 Award-winning actress Angela Lansbury has died at the age of 96. For television superstar Angela Lansbury, home was all over the world. Long before she'd passed away at the age of 96 in the comfort of her Brentwood, Los Angeles home, Angela owned a series of estates across the United States, and even her home country of the UK as well. Also, Michael and I have dropped our own house tour of our new home that we moved into this year, so go ahead and subscribe to our personal channel if you want to see where we're living and more of what we're up to. In these videos, we don't reveal any addresses, and even though I've done a house tour of my own place, please do not show up at any private residences because it's not safe for anyone. Decades before we'd come to know her as Jessica Fletcher in the incomparable murder she wrote, New York City played an important role in Angela's life. Her family first moved here in 1940 to escape the London Blitz during World War II, and she stayed with family on the Upper East Side while working her way through drama school. Much, much later on in life, sometime around 2006, Angela would return to New York City, having transformed herself into a superstar, and the apartment that she'd buy there in her golden years would come to, in many ways, save her life, or at the very least, improve it. And yet to see the place for yourself, you would probably consider it a little basic. Sure, it does have some attractive furnishings, but this two-bedroom apartment doesn't raise any eyebrows with its common hues of dark wood and beige. Located one block south of Central Park, Angela purchased this apartment three years after the death of her husband Peter Shaw, and at that time, she was spending far too much of her attention puttering around the garden in her Brentwood, Los Angeles home. Knowing that she needed to get moving again, she decided to move back to New York and get a place of her own. She eventually returned to the Big Apple with the intent of enjoying things as a spectator, but she was later offered a role on Broadway, and because she already had a home to return to every night, she accepted the offer. Thus, Angela's passion for theater reinvigorated her during the final stretch of her career. Six years later, when Angela wasn't on stage captivating audiences, she was actually at home relaxing in one of her favorite spots, the quote-unquote morning room, which boasts a ton of the awards that she's earned for herself over the years, including her 2007 Edwin Booth Lifetime Achievement Award and a painting of an Irish landscape that her brother painted for her. Unlike most other people, however, if Angela ever felt getting out there and seeing the real Irish countryside in person, all she had to do was hop on a plane and head to her summer getaway on the Irish coast. Angela's history with Ireland goes back a long way. Not only was her mother born there, but she and her husband Peter would eventually raise their children in the town of Cork after both her son and daughter fell in with a bad crowd in California in their early 70s. She once explained to the Daily Mail, we needed to get away from California and the drug culture and all that. Both the children had fallen in with an unsuitable crowd and had become heavily involved with drugs. It started with cannabis and moved on to heroin. It pains me to say this, but at one stage, Deirdre was in with a crowd led by Charles Manson. Something had to be done, so Peter and I agreed that we had to leave and soon. Knowing Ireland offered peace and quiet, that's where they set their sights and it came to be a decision that Angela and her husband never regretted. They spent the next decade or so living out of Ireland only to then return to the United States hoping things had changed. They hadn't. So in 1992, Angela and Peter returned to Ireland. They spent the next few summers renting out hotel rooms in Cork while searching for the perfect place. In one day, while staying with friends in their country house, Angela took a long walk that led to a field of wildflowers and grass with a meadow beyond on a cliff overlooking the sea. She found the location to be enchanting and decided that this was the spot to build her dream house. Stephen Pierce, the son of an old friend, lived only 15 minutes away in a house that he himself had constructed, a traditional masonry farmhouse with a slate roof. Knowing that's exactly what she wanted for her own place, Angela would hire Stephen to bring her vision to life. She once explained to architectural digest, It was Stephen's own house that inspired me. He made it himself by hand. What he achieved with available materials and just simple, good spaces impressed me. Having hired the right person for the job, Angela and Peter returned to the States and communicated with Pierce over fax and telephone. Wow, must have been way back. Gradually, the plans came together and the home was greatly influenced by the long tradition of local Irish farmhouses. Once that they had agreed on a plan of action, Pierce brought in the craftsman who had constructed his own house and got to work. When finally completed