Edgar Lansbury, an influential figure in Broadway history known for producing critical hits such as “The Subject Was Roses” and “Godspell,” died on Thursday, May 2, 2024 at his Manhattan, New York City home. He was 94. His son, David Lansbury, confirmed his death.
Lansbury’s career spanned stage and screen, with notable achievements including the 1974-75 Broadway revival of “Gypsy,” featuring his sister, Angela Lansbury. Angela, a five-time Tony Award winner and star of the TV series “Murder, She Wrote,” passed away in October 2022 at 96, while his twin brother, television producer Bruce Lansbury, died in February 2017.
One of Lansbury’s first major Broadway successes was “The Subject Was Roses” in 1964, an intense drama about a veteran returning to his family’s conflicted embrace. The play, which ran for two years, earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for best play. The MGM film adaptation saw original cast members, including Martin Sheen and Jack Albertson, reprising their roles, with Albertson winning an Oscar.
In addition to producing, Lansbury made significant contributions to the theater community. In 1971, after being invited by Charles Haid to a performance of “Godspell,” he, alongside his producing partner Joseph Beruh, moved the show to the off-Broadway Cherry Lane Theatre, followed by Broadway in 1976. His work on American Buffalo in 1977 and As Bees in Honey Drown in 1998 earned him Drama Desk nominations.
His commitment to the theater was honored in 2007 with the John Houseman Award by The Acting Company, recognizing his dedication to classical actors and theater audiences nationwide.
Born in London on January 12, 1930, to Moyna MacGill, a stage actress from Belfast, and Edgar Lansbury, a politician and timber merchant, Lansbury moved to New York in 1940 with his family as World War II escalated. After his father died, the Lansbury children and their mother settled first in upstate New York before moving to Greenwich Village. Lansbury attended the Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut with his brother Bruce before moving to Los Angeles, where he graduated from University High School. He became a U.S. citizen in 1954 after serving two years in the U.S. Army.
Lansbury worked as an art director at CBS Television City in his early career, contributing to several shows and films. In 1967, he produced the CBS drama Coronet Blue. Later, he and Beruh invested in the Promenade Theater in New York, a venue that saw hundreds of plays until its closure in 2006.
He leaves behind a legacy that includes his second wife, Louise Peabody, whom he married in 2008, his son David, an actor, and his other children James, George, Michael, Brian, and Kate, who continue to be involved in various facets of the arts and entertainment industry.
