Beloved actress and longtime Malibu resident Angela Landsbury has died at the age of 96. The commanding actress got her start in Hollywood at a young age and quickly earned roles as formidable woman in movies such as “Blue Hawaii” as Elvis’ mother and “The Manchurian Candidate” as the mother of Laurence Harvey’s character when the actress was in fact only three years older than Harvey.
The actress received three Academy Award nominations and an honorary Oscar in 2013 for her lifetime achievement in film. Landsbury excelled on the Great White Way, too, winning five Tony awards and seven nominations. She’ll be best remembered for her darkly comedic performance in “Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” And then Landsbury conquered the small screen as Jessica Fletcher in “Murder She Wrote,” where she racked up 18 Primetime Emmy Award nominations.
Originally from the United Kingdom, Landsbury was honored as Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014. One of her last roles was a surprise appearance in 2018s, “Mary Poppins Returns,” which also featured legendary actor and Malibu resident Dick Van Dyke. Despite their many years of appearing in detective TV series of the same era, the two performers, who also starred in other Disney projects, had never before worked together. In the 1970s Landsbury lost her home in a Malibu brush fire. She was 96.