Beloved entertainer Angela Lansbury passed away on Tuesday just a few days shy of her 97th birthday. Throughout a career that spanned eight different decades, Lansbury became known to generations of fans with her scene-stealing performances and graceful aura in everything from Murder, She Wrote to Sweeney Todd.
To children of the ’90s and beyond, she is also well-known for her famous turn as the voice of Mrs. Potts in Disney‘s 1991 animated film, Beauty and the Beast, in which she sings the titular song. While Celine Dion would go on to notch a hit record with her version of “Beauty and the Beast”, written by lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, it was Lansbury’s touching rendition from the film that lodged the song in the public consciousness—as well as wedding, high school dance, and karaoke playlists—for years to come.
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Angela Lansbury famously recorded the rendition of “Beauty and the Beast” used in the film in a single take. As Page O’Hara, the actress who voiced Belle, explained to an audience at Lincoln Center during a 2016 panel/screening event in celebration of the film’s 25th anniversary, “I remember the day we were in the recording studio with the amazing Broadway singers in the background chorus and the amazing [New York Philharmonic] orchestra, and then Ms. Lansbury, who I have admired my whole life, came in after being up all night … and was a trooper. We were all worried she would be too exhausted and then she comes out and sings ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in one take.”
As Lansbury explained, her plane to the recording session had been rerouted and grounded due to a bomb scare. As a result of the adjusted itinerary, she said, “We made it just in time.” While she had initially been reluctant to record the song, arguing that her aging voice was not the right fit for the composition, her transit woes and last-minute arrival seemed to propel her one-take performance. “I think it was the excitement of it all,” Lansbury said, “the sense of ‘do it now!’”
Following the 2016 screening at Lincoln Center, Lansbury surprised the audience with a live performance of “Beauty and the Beast”. Celebrate the life and legacy of the late Angela Lansbury by revisiting both her original, one-take performance as featured in the film as well as her live rendition from the 2016 event.
Thank you for everything, Ms. Lansbury.
Angela Lansbury – “Beauty and the Beast” – 2016
“Beauty and the Beast” – Performed by Angela Lansbury – Beauty and the Beast (1991)
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