Dame Angela Lansbury to receive Lifetime Achievement gong at the Tonys

Dame Angela Lansbury is set to receive a Lifetime Achievement gong at the Tony Awards.

The 96-year-old actress – who has won five Tonys during her career – will be honoured at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on June 12.

Charlotte St. Martin, the president of The Broadway League, and Heather Hitchens, the president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, said: “Angela Lansbury’s contributions to the stage are insurmountable.

“From her groundbreaking role in ‘Mame’, to her iconic performances in ‘Deuce’ and ‘Sweeney Todd,’ and most recently, in the revival of ‘A Little Night Music,’ Ms. Lansbury has given us a lifetime of unforgettable performances, and it is a great honour to present her with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.”

The London-born actress has won a host of accolades during her career, including six Golden Globes and an Olivier Award.

But Angela is perhaps best-known for playing Jessica Fletcher in ‘Murder, She Wrote’, which is still the longest-running TV detective drama of all time.

The Hollywood star previously admitted to being proud of the show’s success, explaining that her on-screen character was “a woman of [her] age and of [her] intellect”.

Speaking about playing the TV detective, Angela shared: “It was a slice of my career that was totally unconnected to anything that I had done before.

“Making Jessica Fletcher the character I ended up playing took me several years. She started off a little bit goofy, but I finally made her a woman of my age and of my intellect. I think that is what made her such an appealing character of the world – because she was somebody that people could understand and make part of their lives.”