Angela's Awards Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Possibly one of the best-known facts about Dame Angela Lansbury (1925-2022) and awards is that she received twelve consecutive nominations (1985-1996) for the Emmy Award as Lead Actress in a Drama Series, for her performance as Jessica Fletcher in 'Murder, She Wrote', without ever winning. But her work on stage and in film received widespread recognition, both from critics and from her peers.

Her earliest nominations came from films, including Academy Awards nominations for Best Supporting Actress in 1944 ('Gaslight'), 1945 ('The Picture of Dorian Gray') and 1962 ('The Manchurian Candidate'). She never did win an Oscar for acting, but did receive an Academy Honorary Award in 2013.

Live stage provided the scene of her most notable triumphs, both in musicals and in dramas. She was awarded Best Actress in a Musical four times: for the title role in 'Mame' (1966), for Countess Aurelia in 'Dear World' (1969), for Rose in the 1974 revival of 'Gypsy' (the role made famous by Ethel Merman 15 years earlier), and for Mrs Nellie Lovett in 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' (1979). She was awarded Best Featured Actress (meaning she played a supporting role, not one of the leads) in a Play for 'Blithe Spirit' in 2009, and in 2022 received a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.

The Drama Desk Awards recognised her performances in 'Gypsy', 'Sweeney Todd' and 'Blithe Spirit'. In 2015 the West End revival of 'Blithe Spirit' earned her another award for her portrayal of Madame Arcati, from the Laurence Olivier Awards. The Outer Critics Circle saw her named Outstanding Performer in 1966 for 'Mame', and Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play in 2009 for 'Blithe Spirit'.

The Golden Globes were kinder to her than the Academy, with her performances in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' and 'The Manchurian Candidate' being awarded Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture. They also gave her gongs for her work on television, with her portrayal of Jessica Fetcher being awarded Best Actress - Television Series Drama four times: 1984, 1986, 1989 and 1991.

Since most of Angela Lansbury's work was based in the United States, she did not get a lot of attention from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), but there were a couple of nominations, and a Lifetime Achievement award in 2003. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) similarly overlooked a lot of her efforts (with a single unsuccessful nomination for 'Murder she Wrote'), but bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

Angela Lansbury received nominations in other areas as well as those discussed above. In 1993 the soundtrack of the film 'Beauty and the Beast', for which she provided the voice of Mrs Potts, was nominated for a Grammy as Album of the Year, the first animated film to achieve that recognition. In 1998 her work providing the voice of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna in 'Anastasia' was nominated for an Annie as Outstanding Female in an Animated Feature Production by ASIFA-Hollywood, the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association.