Tony Winner Angela Lansbury Teases MURDER SHE WROTE Revival

In a new interview with the Sunday Post, Dame Angela Lansbury hints at the possibility of a revival of her acclaimed detective series MURDER SHE WROTE. Recalling the character she portrayed for 12 seasons on CBS, the actress shares, "Jessica Fletcher had become so much a part of my life, it was difficult to come to terms with it being all over."

She continues, "Having said that, there have been some two-hour specials since we stopped in 1996 and I wouldn't be surprised if we got together just one more time."

Asked for her thoughts on Disney's recent live-action BEAUTY AND THE BEAST remake, the actress admits, "I was surprised to hear they were making it. I couldn't understand why they felt the need to. THE ONE we did is still very, very popular. I wouldn't want to say which is better because they are different."

She adds, "Essentially, it is a great story and there is room for more than one version. I can only say I was and still am very proud of our production."

Read the interview in full here and check out a clip of Ms. Lansbury in MURDER SHE WROTE below:

Lansbury portrayed mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher on the series from 1984 to 1996. It was followed by four TV films and an unsuccessful spin-off series, which was produced in 1987, The Law & HARRY McGraw. It is one of the most successful and longest-running television shows in history, averaging close to 26 million viewers per week in its prime, and was a staple of the CBS Sunday night lineup for a decade.

Lansbury was nominated for ten Golden Globes and 12 Emmy Awards for her work on Murder, She Wrote. She holds the record for the most Golden Globe nominations and wins for Best Actress in a television drama series and the most Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Murder, She Wrote, with those nominations netting her four Golden Globe awards. The series received three nominations but no wins in the Outstanding Drama Series category at the Emmys. It was nominated for a Golden Globe in the same category six times and won twice.

Winner of five Tony Awards, Lansbury made her Broadway debut in 1957 in Hotel Paradiso. In 1960, she returned to Broadway in Shelagh Delaney's A Taste of Honey. In 1964, she starred in her first musical, Anyone Can Whistle, and in 1966, she triumphed as Mame, winning her first Tony. She won three more Tonys for Dear World (1968), Gypsy (1974), and Sweeney Todd (1979). After a 23-year hiatus, she returned to Broadway in 2007 in Terrence McNally's Deuce. In 2009 she won her fifth Tony Award as Madame Arcati in Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit. She also appeared as Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music (2010), and in Gore Vidal's The Best Man (2012). In 2013, she appeared in the acclaimed Australian tour of Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy, with James Earl Jones and Boyd Gaines, a production which was filmed for cinemas.

In March 2014 she again played Madame Arcati at London's Gielgud Theatre, for which she won the Olivier Award. Previous London appearances were in the RSC's production of Edward Albee's All Over at the Aldwych, Gypsy, and Hamlet.

She has appeared in over 60 films starting with Gaslight at age 17 (first Academy Award nomination), The Portrait of DorIan Gray (second Academy Award nomination), and The Manchurian Candidate (third Academy Award nomination). She was THE VOICE of Mrs. Potts in Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and more recently, she co-starred in Emma Thompson's Nanny McPhee and with Jim Carrey in Mr. Popper's Penguins.

Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy

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