Angela Lansbury has passed away at the age of 96. Lansbury was an icon of stage and screen for decades, a true Broadway star and an iconic television star. She was arguably most famous for playing Jessica Fletcher on Murder She Wrote for twelve years, where she was basically “America’s Miss Marple,” an older lady who solved murders every week. Her mother was Irish and she was born in the UK, but her family moved to America during World War II and Americans adopted her as an American success story. Here’s the statement from the family:

“The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 a.m. today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” her family says in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “In addition to her three children, Anthony, Deirdre and David, she is survived by three grandchildren, Peter, Katherine and Ian, plus five great grandchildren and her brother, producer Edgar Lansbury. She was proceeded in death by her husband of 53 years, Peter Shaw. A private family ceremony will be held at a date to be determined.”

[From People]

To me, she was just as iconic as Betty White. Just like the reruns of Golden Girls, the reruns of Murder She Wrote still hold up and they’re fun as hell. Lansbury also appeared in the Ingrid Bergman version of Gaslight, she was the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast (the animated version) and she gave an iconic performance in the original film adaptation of The Manchurian Candidate. She was so good at playing villains, but she didn’t like those characters. She wanted to be a leading lady, the heroine.

Everybody has been sharing their favorite Angela Lansbury stories so I thought I’d share this bonkers one which I only heard for the first time last night. Lansbury’s daughter knew Charles Manson and Lansbury shut it down like a boss:

The late Angela Lansbury — who died in the early hours of Tuesday at her Los Angeles home just days shy of her 97th birthday — once had to pry her daughter from the clutches of convicted murderer Charles Manson. In a 2014 interview with DailyMail.com, Lansbury revealed that Diedre, now 69, had begun running with a crowd led by the musician-turned-mass murderer during the 1960s, and with her brother Anthony had become involved with drugs.

In order to keep her daughter and the rest of her family safe, the ‘Murder, She Wrote’ actress moved her whole family from their home in Los Angeles to Ireland, where her mother’s family hailed from. Lansbury said the troubles with Diedre and her older son Anthony, now 70, began in the 1960s when they fell under the sway of drugs.

‘It started with cannabis but moved on to heroin,’ the Sweeney Todd star explained at the time. Their drug use brought her children, who were just teens at the time, into unsavory circles. ‘There were factions up in the hills above Malibu that were dedicated to deadly pursuits,’ she continued. ‘It pains me to say it but, at one stage, Deidre was in with a crowd led by Charles Manson.’

Like some of Manson’s followers, who would later commit the horrendous Tate–LaBianca murders, Diedre was allegedly drawn to the cult leaders charms.

‘She was one of many youngsters who knew him — and they were fascinated,’ Lansbury continued. ‘He was an extraordinary character, charismatic in many ways, no question about it.’

Fearing the kind of trouble her daughter might get into if she stayed in Manson’s circle, Lansbury proposed a major move overseas. ”I said to [husband] Peter [Shaw], “We have to leave.” So we upped sticks and moved the family to a house I found in County Cork,’ she said, explaining that it was a sort of homecoming, even though she had been born in London. ‘I was drawn to Ireland because it was the birthplace of my mother and it was also somewhere my children wouldn’t be exposed to any more bad influences,’ Lansbury continued. ‘I still have a house there which I try and visit at least once a year. So I refused all work for a year and simply kept house. I bought Elizabeth David’s books and learnt how to cook properly,’ she added, referencing the popular British cooking writer. ‘It was a wonderful time in my life.’

A change of scenery proved to be just the prescription for her children, who thrived in Ireland.

‘Anthony pulled right out of his bad habits quite quickly,’ Lansbury shared. ‘It took Deidre a little longer, but she finally got married and she and her husband now live in Los Angeles, where they run their own Italian restaurant.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Angela Lansbury saw the hold Charles Manson had on her children and she said “nope, we’re moving to Ireland.” What an absolutely bonkers story.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.