MovieChat Forums > The Three Musketeers (1948) Discussion > Lansbury wanted to be Milady

Lansbury wanted to be Milady

posted 17 years ago by beckeis
3 replies | jump to latest

I watched a special on AMC going through the career of Angela Lansbury, she was being personally interviewed by the host, and when they came to The Three Musketeers she said very plainly that she was desperate to be Milady DeWinter and even went to the front office to beg for the part. They refused, telling her it was taylor made for Lana Turner, and they wanted her to be Queen Anne.

I found this very interesting because Lana Turner, in her autobiography, wrote that she initially didn't want the part. It was just another costume picture and she wasn't interested. But the more she worked on it, the more she was able to work with Vincent Price, the better she liked it. Turner now remembers playing Milady with great fondness.

I thought both ladies were very good in their parts -- and very beautiful!

[–] vanityfair_713 17 years ago

That's rather sad, actually.
I mean, who knows what sort of roles Lansbury would've gotten had she played Milady. It couldve sent her career in a different direction (not that I didn't love it anywa

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[–] Wakanohana 10 years ago

Angela Lansbury was only about 23 years old when she played Queen Anne... too young to be the evil de Winter. Too cute, too.

[–] ClassicMovieholic 10 years ago

If memory serves me correctly, Milady was only about 25 in the book (her marriage to Athos had taken place when she was only 15 or 16).

In some ways, I think the sweet, wholesome looking Lansbury might have been a better physical fit for the role. Milady DeWinter is one of the most terrifying characters in all literature, and the horror lies in how well she conceals the evil under her soft, angelic exterior. Dumas' Milady could have stepped right out of a raphael painting of the Madonna, but when crossed she flashes into an almost demonic tigress. The subtle, more angelically seductive quality an Angela Lansbury type might have brought to the role would have been interesting to see.

I think it's one of Turner's better roles of the 1940s, though (the execution scene is one of the best of her career), and I also like Lansbury as the regal Queen Anne. Lansbury might also have made a good Constance...June Allyson is hopelessly out of place in a period piece.