“Well, if I was going to write about you, you’d have to tell me. I’d have to know where you live, whether you’re married or not, what you have for breakfast, what you do on your day off. That’s why people read murder stories.”

“Is that what you think?”

“Yes!”

He shook his head. “I don’t agree. The word is murder. That’s what matters.”

~ The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz

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Angela Lansbury was almost 60 years old when she decided she wanted to do something other than theater and movies, which had comprised the entirety of her acting career up to that point.

She told her agent she wanted to get involved in television and he began to put feelers out for television shows that might work for her.

What came back from producers was very disappointing for Angela. Scripts submitted suggested she play the maid or housekeeper in an ensemble piece.

“When I got them, I was really pissed off,” Angela said in an interview with the Archive of American Television. “Well, jiminy, I’ve been working all these years in theater and movies and I don’t have a q-rating but I certainly have a little bit of a reputation for someone who knows how to do what I do, which is act. And I sent them back and I said, ‘do you mean to tell me that I’ve been working in the theater, getting ten percent of the gross and keeping the curtains up, for 15 years in New York and you’re going to offer — is that what you call a television opportunity for me at my age?”

Only a week later she received two scripts. One was for a comedy, that turned out not to be her cup of tea, so to speak. The other was for Murder, She Wrote.

When Angela read about Jessica Fletcher, she felt Jessica’s role was something she could connect with and contribute to.

Angela portrayed Jessica for 12 years starting in 1984 and during those years she once said that her show helped keep CBS afloat during some very lean years, especially in the 1980s and early 1990s when the network’s only other “big show” was 60 Minutes.

Murder, She Wrote topped the ratings week after week, year after year. In fact, it was the top-rated drama series for nine consecutive seasons.

Today the show is streaming on various services. It can be found in reruns on regular TV/cable and there are, of course, DVD collections. Fans of the show haven’t waned but merely grown up or are newly discovering it.

But what made a show about a middle-aged mystery writer turned amateur sleuth successful for so long?

Was it the quirky reoccurring characters, the simple and fairly clean mysteries, the fact it offered middle-America a much-needed escape from the trials of life, or Angela’s portrayal of Jessica?

The answer is simple.

It was all of these things. With Angela’s portrayal leading the way.

Murder, She Wrote was (or shall we say still is) the epitome of a cozy mystery show.

Sure, there was murder, but the show still managed to keep the crime and investigation fairly light. There was no-graphic violence, little to no obscenities and no on-screen sex. That isn’t to say that the topics presented or discussed weren’t a bit dark or uncomfortable, but writers and producers approached them in a way that was digestible to audiences of all backgrounds and most ages.

Viewers could tune in each week and watch Jessica solve a crime all while interacting in a caring, yet firm, way with her neighbors, family members (how many nieces and nephews can woman have?!), and strangers. For the first few years of the show episodes happened in the fictional town of Cabot Cove, Maine.

That’s right. Cabot Cove was not a real town. I hope I didn’t ruin that for anyone, but, yes, the exterior scenes for Cabot Cove were actually filmed in Mendocino, California.

Before Murder, She Wrote, Angela, born Angela Brigid Lansbury, acted on stage and in the theater. She began her acting career after her family moved to New York from London in 1940 to escape The Blitz during World War II. Angela was 15 at the time, and by 16, she was looking for acting jobs. Her mother was British actress Moyna MacGill so she knew a little bit about acting.

“Moyna found work on Broadway, and Angela studied drama until, after two years, they decamped to Los Angeles,” states an article by Holly Brubach in The Gentlewoman Magazine. “Moyna was on tour at the time, so it was left to Angela to organise the move – packing and closing the apartment, making travel arrangements for herself and her brothers. She was 16, pretending to be 19.”

Angela, known by her family as Brigid, started acting out scenes shortly after the age of 9 after her father died from stomach cancer. She needed a way to cope from the shock of his loss. Her mother later remarried and it was with her stepfather and mother and twin brothers that she moved to New York.

In 1942, at the age of 18, she signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and in the next 20 years she was nominated for three Academy Awards — Gaslight (1944 and the her first movie!), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), and The Manchurian Candidate (1962).

Then, when others didn’t see her as a leading lady, it was on to Broadway where she started collecting Tony Awards including, four for Best Actress in a Musical for her performances in Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Gypsy (1975), and Sweeney Todd (1979), followed by a win for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Blithe Spirit (2009). She was Tony-nominated for her roles in Deuce (2007) and A Little Night Music (2010). She won the Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 2022.

