Editing Angela Lansbury (section)

==Early life and career beginnings ==
{{See also|Angela Lansbury on screen and stage}}

===Childhood: 1925–1942===
Angela Brigid Lansbury was born to an [[upper-middle-class]] family on October 16, 1925.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=3|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2p=3}} Although her birthplace has often been given as [[Poplar, London|Poplar, East London]],{{sfn|Edelman|Kupferberg|1996|p=3}} she rejected this, stating that while she had ancestral connections to Poplar, she was born in [[Regent's Park]], [[central London]].{{efn|In a 2014 interview for [[BBC Radio 4]], she stated: "I want to make one thing clear: I was not born in Poplar, that's not true, I was born in Regent's Park, so I wasn't born in the East End, I wish I could say I had been. Certainly my antecedents were: my grandfather, my father." (mins 3–4).<ref Name=Frontrow>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03srj0y |title=Interview with Mark Lawson |website=[[BBC Radio 4]] |date=February 3, 2014 |access-date=January 25, 2016 |archive-date=September 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160908204624/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03srj0y |url-status=live}}</ref>}} Her mother was [[Belfast]]-born Irish [[Moyna Macgill]] (born Charlotte Lillian McIldowie), an actress who regularly appeared on stage in London's [[West End theatre|West End]] and who also appeared in several films.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1pp=3–4|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=5–10|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3p=8}} Her father was the wealthy English timber merchant and politician [[Edgar Lansbury (politician)|Edgar Lansbury]], a member of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]] and former mayor of the [[Metropolitan Borough of Poplar]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=4|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2p=3}} Her paternal grandfather was the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] leader [[George Lansbury]], a man whom she felt "awed" by and considered "a giant in my youth".{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1pp=4–5|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=15–20|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=9–10}} Angela had an older half-sister, Isolde, from Macgill's previous marriage to [[Reginald Denham]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=5|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2p=3|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3p=7}} In January 1930, Macgill gave birth to twin boys, [[Bruce Lansbury|Bruce]] and [[Edgar Lansbury (producer)|Edgar]], leading the Lansburys to move from their Poplar flat to a house in [[Mill Hill]], [[north London]]; at weekends, they would stay at a farm in [[Berrick Salome]], Oxfordshire.{{sfnm|1a1=Edelman|1a2=Kupferberg|1y=1996|1p=4|2a1=Gottfried|2y=1999|2pp=11–15}}

{{Quote box|width=25em|align=left|quote=I'm eternally grateful for the Irish side of me. That's where I got my sense of comedy and whimsy. As for the English half–that's my reserved side ... But put me onstage, and the Irish comes out. The combination makes a good mix for acting.|salign=right|source={{spaced ndash}} Angela Lansbury.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=3|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2p=4|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=10–11}}}}

When Lansbury was nine, her father died from [[stomach cancer]]; she retreated into playing characters as a coping mechanism.{{sfnm|1a1=Edelman|1a2=Kupferberg|1y=1996|1p=12|2a1=Gottfried|2y=1999|2p=21}} Facing financial difficulty, her mother entered a relationship with a Scottish colonel, Leckie Forbes, and moved into his house in [[Hampstead]]. Lansbury then received an education at [[South Hampstead High School]] from 1934 until 1939,{{sfnm|1a1=Edelman|1a2=Kupferberg|1y=1996|1pp=11–12, 21|2a1=Gottfried|2y=1999|2pp=26–28}} where she was a contemporary of [[Glynis Johns]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Sturgis |first=John |date=May 14, 2023 |title=Glynis Johns – Britain's oldest living star of stage and screen is still shining |url=https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1770097/Glynis-Johns-damehood-mary-poppins |work=[[Daily Express]] |access-date=July 30, 2023}}</ref> She nevertheless considered herself largely self-educated, learning from books, theatre and cinema.{{sfnm|1a1=Edelman|1a2=Kupferberg|1y=1996|1p=14|2a1=Gottfried|2y=1999|2p=24}} Lansbury became a self-professed "complete movie maniac", visiting the cinema regularly.{{sfn|Edelman|Kupferberg|1996|pp=13–14}} Keen on playing the piano, she briefly studied music at the Ritman School of Dancing, and in 1940 began studying acting at the [[Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art|Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art]] in [[Kensington]], [[List of sub regions used in the London Plan|west London]], first appearing onstage as a lady-in-waiting in the school's production of [[Maxwell Anderson]]'s ''[[Mary of Scotland (film)|Mary of Scotland]]''.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=6|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2p=22|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=28–31}}

