Angela had a passion for playing the piano and studied music at the Ritman School of Dancing. In 1940, she began taking acting classes at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art in Kensington, West London. Her first stage role was as a lady-in-waiting in the play “Mary of Scotland.” In the same year, her grandfather passed away, and with the onset of the Blitz, her mother decided to take Angela and her brothers to the United States.
They traveled with 60 other British children on the Duchess of Atholl and arrived in Montreal, Canada, in August 1940. They later settled in New York City, where a businessman named Charles T. Smith sponsored them, and they lived in his home in Mohegan, New York. Angela won a scholarship from the American Theater Wing and studied at the Feagan School of Drama and Radio. She appeared in plays such as “The Way of the World” and “Lady Windermere’s Fan.” By the time she graduated in March 1942, her family had moved to Greenwich Village in New York City.
Angela’s journey from London to the United States set the stage for her future career in acting, where she would become a beloved star in both film and television.
Career Beginnings:
At the age of 16, Angela Lansbury began her career in Canada, singing at Montreal’s Samovar Club and falsely claiming to be older to secure the job. She earned $60 weekly performing Noël Coward’s songs. In 1942, she and her mother moved to Hollywood to revive her mother’s film career. Angela immersed herself in the city’s culture, attending lectures by Jiddu Krishnamurti and meeting Aldous Huxley at a party hosted by her mother.
It was during this time that she met John Van Druten, who cast her in “Gaslight,” earning her an Academy Award nomination at the age of 17. She formed a close friendship with Elizabeth Taylor on the set of her next film, “National Velvet” (1944), and received critical acclaim for her performance in “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1945), which earned her a Golden Globe. She later expanded her career into radio and television, showcasing her talent beyond the silver screen.