The Crime Fiction Resumé of Dame Angela Lansbury
We've got a bad ass over here
Honestly, I could have composed a hearty resumé for Angela Brigid Lansbury DBE (1925-2022) and not even mentioned Murder, She Wrote!
But of course, I must
One of my earliest memories of crime fiction consumption is watching Murder, She Wrote with my grandmother on Sunday evenings. The opening credit sequence is iconic, and, if you watch the first episode,1 you realize that the montage of activities Lansbury’s character, mystery author Jessica Fletcher, engages in (jogging, biking, fixing her gutters, writing a best-selling novel) all occur IN ONE DAY. During a rewatch, I texted my friend that a similar montage of my day would feature me feeding my cat, sitting on the couch, and foraging for cheese cubes in the fridge.
Jessica Fletcher is firmly ensconced in the pantheon of great American detectives. Like Miss Marple, she employs knowledge (relationships, domestic work) that is typically feminized, and therefore denigrated, to solve crimes.2 She also embodies the amateur detective ethos of Sherlock Holmes, often finding herself embroiled in investigations when she’s just trying to do something fun, like go on a book tour or take a cruise.3 This trope produced some pretty great memes and Reddit threads that speculate that she is a serial killer.
Fletcher is an independent and sexy middle-aged woman who doesn’t succumb to the typical romance plot of cozy mysteries. Many men are interested in her, but she cannot be bothered. Over its twelve-season run (1984-1996), there’s hardly a bad episode in the bunch, and you get to enjoy ‘80s and ‘90s interior design and fashion, along with the bygone personal style of guest stars like George Clooney, Neil Patrick Harris, Courtney Cox, and Tom Selleck. And you best believe Patrick McGoohan showed up.4
Looks like Murder, She Wrote is available to stream on the Hallmark Channel and Peacock, but if you spring for the gorgeously packaged box set, like I did, I don’t think you’ll regret it.
But let’s say you feel M, SW is more mystery than crime. You wish to pick that nit with me. No problem! Dame Agatha still has plenty to offer in the realm of crime fiction over the course of her nearly eighty-year career. Here are some of my favorites:
Gaslight (1944)
Angela’s film debut was in a crime fiction film so iconic that its title has entered the lexicon as denominalised shorthand for repeated and nefarious psychological manipulation that causes a person to doubt their own perception of reality.5 Lansbury plays a minor role, but if you haven’t seen this foundational movie, it’s worth a stream. Ingrid Bergman is fantastic.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
I mean, if you’re talking classics, this movie (remade in 2004 with Meryl Streep in the Lansbury role) is a towering achievement in the genre of political thrillers. And I assure you, crimes happen early and often. Dame Angela was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Eleanor Shaw, the exploitative and mercenary mother of a brainwashed Korean war veteran.6 Her cold-blooded Lady Macbethian machinations are haunting and unforgettable.
Death on the Nile (1978)
I mean Angela Lansbury in an adaptation of one of my favorite Agatha Christie mysteries? And she plays a romance novelist named Salome Otterbourne? Chef’s kiss. Nile is one of the “let’s throw a stacked cast of stars into a beautiful locale and let the plot do the rest” pictures that were popular in the ‘70s, and that Kenneth Branagh is attempting, with various degrees of success, to reimagine now with his Christie adaptations.7 They’re always fun to watch on a rainy day, and Peter Ustinov is my go-to Poirot.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979-80)
Lansbury originated the role of Mrs. Lovett on Broadway in the deliciously (no pun intended) black as pitch musical. If you’ve never seen the play, I won’t spoil (no pun intended) what the crime consists of, but the part is a delightful mix of the ruthlessness of Eleanor Shaw and the plucky charm of earlier roles like Miss Price in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Also, she’s got pipes.8
If you have soured on the 2007 film version because of the Johnny Depp of it all, Lansbury was filmed on stage in the role for The Entertainment Channel.9 And you can stream it, my theatre nerds.
Glass Onion (2022)
A delightful farewell. I stan the Knives Out cinematic universe enthusiastically and unapologetically, not least because Rian Johnson does his homework. Lansbury’s last onscreen appearance is on Benoit Blanc’s laptop screen playing Among Us with Sherlockian Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sweeney Todd composer Stephen Sondheim, and latter-day Columbo Natasha Lyonne.
To Be Watched List
I like to keep entries on these resumés confined to films or shows I’ve seen, but in researching Dame Angela, I came across several tempting titles that I’ll be watching as soon as possible. In addition to the movie referenced in footnote 2, there’s:
the punnily titled Remains to Be Seen (1953)
the provocatively titled Please Murder Me (1956)
a remake of one of my favorite Hitchcocks: The Lady Vanishes (1979)
Have you seen any of these? What have I missed from Lansbury’s career? What’s your favorite Jessica Fletcher scarf? Let me know in the comments!
And you should! “The Murder of Sherlock Holmes”: double-length pilot episode airing on September 30, 1984 (yes, the fortieth anniversary is coming up this very month), guest starring Ned Beatty and featuring a very young Andy Garcia!
And she played Miss Marple in a 1980 adaptation of The Mirror Crack’d, a film I haven’t seen, but will be watching ASAP, because look at this cast:
"My Johnny Lies Over the Ocean” aired on February 10, 1985, and has some psychological thriller themes (cw: mentions of suicide). Leslie Nielsen guest stars as the captain of the ship, perhaps in a clever hat tip to his role helming the S.S. Poseidon!
“Witness for the Defense” aired on October 4, 1987, and features McGoohan as an attorney in need of Jess’s assistance.
Incredibly, the studio behind the 1944 film itself gaslighted its own audience by aiming to destroy all prints and the original negative of a 1940 adaptation of the theatrical source material so their version wouldn’t have any competition. It’s a wild story.
Played by Laurence Harvey, an actor three years her junior (lolsob)
I actually like them? But I definitely hear the criticisms.
Which you probably know from her voice work as Mrs. Potts in Disney’s animated Beauty and the Beast, which I suppose, starting as it does with an act of theft, you could call crime fiction adjacent.
Not E!, but a different network that merged with Alpha Repertory Television Service to form A(rts)&E(ntertainment).
A great write-up as ever, Tracy. Gaslight is terrific, of course, and Dame Angela is terrific in it. But for some reason (and it's not a popular opinion), Murder, She Wrote has always rather irritated me. I said what I said! I said that fully understanding that it may get my name purged from your subscriber list. I hope not, though, because I do enjoy these newsletters. Perhaps I should try rewatching some.
Tracy, you know I really love this edition!! What a great, thorough list, it’s fantastic. As scarves go, she had a fun one with anchors on it I always loved, but my faves are her sweaters, man there are some good ones!