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Angela Lansbury, Katherine Shaw, Peter Shaw Jr., and Ian Lansbury, 1995 | Angela Lansbury and Peter Shaw Jr., 2009 | Angela Lansbury and Anthony Shaw, 1955 | Source: Getty Images

• Angela Lansbury passed away peacefully in late 2022 at age 96.

• The actress had regrets about her first years of motherhood.

• Angela quit Hollywood when her three children faced dreadful problems and lived a country life for decades with them.

• The star devoted her final years to her youngest offspring.

According to People, Angela Lansbury's family released a heartbreaking statement about her passing. The star was most famous for starring as Jessica Fletcher, a mystery novelist, in "Murder, She Wrote."

The London-born actress's children shared how sad they were to announce their mother's death on October 11, 2022, at 1:30 a.m. Angela died peacefully in her sleep at her Los Angeles home at age 96.

Angela Lansbury at the PBS segment of the Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour on January 16, 2018, in Pasadena, California | Source: Getty Images

The star, who played Fletcher for twelve years on the CBS network, was five days away from celebrating her 97th birthday when she died. Her three children, Deirdre, Anthony, and David Shaw, survived her.

Her other survivors included grandchildren Katherine Shaw, Peter Shaw Jr., and Ian Lansbury, five great-grandchildren, and the actress' brother, Edgar Lansbury. Angela was now with her actor husband of 53 years, Peter Shaw, and the statement also revealed:

"A private family ceremony will be held at a date to be determined."

Angela Lansbury and daughter Deidre Angela Shaw at Golden Apple Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on December 10, 2000 | Source: Getty Images

The late star had made her family her priority in recent years. Becoming a great-grandmother for the first time was bliss for Angela; however, she'd experienced difficult times to allow her family to live happily.

The Children Angela Sacrificed Her Blooming Career For

In 1949, Angela married her second and last husband, Peter, before taking his son, David Shaw, as her own child. The couple's first child, Anthony, arrived in January 1952, and their only daughter, Deidre, joined the family the following year in April.

Angela Lansbury, Peter Shaw, and their three-month-old son Anthony Peter Shaw at their home in Hollywood, California, in 1952 | Source: Getty Images

"The Little Women" star kept getting movie acting jobs after becoming a mother. In 1954 she starred in "A Life at Stake," the following year, she was in "A Lawless Street," and in 1956, she appeared in "The Long, Hot Summer."

Angela made her Broadway debut in 1957's "Hotel Paradiso." The British actress once confessed that her work and fame had initially been her primary focus, and in a March 2014 interview, she explained:

"As soon as I had the babies I went on a diet, and I was back in business. I regret that. You have to be with your children."

Angela Lansbury with her son Anthony Shaw in a black and white photo in 1956 | Source: Getty Images

According to a 1979 The Sydney Morning Herald article, Angela discussed quitting the acting industry for almost a decade. After starring in various films over twenty years, including the 1960s "The Manchurian Candidate," the actress disappeared from the scene.

The next time she was seen onscreen was in the 1978's movie "Death on the Nile." The actress and Peter, then a senior executive at MGM Studios who passed away on January 29, 2003, in Los Angeles, California, at age 84 from heart failure, had put their budding careers aside.

Peter Shaw and Angela Lansbury at London Airport before their wedding on July 27, 1949 | Source: Getty Images

The couple gave up their Malibu and Hollywood lifestyle and went into a self-exile living on a rural farm in County Cork, Ireland because their teenage children were addicted to illegal substances. Between 1965 and 1969, Deidre and her biological brother were hospitalized for their addictions, but unfortunately, a cure was out of reach.

The two children needed illegal substances daily during their mid-teens. Angela blamed herself for not being around for the children because of her work, while Peter, who later became a film producer, often remained home with them.

Angela Lansbury and her husband Peter Shaw at the Mother of The Year Awards Luncheon on May 4, 1990, in Beverly Hills, California | Source: Getty Images

During that time, the infamous Charles Manson called Deidre at their Malibu home before his murders, but Angela's daughter didn't take the bait. In late 1969, the star's Hollywood home was almost burnt down in annual forest fires.

The actress took it as a sign and relocated the family to Ireland. Anthony and his sister were unaware of what was happening because they were drugged most of the time, but the move served them well as they didn't have access to their illegal substance of choice and the new environment helped them get clean.

Angela Lansbury and her children, Deidre, 16, and Anthony, 17, after her opening night performance in "Dear World" at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on February 6, 1969 | Source: Getty Images

In Ireland's Own, Angela revealed that she and her family moved to Cork in 1970, and their new life was a way for them to start again. She recalled how they gardened, and she learned to cook for the first time using the fresh produce they grew.

Angela [Lansbury] said it felt "pretty wonderful" reaching that particular milestone and that she was spoiling the newborn baby rotten!

Her children weren't exposed to California's bad influences anymore. In 1979, the actress said the therapy she and her husband used on the children worked, and the addiction issues were finally over for Anthony and Deidre.

Angela Lansbury and Deidre Shaw during the Tony Awards Party at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, New York, on June 3, 1979 | Source: Getty Images

The Sydney Morning Herald revealed how the two siblings were in their twenties that year and were thriving in their lives with no desire to return to their addictions. The "National Velvet" star told Ireland's Own,

"It was a decision we never regretted."

Peter Shaw, Angela Lansbury, and son Anthony Shaw at the Ruby Awards on December 16, 1979, in New York City | Source: Getty Images

That same year, Angela was 54 and starred in the musical Sweeney Todd on New York's Broadway. She still lived in Ireland on the farm and spent her final years as a great-grandmother.

Angela's Final Happy Years as a Great-Grandmother

According to a March 2014 Daily Mail article, when Anthony was 61, he'd retired from his successful career as a television director. Angela's stepson had directed over 60 episodes of his mother's show, "Murder, She Wrote."

Angela Lansbury at National Geographic's Los Angeles Premiere of "Science Fair" on September 15, 2018, in Los Angeles, California | Source: Getty Images

He was married and had a daughter and two sons, one of whom was named after his late father, Peter. At the time, Angela revealed to the publication that in June 2014, she would attend her grandson Peter Jr.'s Cape Cod wedding.

Speaking to Women & Home in December 2017, the actress shared that "one of the biggest joys" at that time was her family. She told the publication that she'd just become a first-time great-grandmother, at age 91, to Peter Jr.'s first child.

Angela said it felt "pretty wonderful" reaching that particular milestone and that she was spoiling the newborn baby rotten! The last five years of her life saw her wishing for more time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren at that "stage."

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