and viewed from the grass field to the sea beyond, the house rises from the meadow with a sense of calm and poise. The white one-story structure with slate roof is timeless in its simplicity, yet almost modern. For instance, the walls all bow slightly as if having settled over time. Or as Angela liked to say, it sits there like a loaf of bread. The roof actually masks a pair of two-story wings on the far side which embrace a small court paved in slate. Because Angela wanted this home to be able to accommodate friends and family, each wing bows second floor guest rooms while the protected courtyard shelters Angela's pots of herbs and plants. Meanwhile, the big hall gives way to a large loft-like living space with an open-corner kitchen that serves the surrounding dining and living rooms. Angela would then match the clean, well-lighted space with plain country furniture made in Ireland. She explained her reasonings behind keeping things local to architectural digest. We didn't want to bring stuff over from London. We wanted to use Irish materials. Irish woodcrafted by Irish woodworkers and Irish linen. She also chose to leave the walls of her home bare in order to highlight the picturesque framing provided by the estate's many remarkable windows. Plus, as an added bonus, the weather in Cork changes the light so dramatically on the walls that Angela often found herself mesmerized, feeling like she was on a TV set all over again. In the end, Angela's summer home in Ireland was like a house like many other in the country, plain and beautiful in its simplicity. Not unlike another very famous abode forever tied to Angela Lansbury. Surely murders she wrote fans will recognize this gracious 1888 Victorian home as the exterior that was used to represent TV Detective Jessica Fletcher's house. Located in the charming village of Mendocino, the estate is now known as Blair House Inn, and offers fans of Angela's long-running series the opportunity to stop by for a visit and even stay there themselves. The charm of Blair House begins the moment you walk through the gate of the picket fence only to discover an apple tree by the front walk and daffodils in the garden alongside daisies and English lavender. Meanwhile, the world-famous exterior is almost the exact same as it was when it was first built in the late 19th century. Bring its old-fashioned doorbell and you'll soon be invited to enter this simple elegance of this grand dame of the Victorian era. Inside, you'll discover framing and flooring are made out of Douglas fir, while the walls and foundation have been built out of clear-heart redwood, which today would probably be very expensive. Exotic rugs grace the floors while Swedish and American antiques add their own special beauty to the ocean and village views that brighten each room. And of course, if you're a massive Murder She Wrote fan, you can even rent out one of three rooms, including the odds-on favorite Angela's room. These interiors were never used during filming, but they still managed to reflect the spirit of the series very well. There's also a separate cottage located on the grounds that can be rented out for larger families that offers its own kitchenette as well as a private bathroom. So if you're a fan looking to kill around $200 a night, why not stop by for a visit and relive the most beloved part of Angela's career for yourself now that she's passed away. As unpretentious as many of Angela's homes were, her house in Brentwood, Los Angeles was said to be the most so. Considering this was her primary base of operations for a majority of her life, we don't have much in the way of details about the inside. But thanks to an interview with the LA Times, we know Angela likes to keep her honorary Oscar sitting casually in the middle of a table in her living room. The most important thing to know about this residence is that it became the very spot where Angela would spend her final days. On October 11th, 2022, only five days away from her 97th birthday, Angela Lansbury passed away peacefully here in her sleep. In addition to her three children, Anthony, Deirdre and David, she has survived by three grandchildren as well, Peter, Catherine and Ian plus five great grandchildren and her brother Edgar. When you think back not only on her legendary career but the family she's so clearly valued, it's hard not to be impressed by the life Angela Lansbury made for herself. When you add on top of those two things, her incredible series of homes, Angela can surely rest easy knowing she led an accomplished life like few others ever have. All right, everyone, that's going to bring this house door to a close. But before you head out, I'd like you to think about this question. Would you rather live a life full of glitz glamour and temptation in Los Angeles or the quiet life unobstructed in the Irish countryside? Leave your thoughts in the comments down below as well as your thoughts on the late actresses properties. Otherwise, like, subscribe and turn on your notifications to ensure you never miss a new tour. My name is Kara, follow me on Instagram to chat more and I'll see you all in the next video. Bye.