Angela Lansbury’s Iconic ‘Murder She Wrote’ Role Was Originally Written For Another Actress

etcanada.com:

It’s impossible to imagine any other actress solving crimes in Cabot Cove than Angela Lansbury, yet she wasn’t the first choice for the role of sleuthing novelist Jessica Fletcher.

While Lansbury, who died Tuesday at age 96, starred in hit mystery series “Murder, She Wrote” for 12 seasons, another actress was originally intended for the role.

In a 1984 interview with People, Lansbury revealed that the series had been created with “All in the Family” star Jean Stapleton in mind. READ MORE: Angela Lansbury, Star Of ‘Murder, She Wrote’, Dies At 96 “[Series creator] Peter Fischer had originally written it for Jean Stapleton, but she had just lost her husband and didn’t want to do anything,” Lansbury explained. “When I read it, I felt that Peter’s script could have been written for me.

Besides, there are so few decent roles for women on television, and I was immediately taken by Jessica,” she continued. While Lansbury had made sporadic guest-starring roles in television over the years, her career up to that point had focused on film and Broadway. READ MORE: Angela Lansbury, ‘The Glorious One’: Celebs Remember The Hollywood Legend When “Murder, She Wrote” came her way, she admitted “there was nothing exciting for me on Broadway at the moment.