Other films she acted in (or voice acted in) included Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), Death on the Nile (1978), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Anastasia (1997), Nanny McPhee (2005) and Mary Poppins Returns (2018).

With all that success on stage and in movies, some in the industry might have considered Angela’s desire to have a role on television a step down. She, however, didn’t. Television was something new for her. She’d done everything else already.

She wasn’t sure what to expect from television, and she liked that. In the end, it was an amazing move for her career. Her portrayal of Jessica was what would shoot her to global fame.

Angela once described Jessica Fletcher as “the American Miss Marple”, which is fitting since it was an Agatha Christie movie that gave CBS executives the idea for Murder, She Wrote.

“CBS was getting beaten badly on Sunday nights,” Robert F. O’Neill, supervising producer, said on a special about Murder, She Wrote that ran after the show ended. “And in desperation, they ran an Agatha Christie movie, and I think it was Murder on the Orient Express, I’m not sure. And lo and behold it beat NBC and ABC. So they initially thought it might have been a fluke. A few weeks later, they purchased another Agatha Christie-type movie, and the same thing happened.”

Executives then began to wonder how a similar-style mystery show might do in that time slot. Harvey Shepard, the senior vice president of programming at CBS, floated the idea of the mystery show featuring a woman as the lead, which was unusual, according to show co-creator William Link, who spoke on the same special as O’Neill.

“Dick Levinson (other co-creator) and I were surprised because usually there hadn’t been any big hits with a woman protagonist carrying the series,” Link said. “Usually, the woman was bailed out by all the male associates she had. We figured if we are going to do a mystery show with a woman, it isn’t going to be like that.”

Once the script was written for the first show, creators had to find an actress that CBS would accept as Jessica Fletcher. When Jessica’s name came to them, Link and Levinson, self-described “theater nuts” were thrilled, but figured CBS executives might never have heard of her, which meant they might reject her.

Luckily, the executives loved Angela because from the start, she made it known how she thought Jessica should be portrayed — from what she wore to how she spoke to how she lived her life.

Angela protected Jessica fiercely over the next 12 years, striving to keep her as a strong, independent woman, rejecting a suggestion she get into a relationship and get married during the show’s run. Jessica was a widow from the start of the show.  She was faithful to her husband Frank even after his death, always rejecting any men’s advances gently, but firmly. She wore a locket around her neck in Frank’s memory and often spoke of him.

 If writers wrote something Angela knew Jessica wouldn’t say, she went to them and insisted they change that part of the dialogue.

“How much of Jessica Fletcher is Angela Lansbury?” asked one show writer Tom Sawyer (real name!) in an interview. “I would say cumulatively, a lot. Whether or not you start out writing the character to be like the actor, they tend to meld. When you start to get to know that person you tend to write to their strengths, to who they are.”

Many of those involved with the show agreed with Sawyer that much of who Jessica Fletcher became was shaped by who Angela was.

“I hope I share a lot of her traits,” Angela said in the same interview as Sawyer. “I certainly was brought up to conduct myself a certain way, so I suppose I bring that to her.”

Where is the real Cabot Cove?

Getting back to that little town Jessica lived in. Rumors have abounded for years about which Maine towns the fictional town was based on. Writer Laurie Bain Wilson believes Kennebunkport, Maine is what Cabot Cove is based on. Wilson’s father, Donald Bain, wrote 46 Murder, She Wrote novels under the name Jessica Fletcher, with his name underneath.

“Kennebunkport, about an hour-and-a-half drive from Boston, is one of the most favored coastal towns (for being Cabot Cove), and why not?” she wrote in a 2023 article on nextavenue.org. “It has all the feels of Cabot Cove. Kennebunkport’s year-round population is small, about 3,500, much like Cabot Cove’s 3,560; in the summer the number grows considerably thanks to the tourists.”

Cabot Cove isn’t simply a town, says Wilson.

“Ask any Murder, She Wrote fan — of the TV show or books — they’ll tell you that Cabot Cove is more than a location, it’s practically a character in itself,” she wrote.

But Cabot Cove was contrived, even if it felt real, with only nine episodes actually being filmed in Mendocino and interior scenes being shot on a soundstage. There were other locations filmed in the tiny town and used as stock footage throughout the series.

The outside of Jessica Fletcher’s house shown in episodes is actually The Blair House Inn in Mendocino.

According to the Blair House Inn website, residents looked forward to the filming schedule each spring. It was normal to see residents mingling with the cast and crew and filming the show there was a definite boon to the economy.

“It is estimated the series brought in over two million dollars for the local economy, and generous donations were also made to various local service groups and organizations,” the Blair House Inn site states.

