What Was Angela Lansbury's Net Worth and Salary?
Dame Angela Lansbury DBE was a British-American actress and singer who had a net worth of $70 million at the time of her death in October 2022. With a career that stretched back to the so-called "Golden Age" of Hollywood, Angela Lansbury was a living reminder of the rich history of filmmaking. At the time of her death, she was the oldest living Academy Award nominee. All in all, Lansbury's career spanned more than eight decades.
Depending on when you were born, the name Angela Lansbury either evokes images of a youngish woman singing, an older woman solving mysteries, or an elderly woman with a knack for dark comedy. Lansbury starred in such films as, "National Velvet," "State of the Union," "The Court Jester," "The Reluctant Debutante," "The Manchurian Candidate," "Death on the Nile," "The Company of Wolves," and "Nanny McPhee." She has also starred on several television shows, including "Studio 57," "Murder She Wrote, "Touched by an Angel," and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." In addition to her work on-screen, she starred in numerous Broadway and West End productions, including the original production of "Mame," the acclaimed 1973 revival of "Gypsy," the award-winning 1979 revival of "The King and I," and the original Broadway production of "Sweeney Todd."
After living through World War II in London, Angela relocated to the United States and soon found acting work. After a number of film roles, she focused mostly on stage acting throughout the next period. She is also known for her television roles, most notably with "Murder, She Wrote."
Throughout her career, Angela Lansbury won several awards and honors. These include an Honorary Oscar, five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes, and an Olivier Award. She was nominated for an Academy Award on three separate occasions. Amazingly, Angela never won an Emmy Award despite being nominated 18 times. A total of three biographies have been written about her life journey.
Early Life
Angela Brigid Lansbury was born on October 16, 1925, in Regent's Park, London, England. Angela was raised in an upper-middle-class family, and her father owned a wood veneering company and became a politician. Her mother was Moyna MacGill, an Irish actress who appeared in several films and West End theatrical productions. When Lansbury was nine years old, her father passed away from stomach cancer. This prompted her to "escape" into acting, playing various characters as a coping mechanism. Even into the 2010s, she admitted that her father's death still affected her deeply.
During this period, Angela also became obsessed with movies and learned how to play the piano. She then studied acting in West London and began appearing in her first plays. When World War II broke out, Angela's mother decided to take her children out of London to escape the bombing raids. The family relocated to North America, first landing in Montreal, Canada before continuing to New York City. While in New York, Lansbury continued her acting education, studying at the Feagin School of Drama and Radio. Once again, she appeared in stage productions. Angela eventually graduated from drama school in 1942.
Early Career
Lansbury first worked alongside her mother, earning $60 a week singing songs at nightclubs at the age of 16. She eventually followed her mother to Los Angeles to pursue a film career. Angela worked at a department store and ended up supporting the entire family on her wage of $28 per week.
1950s Success
Lansbury's real breakthrough came when she met John van Druten, a British playwright who had just written the script for "Gaslight." Angela was cast in the film alongside Ingrid Bergman as a cockney maid at the age of 17, and she earned $500 per week while on set. Lansbury was also singled out for praise by critics and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
After signing a contract with MGM, Lansbury appeared in a range of additional films throughout the next few years. These included "National Velvet," "The Picture of Dorian Gray," and eleven more films until her contract ended in 1952. In the years that followed, many observers stated that this MGM contract had been detrimental to Lansbury's career, as she was continuously miscast in mediocre films. Over the next few years, Angela appeared on radio shows and continued her theatre career.
After ending her contract with MGM, Angela was cast as a much older woman in various films despite being in her 20s. She returned to prominence with films such as "The Long Hot Summer" and "The Reluctant Debutante." After a number of additional film and theatre roles, Lansbury joined the cast of "The Manchurian Candidate," playing a villain. This role proved to be one of her most notable accomplishments, and she was nominated for another Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
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1960s – 1970s
In the mid-60s, she gained recognition for playing the title role in the musical "Mame," which became a cult classic among the gay community. More film roles followed, but her most prominent achievement during the '70s was her performance in the musical "Gypsy." Towards the end of the '70s, Lansbury continued to cause a stir with her stage career, appearing in the musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Throughout the '80s, Angela continued to book a variety of film roles.
"Murder She Wrote"
In 1983, Lansbury landed the role of Jessica Fletcher in the TV series "Murder, She Wrote." The series aired 264 episodes over 12 seasons through 1996, becoming the longest-running detective drama in television history and attracting a massive audience during its run.
The 1990s to the 2020s
One of her most beloved roles was in the 1991 Disney animated version of Beauty and the Beast. Angela's version of Mrs. Potts became iconic.
From the late '90s onwards, Lansbury largely returned to theatre, although she did continue to appear in various television series. Film roles during this period came with "Nanny McPhee," "Mr. Popper's Penguins," and "Mary Poppins Returns."
In 2019, it was announced that Lansbury was returning to Broadway once again with a production of "The Importance of Being Earnest." Angela had a cameo as herself in the 2022 film "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery."
Relationships
Angela Lansbury's first husband was actor Richard Cromwell, whom she married at the age of 19. The 35-year-old Cromwell married Angela in 1945 but divorced her in 1946. Lansbury later discovered that Richard was actually gay.
Her second husband was actor Peter Shaw, and they were wed in 1949. During their 54-year marriage, the couple had two children, Anthony and Deidre. In 2003, Shaw passed away.
Family Issues
In the 1960s, Angela discovered that her children had become addicted to drugs as teenagers. Although her son, Anthony, started with marijuana, he was soon taking heroin and cocaine. At one point, he overdosed on heroin and lapsed into a coma. Lansbury even admitted that her daughter Deidre was connected to the followers of Charles Manson. In an effort to set her children straight, Angela relocated the entire family to County Cork in Ireland. In the end, both of her kids became clean. Lansbury later blamed herself for her kids' drug issues, saying that she had become too focused on her entertainment career and not enough on her family life.
Real Estate
Angela Lansbury amassed an impressive real estate portfolio during her life. She owned an apartment in New York City that lies one block south of Central Park, which she purchased in 2006 for $2 million. She also owned an extensive residence in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. She purchased the Brentwood mansion with her husband, Peter Shaw, for $925,000 in 1985. In March 2023, Angela's estate listed her Brentwood mansion for a shade under $5 million.
