Angela Lansbury will probably tie Tony record for most acting awards
Angela Lansbury already holds one Tony Awards record — she's hosted the ceremony more often than anyone else (four times) — and now she may tie a second.
If she wins the race for best featured actress in a play for portraying a wacky psychic in Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit," Angela Lansbury will be the biggest winner of acting laurels (five). Her previous victories were all for best lead actress in a musical: "Mame" (1966), "Dear World" (1969), "Gypsy" (1975) and "Sweeney Todd" (1979).
Julie Harris won five times for best lead actress in a play: "I Am a Camera" (1952), "The Lark" (1956), "Forty Carats" (1969), "The Last of Mrs. Lincoln" (1973) and "The Belle of Amherst" (1977).
Angela Lansbury has a much better chance winning in supporting than in lead, considering that she gives a comedic performance (always disadvantaged at showbiz awards) that would've had to compete against big, showboating dramatic turns in the lead race by Jane Fonda ("33 Variations") and Harriet Walter ("Mary Stuart").
But is Lansbury's role really a "featured" one? It was placed in that category after "Blithe Spirit" producers requested that classification from the Tony nominating committee, knowing that Lansbury had better odds of prevailing there. The original 1941 run of "Blithe Spirit" predated the Tony Awards by six years. However, for the 1987 revival, Geraldine Page contended as lead actress for playing Madame Arcati. She lost to Linda Lavin in Neil Simon's "Broadway Bound." Page never won a Tony in her three bids and did not win an Oscar till nod No. 8 in 1985 for "A Trip to Bountiful."
Lansbury has lost only one Tony race — when she competed for best lead actress in a play for "Deuce" two years ago, being bested by Julie White ("The Little Dog Laughed"). She failed to prevail in any of her three Oscar nods for supporting actress ("Gaslight," 1944; "The Picture of Dorian Gray," 1945; and "The Manchurian Candidate," 1962). And she holds the dubious distinction of having lost more Emmy races for acting than any other performer — 18 times, including 12 consecutive nominations for lead actress in a drama series for "Murder, She Wrote" from 1985 to 1996.
Among the critics who cheered the loudest for Lansbury was Ben Brantley of the New York Times, who said, "It’s Madame Arcati who walks, or rather dances, away with the show, as she has always been wont to do. Those who know Ms. Lansbury only as the bland, level-headed Jessica Fletcher of television’s 'Murder, She Wrote”' may not be aware of this actress’s depth and variety of technique."
Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press thought "Lansbury's performance also captures the essence of the elegant Coward fizz, champagne bubbles of witty conversation that should trip along effortlessly." And for Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News, "watching the 83-year-old Lansbury work her magic is endless fun, as she seemingly channels past characters, from the loopy Mrs. Lovett from 'Sweeney Todd' to the cagey detective Jessica Fletcher from 'Murder, She Wrote.' You wonder what the actress will do next, and when she launches into her go-into-my-trance dance, she’s simply hilarious."
Photo: Shubert Theatre
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Feel so very fortunate we got to see this play on Broadway shortly after it opened in March - scarfed tickets at last minute, got great seats, had no idea Ms. Lansbury was even in the cast (!) and what a treat she was. Afterwards we felt it was like the Bucket List: we got to see Angela Lansbury live on Broadway. I will never forget it. I hope she wins!
Posted by: TONY | June 05, 2009 at 04:32 PM
five eh! it surely is an actor's dream! you know, sometimes, being the lead isn't the thing. being a support can be fulfilling as well! hope she wins! :)
by: matthew
Posted by: Acting class Hollywood | June 03, 2009 at 08:34 PM
Congratulations! I hope she wins. Ms. Lansbury also ties with Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson for most Golden Globe Award wins, with six each.
Posted by: Will | May 05, 2009 at 10:33 AM