Angela Lansbury Will Always Be Mrs. Potts

by Alexa Villano
October 13, 2022

Actress Angela Lansbury, known for her role in Murder She Wrote and the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast died at the age of 96.

Actress Angela Lansbury, who voiced Mrs. Potts and whose role as a mystery writer and detective Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote died at the age of 96 on Tuesday, October 11, in Los Angeles. Her family confirmed 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,” the family announced in a statement.

The actress has a very decorative career in television, theater, and movies. For many young parents and kids, she is the voice of one of Disney’s motherly and most loved roles: Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast.

The beginning of Angela’s career

Born in London, Angela moved to the US with her family at the height of World War II. This was after initially boarding a boat for Canada. After moving to the US, her showbiz career started when she appeared as a maid in the 1944 movie Gaslight. The role earned her first nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Angela later earned two more Oscar nominations in the films The Picture of Dorian Gregory (1945) and The Manchurian Candidate (1962), where she starred opposite Frank Sinatra.

Moreover, the actress has appeared in various theater productions, where she won several Tony Awards including Sweeney Todd, where she played Nellie Lovett.

Becoming Mrs. Potts

Although many people know Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote, many children, who are now parents themselves, grew up with her as the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast. Not only did she voice Mrs. Potts but also sang the theme song in the ballroom scene, Tale as Old as Time. To this day, the song remains a Disney favorite.

In a speech in 2009 at the American Film Institute, she said the song was very close to her heart.

“The first time I heard the song, it came as a demo tape,” she said of the song written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. “It was accompanied with a query asking would i like to sing this song and play the character of the little teapot in this movie Beauty and the Beast.”

Although she wasn’t sure about it, she eventually listened to it. And the rest was history.

“You can imagine what a thrill it was for me to be hailed as a lovable singing little teapot after playing for many years of despicable characters,” she said.

Family life

Angela was married twice. She was first married to Richard Cromwell but their relationship did not last. She eventually married English actor Peter Shaw, with whom she has three children. Peter died in 2003.

In an interview with People in 1984, Angela said of her family then: “Frankly I wish I had spent more time with my family and less time making mediocre movies in those days.”

She also spoke about the time of her decision to move her family to Ireland after two of her kids got involved in drugs in the 70s.

“Malibu, where we lived in the 1960s, was a hotbed of youthful drug abuse. To these kids, it was as common as bubble gum. Peter and I were the typical Eisenhower-years couple during the ’50s. But the 1960s were shattering to us as a family.”

“Everything was telling me to take my family and get away, so I did,” she said at that time.

Aside from her decorative career, the late Queen Elizabeth II bestowed Angela the title of Dame in 2014. Before her death, she finished a Netflix film called Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. This will be streamed on December 23.