1944 – Angela Lansbury
Gaslight
We all know Angela Lansbury from her performances in the modern film era like the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast, and the popular TV show Murder She Wrote. And even now those can be considered older performances. After all, Beauty and the Beast came out over 30 years ago. But once upon a time, she was a young actress in old Hollywood. And apparently, she was quite the looker! She had the face of a cherub and the personality of a saucy lady. With that combination, she was actually quite delightful to watch on the screen. And to think, this was her very first film roll ever, is quite impressive
She played Nancy Oliver, the maid that was hired by the villainous Gregory Anton. She is a pretty young cockney girl who, as it turns out, enjoys the company of men, and usually responds to them in terms of sexual attraction. Even Gregory, Himself, despite the fact that he is a married man, has to fend off the amorous attentions of Nancy. The role needed a certain kind of cheekiness that Lansbury really delivered. I loved the scene where she interacted with her boyfriend, Constable Williams. She plays coy with him, letting him know that she might not get together with him. But then, as he is leaving her, he asks, “Same place as last time?” She smiles slyly and agrees, “Same place as last time.” Very saucy.
But then she also did a fine job of playing the dutiful and attentive made, when in Paula’s presence. And there were more serious moments that she handled deftly, like when she was being questioned by the Master and Mistress of the house about the missing picture, or when she was discussing Paula’s apparent ill health with the cook. And I was amused in the scene where she tells Gregory about how much she enjoys musicals. I clearly saw her future performance of Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd in that brief scene.
I don’t exactly want to say she nearly stole the screen whenever she was in a scene, but she almost did. Of course, actually steeling the screen from Ingrid Bergman would have been a pretty tall order. But I’d say she was easily a standout. There was clearly talent there, and she used it well.