Angela Lansbury: Wannabe!

When I grow old, I want to morph into Angela Lansbury. She is my hero and my role model. I first made her acquaintance when she played the witch Eglentine Price in Walt Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks in 1971. I was 11 years old at the time. While my peers were hoping to be pretty and popular like Marcia on the Brady Bunch and Laurie in the Partridge Family, I marveled at the fact that this old lady could be so cool. When Lansbury resurfaced as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, I was old enough to appreciate that this eccentric mystery writer/detective had the respect of everyone around her and was smarter than the sheriff, the doctor, and the various other characters combined. It was farfetched, but I loved it. This was female savvy at its best. It caused me at age 25 to aspire to think outside the box, reject conventionality, and work on becoming eccentric. I am still perfecting that trait. It is coming along nicely.

Lansbury is a humanitarian as well as a multiple Golden Globe award winner. She supports the fight against muscular dystrophy. She has been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She was named a Disney Legend in 1995. She had one of the longest-running marriages in showbiz before her husband died a few years back. She is squeaky-clean and family-friendly. She gives every impression of being just as cool in person as she is on the screen.

Unlike her contemporaries who were beauties in their day and then faded, Lansbury keeps going in a way that does the Energizer Bunny credit. She is still acting at the age of 82 after having knee replacement surgery a couple of years ago. She is a character actor who usually plays offbeat older women, so her career does not depend on her looks. At this point I admire people and things that last long and wear well. There is nothing short-term about Lansbury. I never get tired of her.

There is nothing short term about Jesus, and I never get tired of him either. I'm not saying that Jesus and Lansbury are equivalent by any means. Jesus has no equal anywhere on earth.

But I do think Lansbury has some of his good points.