That year, Lansbury's grandfather died, and with the onset of [[the Blitz]], Macgill decided to take Angela, Bruce and Edgar to the United States; Isolde remained in Britain with her new husband, the actor [[Peter Ustinov]]. Macgill secured a job supervising 60 British children who were being evacuated to North America aboard the ''Duchess of Athol'', arriving with them in [[Montreal]], Canada, in August 1940.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=7|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=24–25|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=31–35}} She then proceeded by train to New York City, where she was financially sponsored by a [[Wall Street]] businessman, Charles T. Smith, moving in with his family at their home at [[Mahopac, New York]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=9|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=25–26|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=35–36}} Lansbury gained a scholarship from the [[American Theatre Wing]] to study at the [[Feagin School of Dramatic Art|Feagin School of Drama and Radio]], where she appeared in performances of [[William Congreve]]'s ''[[The Way of the World]]'' and [[Oscar Wilde]]'s ''[[Lady Windermere's Fan]]''. She graduated in March 1942, by which time the family had moved to an apartment on Morton Street, [[Greenwich Village]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1pp=8–9|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2p=26|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=36–41}}

===Career breakthrough: 1942–1945===
Macgill secured work in a Canadian touring production of ''[[Tonight at 8:30]]'', and was joined by her daughter. There, Lansbury gained her first theatrical job as a nightclub act at the Samovar Club, Montreal, singing songs by [[Noël Coward]]. Although 16 years old, she claimed to be 19 to secure the job.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=9|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2p=29|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3p=44}} Lansbury returned to New York City in August 1942, but her mother had moved to Hollywood, Los Angeles, to resurrect her cinematic career; Lansbury and her brothers followed.{{sfnm|1a1=Edelman|1a2=Kupferberg|1y=1996|1pp=29–30|2a1=Gottfried|2y=1999|2p=44}} Moving into a bungalow in [[Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles|Laurel Canyon]], both Lansbury and her mother obtained Christmas jobs at the [[Bullocks Wilshire]] department store in Los Angeles; Macgill was sacked for incompetence, leaving the family to subsist on Lansbury's wages of $28 a week.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=9|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=32–33|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=46–47}} Befriending a group of gay men, Lansbury became privy to the city's underground gay scene.{{sfn|Gottfried|1999|p=50}} With her mother, she attended lectures by the spiritual guru [[Jiddu Krishnamurti]] - at one of these, meeting the writer [[Aldous Huxley]].{{sfn|Gottfried|1999|p=50}}

[[File:Angela Lansbury in The Picture of Dorian Gray trailer.jpg|thumb|Lansbury in the trailer for ''The Picture of Dorian Gray''|alt=A young white women facing forward, with the name "Angela Lansbury" superimposed in front of her]]
At a party hosted by her mother, Lansbury met [[John van Druten]], who had recently co-authored a script for ''[[Gaslight (1944 film)|Gaslight]]'' (1944), a mystery-thriller based on [[Patrick Hamilton (writer)|Patrick Hamilton]]'s 1938 play, ''[[Gas Light]]''. The film was being directed by [[George Cukor]] and starred [[Ingrid Bergman]] in the lead role of Paula Alquist, a woman in [[Victorian era|Victorian]] London being psychologically tormented by her husband. Druten suggested that Lansbury would be perfect for the role of Nancy Oliver, a [[cockney]] maid; she was accepted for the part, although, since she was only 17, a social worker had to accompany her on the set.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1pp=11–13|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=36–41|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=53–56, 59–62}} Obtaining an agent, Earl Kramer, she was signed to a seven-year contract with [[MGM]], earning $500 a week.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=12|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=37–38|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=56–58}} ''Gaslight'' received critical acclaim, and Lansbury's performance was widely praised, earning her a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=13|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2p=42|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3p=62}}

Her next film appearance was as Edwina Brown in ''[[National Velvet (film)|National Velvet]]'' (1944); the film became a major commercial success and Lansbury developed a lifelong friendship with co-star [[Elizabeth Taylor]].{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=13|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2p=43|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3p=63}} Lansbury next starred in ''[[The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945 film)|The Picture of Dorian Gray]]'' (1945), a cinematic adaptation of Wilde's 1890 [[The Picture of Dorian Gray|novel of the same name]], which was again set in Victorian London. Directed by [[Albert Lewin]], Lansbury was cast as Sybil Vane, a working class [[music hall]] singer who falls in love with the protagonist, [[Dorian Gray]] ([[Hurd Hatfield]]). Although the film was not a financial success, Lansbury's performance once more drew praise, earning her a [[Golden Globe Award]], and she was again nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards, losing to [[Anne Revere]], her co-star in ''National Velvet''.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1pp=14–15|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=45–47|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=52–62, 66–69}}

