In Memoriam 2022: Angela Lansbury (1925–2022) Tribute List

In a world-class, eight-decade-long acting career, the Irish-British and American actress/singer – Dame Angela Lansbury – played various roles across stage, film, and television. Described as the "First Lady of Musical Theatre" in the 1960s and "acting aristocracy" in Britain, Ireland, and the U.S., she received six Tony Awards (including a Lifetime Achievement Award), six Golden Globe Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, and the Academy Honorary Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, eighteen Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award, and a 2014 British Dame honor. Although best known for her 12-season TV role as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, this tribute list highlights her broad-reaching legacy through film quotes, television quotes, and articles.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. emigrate
    leave one's country of residence for a new one
    Lansbury and her widowed mother, actress Moyna MacGill, emigrated from England to the United States in 1940.
    – Britannica
  2. garner
    acquire or deserve by one's efforts or actions
    Not yet 20 years old, Lansbury garnered her first Oscar nomination for her movie debut, "Gaslight," in 1944.
    – CNN
  3. eccentric
    conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual
    Lansbury made her Broadway musical debut in 1964 in the short-lived "Anyone Can Whistle," but two years later, she scored her first major musical success with "Mame" (1969) as the eccentric and beloved Auntie Mame.
    – TCM
  4. genteel
    marked by refinement in taste and manners
    Her role as the genteel Jessica Fletcher made Dame Angela Lansbury one of Britain's favourite exports. The success of the television series Murder, She Wrote was a high point in a showbusiness career lasting more than seven decades.
    – BBC
  5. inadvertent
    happening by chance or unexpectedly or unintentionally
    One of the most remarkable icons of Hollywood's vintage Golden Age, Angela Lansbury still works every day. At the age of 86, she’s an inadvertent role model for how to live one's later years with absolute imagination and style.
    – The Gentle Woman
  6. accolade
    a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction
    Her whole life is one of amazing accolades, from her first Oscar nomination at the age of 19 to her status as a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, her homeland, since 1994.
    – The Gentle Woman
  7. perspicacity
    the ability to assess situations or circumstances shrewdly
    Her reward for missing out on being cast as the sweetheart – more often than not an insipid, one-dimensional stock character – has been to play an assortment of complex and fascinating women with qualities sweethearts never possess: perspicacity, extravagance, treachery, voracity, megalomania.
    – The Gentle Woman
  8. matrimonial
    of or relating to the state of marriage
    I made plans, Will, matrimonial plans.
    – The Long, Hot Summer
  9. contemptuously
    without respect; in a disdainful manner
    But now, we have come almost to the end. One last step. And then when I take power, they will be pulled down and ground into dirt for what they did to you. And what they did in so contemptuously underestimating me.
    – The Manchurian Candidate
  10. anarchy
    a state of lawlessness and disorder
    I shall force someone to take the body away from him and Johnny will really hit those microphones and those cameras with blood all over him, fighting off anyone who tries to help him, defending America even if it means his own death, rallying a nation of television viewers to hysteria, to sweep us up into the White House with powers that will make martial law seem like anarchy!
    – The Manchurian Candidate
  11. browbeat
    discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner
    "These last few days I have been insulted, browbeaten and patronized and I say no thank you! Back in Cabot Cove, the only thing with claws are the lobsters and we eat them."
    – Murder, She Wrote
  12. motive
    the reason that arouses action toward a desired goal
    "That's the puzzle. Those who were inside didn't have motives and those with motives couldn't get inside."
    – Murder, She Wrote
  13. prominent
    conspicuous in position or importance
    Her most prominent television role was that of Jessica Fletcher in the detective series "Murder, She Wrote" (1984-1996).…The series was considered a television landmark for having an older female character as the protagonist.
    – IMDB
  14. protagonist
    the principal character in a work of fiction
    Her most prominent television role was that of Jessica Fletcher in the detective series "Murder, She Wrote" (1984-1996).…The series was considered a television landmark for having an older female character as the protagonist.
    – IMDB
  15. virtuous
    morally excellent
    Lansbury played wicked or virtuous characters with equal aplomb and displayed her versatility in such films as The Harvey Girls (1946), State of the Union (1948), and The Three Musketeers (1948).
    – Britannica
  16. aplomb
    great coolness and composure under strain
    Lansbury played wicked or virtuous characters with equal aplomb and displayed her versatility in such films as The Harvey Girls (1946), State of the Union (1948), and The Three Musketeers (1948).
    – Britannica
  17. prodigy
    an unusually gifted or intelligent person
    Her movie career stretched from Gaslight in 1944 to the 2018 children's films, Buttons and Mary Poppins Returns. She went from youthful prodigy – with two Oscar nominations by the age of 21 – to cinematic grande dame: in 2014, as her 90th birthday approached, she received a Lifetime Achievement Oscar.
    – The Guardian
Created on Thu Dec 29 14:00:13 EST 2022 (updated Mon Jan 23 12:58:50 EST 2023)

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