Angela Lansbury to Receive 2022 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre–
Lansbury also received Tonys for her performances in Mame, Sweeney Todd, Gypsy, Dear World, and Blithe Spirit.
The following written content by ANDREW GANS
Five-time Tony winner Angela Lansbury will receive the 2022 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre at the 75th annual ceremony June 12.
Lansbury previously received Tony Awards for her performances in the title role of Mame (1966 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical), Countess Aurelia in Dear World (1969 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical), Rose in the first Broadway revival of Gypsy (1975 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical), Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (1979 Tony for Best Actress in a Musical), and Madame Arcati in the most recent Broadway revival of Blithe Spirit (2009 Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play) as well as nominations for her work in Deuce and the 2009 revival of A Little Night Music.
The stage and screen star held the record as the most Tony-winning actor in history until Audra McDonald won her sixth in 2014 for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill. Lansbury’s Lifetime Achievement Tony brings her total to six, though McDonald will retain her record for the most wins in competitive performance categories. Late director and producer Harold Prince, who directed Lansbury in Sweeney Todd, is still the all-time record holder across multiple categories, with 21 Tonys awarded over his career, including a 2006 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.
“Angela Lansbury’s contributions to the stage are insurmountable,” said Charlotte St. Martin, president of The Broadway League, and Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, in a joint statement. “From her groundbreaking role in Mame to her iconic performances in Deuce and Sweeney Todd, and, most recently, in the revival of A Little Night Music, Ms. Lansbury has given us a lifetime of unforgettable performances, and it is a great honor to present her with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Lansbury’s other Broadway credits include Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, Hotel Paradiso, A Taste of Honey, Anyone Can Whistle, The King and I, and A Little Family Business.
The beloved stage and screen star may, however, be best known for her work as TV sleuth Jessica Fletcher on the long-running Murder, She Wrote, garnering 12 Emmy Award nominations. Her numerous film credits include Gaslight, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Manchurian Candidate, all of which brought the Kennedy Center Honoree Academy Award nominations.
Lansbury also provided the voice for Mrs. Potts in the 1991 blockbuster Disney film Beauty and the Beast and played Miss Price in another Disney favorite, 1971’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
Lansbury is the recipient of the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Silver Mask for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, as well as a BAFTA/LA Britannia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Television and Film. A recipient of an Honorary Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in Motion Pictures, she is a member of the Theatre and Television Halls of Fame, and in 2014 Queen Elizabeth II named her a Dame Commander of the British Empire. Read more from Playbill.
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