It was stated by Lansbury and others that filming in Maine was too expensive, which is why actual filming was done in California. It does make me wonder, though, why the writers chose the state of Maine as Jessica’s home. I couldn’t find a definitive answer online, but I will keep searching.

I found it ironic that the man who had the Blair House built, Elish Blair, arrived in Mendocino from Maine in 1857. Interesting connection, huh?

Fans of Murder, She Wrote, still visit Mendocino to soak up the feeling of Cabot Cove, especially the inn.

“The iconic house that was Jessica’s home has an idyllic location overlooking the Pacific Ocean,” boasts the inn’s site. “It features classic Victorian details such as ornate woodwork. The house has become a popular tourist attraction over the years, and it’s easy to see why. The house is a beautiful reminder of the past, and it’s also the perfect setting for a good mystery.”

A phenomenon

Murder, She Wrote wasn’t just a show — it was a cultural phenomenon that led to books, merchandise, tourism, television movies, and much more.

To this day the topic of Murder, She Wrote still pops up on various social media accounts or — ahem — blogs.

Vanity Fair wrote an article in 2016 about an Instagram account featuring Jessica as a “style icon.” The account featured images or videos of Jessica’s various outfits, which back in the day probably influenced quite a few trends.

The account is now defunct, but at the time it was run by a Cici Harrison, who wasn’t a fan of Murder, She Wrote when her mom and sister were in the 1980s. In her 30s she began to appreciate it more and started the account to focus on Jessica’s fashion.

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That fashion was something Angela herself had a lot of input on.

Jennifer Frazee was a freelance assistant wardrobe stylist on the show and told Vanity Fair she remembered Lansbury always being there when the wardrobe department planned Jessica’s outfits for the episodes.  

“If you really want to think about it, she was very sophisticated in what she wore in the show,” she said. “And that also has to do with the actress; they expected to see her, even when she was Jessica Fletcher, they also saw Angela Lansbury,” she said. “She’s royalty; she’s Hollywood royalty. It was well blended.”

Fans still talk about Jessica’s fashion on places like Reddit.

Angela didn’t just have input on Jessica’s fashion, style, and personality. In the early 1990s when the show’s ratings started to slip some, Angela took over as an executive producer, moved Jessica to New York City, and helped breathe life back into the show again. The woman was a quadruple threat. She could act in movies, television, on Broadway, and produce television.

Acting and producing wasn’t all Angela did while on the show either, if some rumors are true. Even before she passed away, a rumor started that she offered guest star appearances to actors who hadn’t worked in years, making sure they wouldn’t lose either their insurance or pension payments from the actors’ guild.

An article on Newsweek states that this story was never proven, but admitted there were many out-of-work actors who were given guest spots on the shows over the years. At least one actress said Angela had writers create a role for her so she wouldn’t lose her actor’s guild insurance.

“A 2003 Los Angeles Times obituary for actress Madlyn Rhue revealed how Lansbury had helped her during an illness,” states the Newsweek article. “The article states that Lansbury reportedly had heard that Rhue was in danger of losing her Screen Actors Guild medical coverage because she was short of meeting the annual earnings requirement.

“So she created this character for her and brought her in every three or four episodes. People who had worked with Madlyn and loved her kept giving her the opportunity to work.”

The site Gold Derby also mentions Angela doing this for actors and says a former head of publicity at Universal Television said the rumors were true.

“I can confirm this happened on numerous, if not dozens, of occasions,” the person, who preferred to remain anonymous, said. “This was a genuine priority for her, to help her fellow union members either remain members in good standing or restore their membership. That’s just the way she was. It was extremely important to her.”

There were some weird things about the show…

Over the years, viewers haven’t been afraid to admit there were/are faults in the show. One “fault” (if you want to call it that) was that someone died every week as soon as Jessica stepped through the door. My husband, who watched the show as a teen, calls her The Harbinger of Death and there is even an episode with that title (Season 4, Episode 13). Of course, how could you have a show called Murder, She Wrote if you didn’t have murders? It was an occupational hazard for Jessica’s character. My husband and I often joke that maybe Jessica killed people so she’d have more material for her books.

Another odd thing about the show was how many of the deaths happened in the little town of Cabot Cove. Estimates online that I found were that 60 out of the little town’s 3,500 residents died in those 12 years. I know I certainly would have reconsidered any visits to that town if I had heard that.

Other “faults” included continuity issues, some bad episodes (like what show doesn’t have those?), some odd plotlines (like the woman who was a bigamist but begged Jessica at the end of the show not to tell her second husband), and maybe a bit too much “cheese.”

