The Way Angela Lansbury Took Her Tea

The world has lost another icon. Angela Lansbury, who died on October 11, 2022 at the age of 96, as reported by the BBC, was a film and theater legend and one of the last of Hollywood's Golden Age. From her first film debut, as a maid, in 1944's "Gaslight" to her Oscar-nominated role as the cunning and villainous Eleanor Shaw in 1962's "The Manchurian Candidate" to the iconic Jessica Fletcher in the nine-season television classic "Murder, She Wrote," Lansbury's roles spanned across multiple generations.

Though beloved and admired by millions of people around the world, Lansbury is perhaps best known, by the latest generations at least, for loaning her voice to the character of Mrs. Potts in the 1991 animated masterpiece "Beauty and the Beast," which was the first animated feature to be nominated for Best Picture (per University of Delaware). It's fitting, then, that an actress known for voicing an animated teapot would like her tea a certain way.

A woman of English, Irish, and Scottish descent, Lansbury was predisposed to be a tea-drinker. "I drink very strong tea," she told The Irish Times. "You can't get it in London. I'll have to get some Barry's, but I don't know where." Barry's Tea is a brand of teas produced in Cork in the south of Ireland. Known for the strength and complexity of their brews, Barry's has maintained a loyal following of customers since its founding in 1901.

Apart from the tea, Cork held a special place in Lansbury's heart and life. According to the Irish Examiner, she lived in the village of Conna for a time in the 1970s with her two children, son Anthony and daughter Deirdre. She became very involved in the community, and built lasting friendships and professional relationships there. Though no longer a resident, Lansbury visited East Cork every summer to relax and reconnect with friends, no doubt over a few strong cups of Barry's.