BEA Arthur seemed the very definition of a tough showbiz broad. Tall, astringent, imperious -- she looked like someone who didn't suffer fools and could cut them down with a withering look or a well-aimed barb, delivered in that famous contralto. And it was, for the most part, all an act, says her close friend of more than 40 years, Angela Lansbury. "Bea was absolutely the antithesis of the characters she portrayed," Lansbury says. "She was sensitive -- really, really sensitive -- and self-conscious. But she covered it up by becoming this deep-voiced comic.
Angela Lansbury is an actress.