We all know and love Angela Lansbury from Murder She Wrote, plus she was the voice of Mrs. Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. However she didn’t start out in life as a middle-aged crime-solving widow (or a singing teapot). Back in the 40s and 50s she looked rather different and played a huge variety of roles: from saucy showgirls to romantic heroines. Take a look below, oh and don’t miss the clip of her as a saucy cockney showgirl below!

Angela Lansbury Mutiny

Patric Knowles & Angela Lansbury in Mutiny – publicity still (cropped : see source), 1952

Angela Lansbury 1950s

Angela Lansbury, three-quarter length portrait, seated with daughter Deidre and son Anthony / World Telegram & Sun photo by Roger Higgins. 1957

Angela Lansbury 1950s

Photo of Nigel Davenport as Peter and Angela Lansbury as Helen in the Broadway play A Taste of Honey. 1960

Angela Lansbury in Till The Clouds Roll By

Cropped screenshot of Angela Lansbury from the film Till the Clouds Roll By.1946

Angela Lansbury 1950s

Angela Lansbury (left) and her mother Moyna MacGill, on the set of Kind Lady (1951)

Angela Lansbury 1940s

Publicity photo 1950

Angela Lansbury 1960s

Angela Lansbury as Helen and Joan Plowright as her daughter, Jo, survey their new flat in the Broadway presentation of A Taste of Honey. 1961

Angela Lansbury 1940s

Screenshot from the 1945 movie The Picture of Dorian Gray

Image source and copyright: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1977 and without a copyright notice

Thus, there are no known restrictions on the usage of this photograph.