‘Murder, She Wrote’ Actress Angela Lansbury Was Married Twice During Her Career: All About Her Marriage History

For more than 80 years, Angela Lansbury captivated audiences with her dynamic acting style. The actress died on October 11, 2022 at age 96. 

“The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep at home in Los Angeles at 1:30 a.m. today, Tuesday, October 11, 2022, just five days shy of her 97th birthday,” Closer Weekly confirmed in a statement.

The Murder, She Wrote star was married twice throughout her career, first to actor Richard Cromwell in 1945. They divorced in 1946. She later married Peter Shaw in 1949 and welcomed two children with the late actor during their 53-year union and accepted his son, David, from a previous marriage as one of her own.

“In addition to her three children, Anthony, Deirdre and David, she is survived by three grandchildren, Peter, Katherine and Ian, plus five great grandchildren and her brother, producer Edgar Lansbury,” the statement read. “She was proceeded in death by her husband of 53 years, Peter Shaw. A private family ceremony will be held at a date to be determined.” 

Angela, born in 1925, made her film debut in 1944’s Gaslight, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting actress. Following her breakout role, Angela starred in 1944’s National Velvet and 1945’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. The latter earned her a second Academy Award nomination, solidifying her status as one of the big names in the Golden Age of Hollywood. 

Amid the success of her first few Hollywood films, Angela walked down the aisle with Cromwell when she was 19 years old. The Jezebel star was 15 years her senior and garnered quite the impressive list of film credits of his own before saying “I do.” The pair were only married for a year before calling it quits on their marriage. 

“I found him such an attractive individual, a very glamorous person – he knew everybody, he was a friend of Joan Crawford’s, these people who I was fascinated by as a young actress,” the Death on the Nile actress told Radio Times in December 2017. “And he wanted to marry, he was fascinated with me, but only because of what he had seen on the screen, really.”

Angela met Shaw in 1946 and the pair were married three years later. The couple welcomed their son, Anthony, in 1952. Their daughter, Deidre, was born in 1953. The Hollywood stars were married for more than five decades before the producer died in 2003 from heart failure. 

“We had the perfect relationship,” she said in a March 2014 interview. “Not many people can say that. He was everything to me: we were partners at work as well as husband and wife and lovers. I don’t know how we had such a long marriage, but the simple fact was that we were devoted to one another.” 

The Tony winner went on to say that she and her second husband “made all decisions jointly” and “supported each other constantly.” She did not remarry after his death.

Scroll to learn more about Angela’s two late husbands.