Showbiz On her 93ste shines Angela Lansbury as never before. And yet it was the life of the actress, who enjoys world-wide fame thanks to her role of Jessica Fletcher in the tv series ” Murder, She Wrote’, it is not always about roses.
Angela lost her father when she was barely 9 years old. Edgar died of stomach cancer. To the loss, she collapsed already at a very young age on the acting. In the skin of other characters crawl was her outlet. “My father’s death was a pivotal moment in my life,” says Angela. “There, at that time, my life purpose, my career shaped up.” Angela left in her teens in England and moved with her mother Moyna MacGill to America. Moyna, also an actress, dreamed of a great career, but it was her daughter that a star was in Hollywood. Angela was barely 17 years old when they have a contract signed by the great MGM. Soon she became one of the leading lady’s in Los Angeles, with lead roles in ‘Gaslight’ and ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’. It gave her even Oscarnominaties.
In 1945 she married actor Richard Cromwell. Angela was 19, Richard 35. But the marriage was short lived. A year later, she was already separated. “That was a shock,” says Angela. “I had thought that we always married would remain. But it didn’t. We were a bad couple, but we were still good friends. And that we always have been.” Richard died in 1960 of cancer. Luckily for Angela very soon a new love: studiobaas Peter Shaw. They were married in 1949 and had two children: son Anthony (67) and daughter Deirdre (66). “After the birth of the children, in 1952 and 1953, I went immediately back to work”, continued the British actress. “I have later regretted it. I showed my family, as it were, in the lurch. I was there often, not for the children. That I take myself to blame. That was a big mistake. A mother should to her children. It’s my fault that my children are so confused and getroubleerd life have had. Deirdre heulde a while with serial killer Charles Manson and belonged even to his followers, and Anthony struggled with a heavy drug addiction. It started with cannabis, but soon he was on the heroin. At the age of twelve, he was already addicted. A good mother had seen it coming. I was not at that time.”
Family that is saved
