The Hollywood star who made Ireland her 'happy place'

Angela Lansbury's friends in Cork have been telling a new podcast about the star's life when living there

"I'm sure her home in Cork was her happy place."

With three Oscar nominations, two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and unforgettable roles onstage in Mame, Gypsy, and Sweeney Todd, Dame Angela Lansbury's career spanned eight decades.

But for millions, including me, she was Jessica Fletcher, the mystery-solving writer from Murder, She Wrote, whose oversized glasses and clacking typewriter became part of our daily lives.

What many people may not know about are her Belfast roots and the long-standing connections she had with the island of Ireland and, how she made it her home for a time.

Lansbury already had a strong personal connection to Ireland when she moved there in the 1970s.

Sarah McGlinchey, with Darina and Rory Allen, of the Ballymaloe Cookery School, who were close friends with the actor

While she was born in London, and, eventually held triple US, Irish and UK citizenship, her mother was the Belfast-born actor Moyna Macgill and grew up on Deramore Drive off the Malone Road.

During the Blitz in 1940 the family left England for Hollywood, and Angela, just a teenager, began a career that would make her a household name.

Through tumultuous times throughout her life, she sought Ireland out as a sanctuary, first as a child after the death of her father in 1935 and then in the 1970s.

At that point, she came to live in County Cork after a fire burnt her Hollywood home to the ground and her family reportedly had a brush with the notorious cult leader Charles Manson.

When Lansbury died on 11 October 2022 at the age of 96, tributes flooded in.

Yet, despite her presence in my living-room every day, I realised how little I knew about her life away from the screen.

So in the year when she would have turned 100, I set out to learn more.

I never got to meet her, but I wanted to hear from those who did.

She was a 'jolly good cook'

Making the podcast, The Mystery of...Murder, She Wrote dedicated to her Irish connection, took me on a journey from Belfast to Cork.

I arrived at Ballymaloe Cookery School, where I was welcomed by Lansbury's friend, school founder Darina Allen.

"There was great excitement when we heard she was coming," Darina recalled.

Lansbury even lived in Darina's house for a time.

"She was a jolly good cook. Loved her food, but she particularly loved that we had an Aga in the kitchen."

'Wrote to Cork council about potholes'

Angela Lansbury superfan Sarah McGlinchey set off to learn more about the star's Irish connection

Her love for domestic life surprised me, so at odds with what most people associate with celebrities.

Sally Phipps, a close friend and neighbour, remembered her fondly: "She loved it so much when she was here."

Lansbury loved scones with jam and clotted cream, grew her own herbs, made her own curtains and enjoyed gardening.

She even contacted the Cork County Council once to have potholes in the road fixed - a far cry from Hollywood glamour.

Cork was her 'happy place'

In the 1990s, Angela designed and built her dream home on a cliff in East Cork, overlooking the sea.

I visited the house. No plaque marks the spot.

No sign that reads: "Angela Lansbury lived here."

But Darina described it perfectly: "That was such a tranquil, wonderful place. I'm sure it was her happy place."

Angela Lansbury's story is one of resilience and quiet strength. She wasn't just a star. She was a mother, a neighbour, a cook.

Her activism was another lesser-known facet.

With Anjelica Huston, in 2005, when they received honorary degrees from the National University of Ireland Galway for their "Irish roots and significant contribution to social, cultural, and artistic development of both Ireland and the US"

Celebrating 100 episodes of Murder She Wrote

With her Dame Commander (DBE) medal at Windsor Castle in 2014

She raised awareness and funds for AIDS charities and is said to have given ageing actors roles in Murder, She Wrote so that they could keep their union memberships.

"I feel very fortunate to have been a close friend of hers," Sally said.

Part biography, part fan adventure The Mystery Of… Murder, She Wrote is a tribute to the woman offscreen, and her love for Ireland.

With husband, Peter Shaw, on their wedding day in 1949

The two-part podcast is available on BBC Sounds now and will be broadcast as a two-part series on BBC Radio Ulster at 13:00 on Saturday 4 October and on Saturday 11 October.