Angela Lansbury's most memorable—and surprising—roles
The late Angela Lansbury may have been best known for Murder, She Wrote and Beauty And The Beast, but that just scratches the surface of her rich, varied career

The late, widely beloved Angela Lansbury holds a unique place in the pop culture firmament as a performer who sustained a nearly eight-decade career filled with triumphs in film, on stage, on television, and even in animation. She was an adventurous actress who never shied from fitting herself into a dizzying assortment of characters. Yet while her talents were deeply respected and earned her an assortment of accolades, it was her late-life TV role as Murder, She Wrote’s Jessica Fletcher—in tone and manner likely the closest to Lansbury’s actual persona—that made her a genuine icon.
It’s difficult to conjure up another performer who’s engendered such career-spanning goodwill as Lansbury, who performed until the very twilight of her life: her final film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, will be released in November. The A.V. Club offers a look at some of her signature roles, and the unconventional choices she made along the way.