===Later MGM films: 1945–1951===
On September 27, 1945, Lansbury married [[Richard Cromwell (actor)|Richard Cromwell]], an artist and decorator whose acting career had come to a standstill. Their marriage was troubled; Cromwell was gay, and had married Lansbury in the unsuccessful hope that it would [[Sexual orientation change efforts|turn him heterosexual]]. Lansbury filed for divorce within a year, it being granted on September 11, 1946, but they remained friends until his death.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1p=15|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=48–55|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=77–79, 81–83}} In December 1946, she was introduced to fellow English expatriate [[Peter Shaw (producer, born 1918)|Peter Pullen Shaw]] at a party held by former co-star Hurd Hatfield in [[Ojai Valley]]. Shaw was an aspiring actor, also signed to MGM, and had recently left a relationship with [[Joan Crawford]]. He and Lansbury became a couple, living together before she proposed marriage.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1pp=23–24|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=81–85|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=87–91}} They wanted a wedding in Britain, but the [[Church of England]] refused to marry two divorcees. Instead, they wed at [[St Columba's Church, London|St. Columba's Church]], a place of worship under the jurisdiction of the [[Church of Scotland]], in [[Knightsbridge]], London, in August 1949, followed by a honeymoon in France.{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1pp=24–26|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=85–87|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=96–97}} Returning to the US, they settled into Lansbury's home in Rustic Canyon, [[Malibu, California|Malibu]].{{sfnm|1a1=Edelman|1a2=Kupferberg|1y=1996|1p=76|2a1=Gottfried|2y=1999|2p=85}} In 1951, the couple both became [[Citizenship in the United States|naturalized US citizens]], albeit retaining their British citizenship via [[dual nationality]].{{sfnm|1a1=Edelman|1a2=Kupferberg|1y=1996|1p=90|2a1=Gottfried|2y=1999|2p=101}}

[[File:Angela Lansbury in Till the Clouds Roll By.jpg|left|thumb|Lansbury in a scene from MGM's ''Till the Clouds Roll By'' (1946), one of her earliest film appearances|alt=A young white woman, her arms exposed, wearing a large red feathered headdress. A fairground ride can be seen in the background.]]
Following the success of ''Gaslight'' and ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'', MGM cast Lansbury in 11 further films until her contract with the company ended in 1952. Keeping her among their [[B-list]] stars, MGM used her less than their similar-aged actresses; Lansbury biographers Rob Edelman and Audrey E. Kupferberg believed that the majority of these films were "mediocre", doing little to further her career.{{sfn|Edelman|Kupferberg|1996|pp=57–62, 64}} This view was echoed by Cukor, who believed Lansbury had been "consistently miscast" by MGM.{{sfn|Edelman|Kupferberg|1996|p=57}} She was repeatedly made to portray older women, often villainous, and as a result she became increasingly dissatisfied with working for MGM, commenting that "I kept wanting to play the [[Jean Arthur]] roles, and [[Louis B. Mayer|Mr Mayer]] kept casting me as a series of venal bitches."{{sfn|Edelman|Kupferberg|1996|pp=65–66}} The company was suffering from the post-1948 slump in cinema sales, as a result slashing film budgets and cutting their number of staff.{{sfn|Edelman|Kupferberg|1996|pp=65–66}}

In 1946, Lansbury played her first American character as Em, a honky-tonk saloon singer in the Oscar-winning [[Wild West]] musical ''[[The Harvey Girls]]'';{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1pp=18–19|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2p=59|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=71–75}} her singing was dubbed by Virginia Reese.{{sfn|Hischak|2008|p=328}} She appeared in ''[[The Hoodlum Saint]]'' (1946), ''[[Till the Clouds Roll By]]'' (1947), ''[[If Winter Comes]]'' (1947), ''[[Tenth Avenue Angel]]'' (1948), ''[[The Three Musketeers (1948 film)|The Three Musketeers]]'' (1948), ''[[State of the Union (film)|State of the Union]]'' (1948) and ''[[The Red Danube]]'' (1949). Lansbury was loaned by MGM first to [[United Artists]] for ''[[The Private Affairs of Bel Ami]]'' (1947), and then to [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] for ''[[Samson and Delilah (1949 film)|Samson and Delilah]]'' (1949).{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1pp=19–21, 27–33|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=69–71, 75|3a1=Gottfried|3y=1999|3pp=79–80, 84, 87, 91–94, 97–99}} She appeared as a villainous maidservant in ''[[Kind Lady (1951 film)|Kind Lady]]'' (1951) and a French adventuress in ''[[Mutiny (1952 film)|Mutiny]]'' (1952).{{sfnm|1a1=Bonanno|1y=1987|1pp=34–35, 37, 41|2a1=Edelman|2a2=Kupferberg|2y=1996|2pp=92–93}} Turning to radio, in 1948, Lansbury appeared in an audio adaptation of [[Somerset Maugham]]'s ''[[Of Human Bondage]]'' for ''[[NBC University Theatre]]'' and the following year, she starred in their adaptation of [[Jane Austen]]'s ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]''.{{sfn|Edelman|Kupferberg|1996|p=98}} Moving into television, she appeared in a 1950 episode of ''[[Robert Montgomery Presents]]'' adapted from [[A.J. Cronin]]'s ''[[The Citadel (novel)|The Citadel]]''.{{sfn|Edelman|Kupferberg|1996|pp=98–99}}