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Dame Angela Lansbury was honored with a special lifetime achievement prize at Sunday night's Tony Awards.
As the New York Times reports, Lansbury, 96, was not present in person to accept the award at Radio City Music Hall. However, it was presented by Len Cariou, her co-star in the original 1979 Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. In addition, the New York Gay Men's Chorus sang "Mame", the title track from another Broadway musical that Lansbury starred in.
Lansbury can add the lifetime achievement prize to her five previous Tony wins, which came for her performances in Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1975), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), and Blithe Spirit (2009).
Other winners at the Tony Awards included British stage legend Sir Simon Russell Beale, who took home the Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play prize. He was nominated alongside two of his co-stars in acclaimed play The Lehman Trilogy, Adam Godley and Adrian Lester, and graciously mentioned them in his acceptance speech.
"This is an enormous honor. Adam, Adrian, I feel a little sheepish," Beale said. "I just want to say: we all did the exact same amount of work in this play. I take this on your behalf. It's your award too, but I get to take it home with me."
Sir Sam Mendes won the Best Direction of a Play award for The Lehman Trilogy, while fellow Brit Marianne Elliott won the Best Direction of a Musical award for Company. Other acting winners included Patti LuPone and Matt Doyle for Company, Phylicia Rashad for Skeleton Crew, Joaquina Kalukango for Paradise Square, Myles Frost for MJ, Jesse Tyler Ferguson for Take Me Out, and Deirdre O'Connell for Dana H.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Hudson became only the 17th person ever to join the prestigious "EGOT" club for creatives who have won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards. She won a Tony last night as a producer of A Strange Loop, which was named Best Musical.
Are you pleased to see Dame Angela Lansbury honored at the Tony Awards?