Liberty Hardy wrote on the site novelsuspects.com that the show could be “silly” at times.

“(One) delightfully silly aspect is that not only were there murders everywhere Jessica Fletcher went, but they almost always involved her family and friends. By the beginning of season four, Jessica had three nieces and a nephew-in-law accused of murder, and a nephew who was a top suspect in killings not once, but twice! (The show never took itself too seriously, though: The episode “Witness for the Defense” even poked fun of her seemingly homicidal family.)”

Most fans would agree that all of those so-called faults are all part of the charm of Murder, She Wrote.

The end of an era

The charm of the show didn’t stop CBS from canceling it in 1996, though, and that is something which truly bothered Angela, even years later.

In 1996, CBS thought they needed to make a change to the night when Murder, She Wrote aired and moved it from Sunday to Thursday, opposite NBC’s powerhouse sitcom, Friends. They realized their mistake fast and tried to move it again, but the initial move was the beginning of the end.

Makers of the show hoped that the loyal viewers would follow and for a while, they did, but then there were more moves and no one knew when to watch it. By then, as my husband said, “the product had been spoiled.”

Not only had the shine gone off the show as it plummeted in the ratings due to fan being unable to find it, but CBS was also looking for shows that would cater to younger audiences.

Finally CBS pulled the plug and it was a move that crushed the cast and fans.

Angela wasn’t ready for the end, she said in an interview with The Television Academy. She would have gracefully bowed out, rather than have been kicked out, she snapped in the interview, still clearly annoyed many years later.

“It surprised us. It shocked us,” Angela told 60 Minutes in a November 1996 feature piece. “We could have told them that it couldn’t be any other night than Sunday night because that was family night.”

The show was canceled in May and in November, during the 60 Minutes interview, Angela still couldn’t talk about it without choking up. She needed to take a sip of tea, in true British fashion, to keep the tears at bay and even then they glistened in the corners of her eyes.

The outcry to the cancellation was so intense that Angela had a letter published in The New York Post to thank fans and try to soothe them.

“Dear Friends,

Let me just say that I am simply overwhelmed by the warmth and sincerity of your wonderful messages and I feel tremendously comforted by your support. I think you know I have always held you, our audience, in the highest regard, and believe me, I shared your disappointment in the way things turned out. 

But now I’m looking forward to new beginnings, and, down the line, Murder, She Wrote movies of the week. My love and gratitude to you all for letting me know how much you’ve enjoyed Murder, She Wrote over the past twelve years.

Angela.”

Eventually, Angela forgave CBS, or at least somewhat, and agreed to make a few TV Murder, She Wrote movies.

Personal thoughts:

As for me, I didn’t actually watch Murder, She Wrote when I was younger, except for a couple of times with my grandmother. Grandma didn’t have much choice but to watch Murder, She Wrote. For years the only channel she could get on her TV was a CBS affiliate. I think, however, she actually liked the show and would have watched it even if she’d had had more channels.

It was my husband who actually got me interested in the show and it was with him I watched my first full episode. In the last year or so I have begun to binge watch the show with our 10-year-old daughter. One afternoon my family came home from something or other, I can’t remember what, and I was tired, but I clapped my hands in excitement and said, “Oh! I am so excited! I have a Murder, She Wrote episode to finish.” My daughter was excited too and when that one was finished, she declared, “Another one!”

Anytime we’ve had a rough day she now suggests Murder, She Wrote to helps us both unwind. I won’t lie that sometimes we poke a bit of fun at the sillier moments of the show, but affectionately so

TV was a big escape for my husband when he was growing up. He came from an abusive home. For him watching shows like The Rockford Files, Columbo, Taxi, Magnum P.I., and Murder, She Wrote is nostalgic because it reminds him of some of the few good times he had in his childhood. Those shows were a chance for him to forget about the mental abuse he suffered day in and day out. They were also shows he watched with his grandparents, who provided him a type of emotional shelter from what he was experiencing at home. .

For me, watching Murder, She Wrote gives me time to focus on something other than the difficulties in life — parents growing older, children growing so fast my head is spinning, personal health issues, world events, etc. etc. I have found that the show has offered me an escape as well.

I enjoyed a particular section in the article in The Gentlewoman Magazine about Angela where she talked about how she unwound.

“. . . she needs to do things with her hands, she says – cooking, if she’s at home, or knitting, in her dressing room. “I find that very calming,” she explains. “Which might give you the idea that I’m a nervous person, which I’m not. But sometimes one’s mind goes too fast, and by doing something with my hands, I slow myself down.”

