Angela Lansbury, the actress from “Murder, She Wrote,” died on October 11, 2022, at the age of 96. Her children said she died peacefully in her sleep at her Los Angeles home.
Lansbury was a tireless performer who kept her career going for over eight decades. She made her debut with the film “Gaslight,” for which she received her first Academy Award nomination.
Lansbury, on the other hand, garnered many more honors over her long acting career, which began in the 1940s when she relocated from London to Los Angeles. Closer Weekly reports that the actress is a five-time Tony Award and Golden Globe winner.
Despite her passion for performing, the actress treasured her family and did everything she could to ensure her children were happy and well cared for.
Lansbury married Richard Cromwell in 1945, when she was 19 years old and new to the acting scene. He was 15 years her senior and was an actor.
Lansbury’s marriage lasted just a year, but shortly after the divorce, she met Peter Shaw, with whom she eventually built a life.
In 1949, Shaw and Lansbury married. Her husband, David, had a child from a previous relationship, but the actress raised him as one of her own.
In addition, the couple welcomed two children together. Anthony, their first child, was born in 1952, and Deidre, their daughter, was born in 1953.
David commended his stepmother for being family-oriented in an exclusive interview with Closer Weekly, calling her a “wonderful person.” David further underlined that Lansbury did not simply take him in for the sake of taking him in, but she treated him as if he were her kid.
Lansbury, on the other hand, was open about some of the difficult decisions she made for her work that left her children neglected. The actress told The Daily Mail that she went on a diet and returned to work immediately after giving birth to her two children.
Lansbury expressed sadness about the decision, stating that “you have to be with your children.” Nonetheless, Lansbury had a spouse who adored and supported her; more crucially, Shaw worked as an agent in Hollywood and knew the pressures of the business.
The actress praised her husband for holding down the fort while she was away filming in Paris for 12 weeks. Lansbury and her husband both worked hard to build their lives.
The couple had a beachfront home in Malibu, and David said that his father would frequently skip work to spend time with them.
David also stated that it made Lansbury feel terrible and that the actress blamed herself for the addition of her children. But she was determined to keep her children healthy, even if it meant postponing her career.
Lansbury found it difficult to watch her children suffer as a mother. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the actress said that her children, Anthony and Deidre, “lived on heroin” between 1965 and 1969.
The actress said that her children were hospitalized owing to their heroin addiction and that despite repeated doctor visits, nothing appeared to heal them.
Lansbury stated that Anthony and Deidre began using around the age of 15. She felt helpless, but when her Malibu home was destroyed by forest fires, she saw it as a message to relocate her family to another nation.
The actress opted to reside in Ireland, her mother’s birthplace. According to the Daily Mail, she located a property in County Cork and felt it would be a therapeutic setting for her children and an area where drugs are not freely accessible.
Lansbury was supported by her stepson, David, throughout the ordeal. According to David, they worried that one of them might not make it out alive some days. “Every day was a razor’s edge,” David explained.
Fortunately for the actress, the decision saved the lives of her children. According to Lansbury, Anthony exhibited immediate signs of improvement. Deidre took her time, but she eventually won.
Lansbury’s children faced a difficult challenge in their lives, but they have since grown up with families and developed great jobs.
Lansbury stated in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail that Anthony, now 70, is a retired TV director. He directed 68 episodes of “Murder, She Wrote” and worked on a few films.
Anthony is also a married man with three children—two sons and a daughter. David, like her father, continued in his footsteps.
David rose through the ranks of his father’s production firm, Corymore Productions. According to Closer Weekly, David guided the organization to great success and a contract with Universal Television.
Deidre chose hospitality over her brothers’ choice in the entertainment sector. She married Enzo Battara, and the couple owns Enzo and Angela, an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles.
Lansbury was even more absorbed in her family in the last phases of her life, according to David. He stated that all she wanted to do was spend time with her grandchildren and that she adored being a grandmother above all else.