Angela Lansbury death: Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson leads celebrity tributes to iconic actor

‘Beauty and the Beast’ actor died just five days shy of her 97th birthday

After the news broke of Angela Lansbury’s death aged 96 on Tuesday (11 October), tributes from fellow celebrities poured in.

The Murder, She Wrote and Beauty and the Beast star died “peacefully in her sleep”, just five days shy of her birthday, her family have announced.

Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson led tributes on Twitter, recalling the moment he sat “next to Angela Lansbury at an opening night”.

“Even though I had to pee I refused to leave my seat during intermission. I spent the 15 minutes chatting with her instead. She was incredibly lovely and I’m so glad I had that brief time with her. RIP Angela,” he shared.

Kathy Griffin posted: “I cannot tell you how many ladies and gays are crushed, moved and feeling nostalgic about something in the past with the news of the passing of the fabulous Dame Angela Lansbury.”

Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander remembered her as “one of the most versatile, talented, graceful, kind, witty, wise, classy ladies I’ve ever met”.

“Her huge contribution to the arts and the world remains always,” he added.

“Rest in peace, Angela Lansbury,” former professional American basketball player Rex Chapman wrote alongside a video of the actor singing Beauty and the Beast’s “Tale as Old as Time”.

“I can’t even begin to tell you the countless times I’ve been so tired on a night shoot and tried to channel my inner, inexhaustible Angela Lansbury,” The L Word’s Jennifer Beals wrote. “Her stamina and brilliance were worshipful.”

Star Trek actor George Takei wrote that Lansbury “graced the stage for decades, winning five Tony Awards and brought the sleuthing Jessica Fletcher into our living rooms for a dozen years”.

“A tale old as time, our beloved Mrs Potts will sing lullabies to us now from the stars. Rest, great soul,” he honoured.

Orange is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba thanked Lansbury, writing: “She poured so much love into each of us. An icon of the stage, and legend across so many mediums but, we all knew… she was always one of us.”

“She, my darlings, was EVERYTHING!” tweeted Mrs Doubtfire actor Harvey Fierstein.

Actor Evan Rachel Wood simply posted a picture of Lansbury with three hearts and crying emojis on her Instagram story.

Evan Rachel Wood Instagram story (Evan Rachel Wood/ Instagram)

Across her decades-long career, the London-born actor won five Tony Awards. Most recently, she was honoured with the prize in 2009 for her performance in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit.

She previously won a Tony for best musical actress in 1979 for her roles as Nellie Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and for Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), and Gypsy (1975).

On-screen, Lansbury famously lent her voice to the heartwarming character of Mrs Pott in the 1991 musical Beauty and the Beast.