She found her first role simply by being in the right place at the right time and since then, it was an upward journey for her.
Angela Lansbury's first taste of fame was when she was just 17 years old. And it all began because she was at the right place at the right time.
When she was just a nine-year-old girl, she lost her father to cancer. After his death, life got hard for her, her mom, and her siblings. It affected her emotionally, too, she revealed in an interview with Daily Mail.
"My father, Edgar, died from cancer at 48 in 1934 when I was nine and I think my headmistress at South Hampstead High School for Girls realized I was suffering," she shared. "Looking back, I think that was the defining moment of my life. Nothing before or since has ever affected me so deeply. It also altered the shape of my life. I lost interest in my school work although I was never very academic. I became something of a dreamer, lost in my grief. In time, I became much more interested in acting, following the example of my mother."
Lansbury's mother, Moyna MacGill, an actress, put her faith in Lansbury and moved her four children to America. Once she got to the US, Lansbury worked at Bullock's department store to make ends meet, and it presented her with an opportunity to meet Van Druten, one of Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) studio's scriptwriters for the film Gaslight.
Druten saw something in Lansbury and called her for a screen test. She was soon cast as Nancy, the flirtatious maid. Nancy got Lansbury a contract with MGM and her first Oscar nomination. She said it was "a little short of a miracle." Safe to say that she was very in demand since then.
She soon ventured into theater, and then into television. As for her personal life, the star got married to actor-turned-artist Richard Cromwell, when she was just 19, but her marriage did not last for even a year.
Lansbury said she arrived home one day and found a note that read, "Sorry, I can't go on." She had no idea what went wrong, but soon, she was informed that her husband was gay. Though the separation was a lot for her to handle, she managed to stay friends with him, until his death in 1960 from cancer.
However, in 1949, Lansbury married Peter Shaw and their relationship was perfect. He did everything he could to support his wife's career as an actor, and that showed how dedicated he was to her.
But, tragedy struck and they almost lost their two kids, Anthony and Deidre, even before they were teens, because they were caught mingling with the wrong crowd, causing them to be dependent on drugs.
In a bid to save their kids, Lansbury urged her husband to move to Cork, Ireland, where they could start over. Honestly, the plan worked and Anthony was a changed man in no time. Though it took a bit longer with Deidre, she made it out safe, too.
Meanwhile, Lansbury and Shaw's marriage lasted 54 years until her husband died of heart failure in 2003. After his demise, the actress found herself in a rather dark space. While trying to navigate without her husband, Lansbury found strength in her grandkids, she told Larry King.
The best part is that Lansbury has no plans of retiring, in fact, she said that she would probably have a script in her hand when she dies. Lansbury may be 96 years old, but she definitely doesn't show any signs of slowing down!
References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEwRlVmsCys&t=83s
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photos By (L) Hulton Archive (R) Vince Bucci
