Movies - TV
Angela Lansbury's Brilliant Acting Career Started With An Oscar Nomination For Gaslight
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
The MGM-produced "Gaslight" was a smash hit upon its release and garnered seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Also nominated was a 19-year-old, first-time professional actress named Angela Lansbury as the maid, Nancy, a vaguely sinister presence constantly lurking behind Ingrid Bergman’s Paula.
While Bergman skillfully plays the fear and confusion of Paula and Charles Boyer comes across as a charming but untrustworthy lothario, it's Lansbury who carries the film's menace. Without her condescending stares, her mock-confused prodding, and her wraithlike presence, "Gaslight" would be a mere psychological hothouse.
Given the scope and breadth of her career, kicked off by playing a sardonic, threatening maid, one can't really point to what Lansbury was "known for." One will have to settle on the fact that she was known for everything — both kind and cruel — but there was no doubt she was always memorable.