![]() ![]() Lansbury also portrayed the quintessential Granny in Neil Jordan's "The Company of Wolves" (1984), his suggestive and grown-up take on werewolves and Little Red Riding Hood. Her vocal talents received a glossy showcase in the 1983 film version of "The Pirates of Penzance," which featured much of the successful Broadway cast but failed to find an audience due to its simultaneous release on cable television and in theaters. She was perhaps better served as the domineering aunt of Gloria Vanderbilt in "Little Gloria Happy at Last" (1982), which brought her an Emmy nomination, and "A Talent for Murder" (1983), in which she appeared opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Marple in the garish, campy 1980 film version of "The Mirror Crack'd," starring aging Hollywood icons Kim Novak, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor. Lansbury returned to features and television with a vengeance in the miniseries-friendly 1980s, starting with a turn as Agatha Christie's elderly sleuth Mrs. In interviews, Lansbury credited the disaster for helping to put her children on a healthier path. A fire in 1970 destroyed the Lansbury's home in Malibu, CA which prompted a move to Country Cork, Ireland. Both of her children with Shaw had become involved with hard drugs, and Deidre became briefly involved with the Manson Family. Offscreen, however, Lansbury's personal life had taken on a darker tone. Lansbury recreated the role for a 1982 PBS broadcast of the production, which brought her a Cable ACE award and an Emmy nomination. Lovett, daffy co-conspirator to a ghoulish plan of revenge in Stephen Sondheim's gory blockbuster "Sweeney Todd" (1979). Back on Broadway, she landed a third Tony for her performance as the determined Mama Rose in the revival of "Gypsy" (1974) and as Mrs. She also began her long association with mysteries with a flamboyant turn as a besotted romance novelist who becomes involved in a murder on board an Egyptian boat cruise in "Death on the Nile" (1979), which brought her a National Board of Review award and a BAFTA nomination. She earned a Golden Globe nomination as a European noblewoman who runs afoul of a scheming butler in the cult comedy "Something For Everyone" and charmed children as a benevolent witch who tries to use magic to aid the Allies in World War II in Disney's "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971). For the next four years, Lansbury kept away from film and television to concentrate on her stage career, which by 1969, included "Dear World," a musical version of "The Madwoman of Chaillot" which, despite savage reviews from critics and an abbreviated Broadway run, won Lansbury her second Tony.īy 1970, Lansbury, now in her forties, began an audience-pleasing run of film roles that tapped her boundless energy and flair for eccentric comedy. The show ran for 1,500 performances and earned her a Tony for her memorable turn. ![]() Lansbury made her Broadway musical debut in 1964 in the short-lived "Anyone Can Whistle," but two years later, she scored her first major musical success with "Mame" (1969) as the eccentric and beloved Auntie Mame. Laurence Harvey, who was just three years Lansbury's junior, in Frankenheimer's gripping "The Manchurian Candidate," which earned her a third Oscar nomination. Lansbury's willingness to play older women, in many cases, she was less than five years older than her on-screen sons, led to her casting as the malevolent mother of brainwashed ex-G.I. Film continued to yield steady work for her, though the quality of the parts often varied greatly: "The Dark at the Top of the Stars" (1960), as the alleged town floozy whose friendship with married Robert Preston threatens to destroy his reputation, and "All Fall Down" (1962) as Warren Beatty's mother for John Frankenheimer were highlights, while "Blue Hawaii" (1962), as Elvis Presley's mother, and the tabloid biopic "Harlow" (1965), as 1930s platinum blonde star Jean Harlow's mother, was engaging fluff. ![]()
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