I also like to find things to do with my hands to help slow my thoughts down.

Why fans loved the show  – in their own words

When Angela Lansbury passed away in 2022 at the age of 96, fans placed wreaths at the Blair House Inn.

A year later the Kelley House Museum, in the same town, offered a reception inside the inn in tribute of Angela, according to a post on their site, and asked fans why they loved Murder, She Wrote.

Here are some of the answers:

“I watched as a young girl, often as my mom did house cleaning. As an adult, after I married and began trying to start a family, I was met with some unexpected obstacles. After several years of unsuccessful IVF treatments, I began to try to make peace with a childless future. I made a list of strong women I admired who happened to not have children. Jessica Fletcher was at the top of my list. I rewatched every episode at that time. Then, a year later, I rewatched every episode again, during my pregnancy. I became pregnant thanks to another ‘childless’ woman I admired–my sister–who became my savior egg donor.  XO Malory Marlatte Voith.”

“I began watching the show my senior year of high school (1985 graduate) and continued to watch through college. I loved seeing a female who was so much smarter than the men around her yet wasn’t cocky. I did a career in federal law enforcement with the US Marshals Service. Channeling my inner ‘Jessica’ helped through tough situations over the years.”

“My Nana passed away when I was 7. But before that, she and I would watch Murder, She Wrote as our before-bed show. When she passed, it was my happy show to watch and remember my Nana.”

“Five generations now have watched this wonderful show. From Grandma to my granddaughter who is 3. We love this show! Fav episode— ‘If it’s Thursday, It Must Be Beverly.’ – Debbie, Alejandoro, & Athena (3)”

When looking for posts about why fans love the show, I found an entire Subreddit just about Murder, She Wrote. On one post, fans shared why they loved the show.

“I can’t seem to articulate it really, it just is (comforting),” one poster wrote. “Perhaps because Angela Lansbury reminds me so much of my late grandmother? Or that every episode, even though there is always a murder, tends to end happily? The general 80s-90s nostalgia?”

“As others have said, the gentle tone, and Angela is just such a treat to watch,” another comment reads. “The character of Jessica herself is comforting, wise, kind, practical and reliable.”

Echoing Angela’s comments over the years that the show was one that families watched together, commenters online often mention they have memories of watching it with family.

“This brings me comfort because I grew up watching it with my parents and brother,” one person wrote on Reddit.

Closing Thoughts

I have a long way to go before I have watched all of the Murder, She Wrote episodes and that makes me happy. I look forward to many more nights of watching and getting caught up in the storyline and maybe poking a bit of fun at some of the silly or unbelievable elements.

I look forward to watching Jessica be cool under pressure. I look forward to watching her be bold (and maybe a bit stupid) when she corners the killer and solves the case.

I also look forward to my daughter seeing through Jessica Fletcher that a woman can be independent, determined, and strong but also kind, caring, and compassionate.

Just like Jessica Fletcher.

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Sources/additional reading:

Angela Lansbury on 60 Minutes: https://youtu.be/eORu

S8G38JU?si=_AltKb1w5PYwJ2Qq

Angela Lansbury bio, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Lansbury

Murder, She Wrote special: https://youtu.be/aZLCZq5m1P8?si=rkcCPhPlY1PZI6UX

Interview with Angela on the Murder, She Wrote audience: https://youtu.be/y6BaBWob5lI?si=BdNwOkKAY6XS-ppE

Murder She Wrote and The Blair House Inn: https://www.blairhouse.com/murder-she-wrote/

Angela Lansbury feature in The Gentlewoman: https://thegentlewoman.co.uk/library/angela-lansbury

Kelley House Museum: Why I Love Murder, She Wrote

https://www.kelleyhousemuseum.org/why-i-love-murder-she-wrote/

Jessica Fletcher’s Cabot Cove: https://www.nextavenue.org/jessica-fletchers-cabot-cove/

“Murder, She Wrote” Was Actually All About Real Estate: https://www.dwell.com/article/murder-she-wrote-urbanism-12b1bac1       

How Murder, She Wrote Became an Unexpected Social-Media Style Inspiration:

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2016/09/murder-she-look-unexpected-social-media-style?srsltid=AfmBOopfmm0ei2v5gt7sGKLCkVG0L-O-koAz4v6wNKgVkKfy7bM7JO4M

Angela Lansbury was a saint in helping aging performers keep their SAG benefits:

https://www.goldderby.com/feature/angela-lansbury-saint-sag-benefits-1205119315/

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Lisa R. Howeler is a blogger, homeschool mom, and writes cozy mysteries. 

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.