Photo Flash: Queen Elizabeth II Makes Angela Lansbury a Dame

Stage and screen legend Angela Lansbury was just honored by Queen Elizabeth II, as she officially became a dame earlier today at Windsor Castle. Lansbury said: "It is a very proud day for me to be recognized by the country of my birth, and to meet the Queen under these circumstances is a rare and lovely occasion." Check out photos from the special event below!

Dame Angela Lansbury has enjoyed an extraordinary career spanning more than seventy years, first as a star of motion pictures, and as an award-winning stage actor in New York and London. Most recently on Broadway, she appeared as Mrs. Sue-Ellen Gamadge in Gore Vidal's The Best Man, and as Madame Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music (Tony Award® nomination). For her energetic portrayal of Madame Arcati in the 2009 revival of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit, she won her fifth Tony Award®, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. She received her four other Tonys for her triumphant leading-actress turns in the musicals Mame in 1966, Dear World in 1968, the Gypsy revival in 1974, and Sweeney Todd in 1979.

From 1984 to 1996, she made television history starring as Jessica Fletcher on "Murder, She Wrote," the longest-running detective drama series in TV history, winning four of her six Golden Globe Awards. In November 2013, Angela received an Honorary Oscar "for her extravagant achievements in cinematic industry of her career of 75 years." She also received the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000. In 1994, Queen Elizabeth named her a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, and promoted to Dame Commander in 2014. Married in 1949, she and husbandPeter Shaw worked together until his death in 2003. She has three children and three grandchildren.

Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury