh, Kim Jong-Il and Angela Lansbury. She knows what she did."

I guess with the recent death of Kim Jong, Angela moves up to #1. :-P

[Will42]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 2:29pm

LOL!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 2:58pm

This link should really answer any personal questions you have about the great Lansbury. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXqreCgWYuA

[madlibrarian]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 3:10pm

There's also a funny line about Angela Lansbury in the British comedy (with the Oscar-nominated screenplay!) "In the Loop".

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 3:12pm

"The late Bea Arthur, [Angela Lansbury's] close friend, said that she has the mouth of a longshoreman."

By all accounts, the late Bea Arthur made Bob Saget sound like Anne of Green Gables.

I think it's possible Arthur was making a joke because of Lansbury's public image.

On the other hand, since Angela seems to take time and genuinely listen to others, it wouldn't surprise me if she can use all sorts of dialects and slang.

But I heard nothing of the kind during the two months I worked with her. She wasn't all "prissy and stiff-upper-lip" either, but she spoke correct English, warmly and with a minimum of slang.

During her first week in Florida with GYPSY, we had a very distressing incident where the stage manager we had supplied was calling the show while drunk. Of course nowadays, such a person would be gone in a heartbeat, but the 1970s were a more lax era and the stage manager was quite famous in the business, having begun his career with SOUTH PACIFIC on Broadway. He had worked locally for us for over a decade and was greatly beloved at our theater.

And I was trying to handle the whole mess, dealing with people I idolized at the ripe old age of 23.

It was unpleasant for everyone involved (and humiliating for the SM, of course), but Angela remained firm that the issue wasn't just that the show was thrown off by his miscalling the cues, the performers onstage were actually in physical danger. (He had lowered more than one drop on a performer's head.)

Throughout the couple of days until the SM was finally fired, I never heard Lansbury raise her voice, much less swear. She merely stuck to her guns, believing correctly that she was acting for the good of the entire company.

If ever there were an opportunity for crude language, that would have been it. God know I used a few choice words out of earshot of the other people involved!





Updated On: 3/18/12 at 03:12 PM

[Will42]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 3:35pm

I would like to thank you, Gaveston for sharing those wonderful stories with us. They are highly appreciated.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 3:59pm

You're welcome, Will. I don't suppose it's a secret that the two months I spent working with the Shaws were a highlight of my professional life.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 4:15pm

This link should really answer any personal questions you have about the great Lansbury. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXqreCgWYuA

Damn! What did she do? Join Scientology?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 4:29pm

And once again, Gaveston, you have proven my sneaking belief that you avoid reading any posts I make :P

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 4:33pm

What do you mean, Eric? I know you're at least half-kidding, but there seems to be a point in there, too.

If I offended you even slightly, I have no idea why.

If you are just being facetious because I almost always read your posts and comment immediately, then I guess I'm guilty as charged. LOL.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 4:53pm

No, no I was completely kidding. Just that I posted that link in this thread a few comments earlier.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 4:57pm

And I'm going to go back into bed and sleep--apparently my birthday weekend celebrating has left me in a bad state--I see you were *commenting* on my post. Sigh. (This is also why I wish I didn't have a messed up account on here that won't allow me to edit my posts...)

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 6:41pm

Eric, if it bothers you, maybe you should just scrap your current account and start again...become EricMontreal23 or something? I notice too that you joined just last Halloween, though I could've sworn you were around when I first joined...and how come your picture keeps appearing and disappearing, ;...you have a lot of gremlins it seems.

Updated On: 3/18/12 at 06:41 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 8:30pm

"I think it's possible Arthur was making a joke because of Lansbury's public image."

No doubt, Gaveston. I learned from Bill Hickey in one of his endless, wonderful lessons at HB, that Arthur, whom he seemed to adore, also had the mouth of a stevedore.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 8:39pm

I've had the pleasure of meeting Angela Lansbury several times and she gave me no indication that she was foul-mouthed. There was a time when she invited me and my guest to her dressing room at the Uris to try some cheesecake that she'd made that morning. Her King, Michael Kermoyan (sp?) joined us and everything was warm, gracious, and extremely civil.

Additionally, I've interviewed a few people who've worked with her and they've had nothing but wonderful things to say about her.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/18/12 at 9:44pm

Jay thanks--I actually re-joined back then because of the same problem. Obviously it didn't help.