Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves: My Personal Plan for Fitness and Well-Being

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The content and writing style are so breezy and light it feels like you are sitting down with auntie Angela for a good chat. In truth, the book’s real value is the bit of light it casts into Lansbury’s life and upbeat personal philosophy. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

Much of the advice seems to be good advice to talk, although there were a few things I disagreed with as something I would want to do, personally. Angela Lansbury, successful film and television actress, stars in this documentary about her personal program for fitness and well-being.

Published in 1990, Lansbury's thoughts on managing her weight, moods, effects of aging and staying mentally healthy are mostly timeless.

Lansbury's philosophy was to stay positive about each new day: "I take these few moments to focus on the day ahead. Though out of print, it is fairly easy to find an inexpensive copy of this wonderful lifestyle and health guide by Angela Lansbury.Ultimately, I found the great actress’s account of her fitness and diet regime a little thin/idiosyncratic, though I did mark a vegetable soup recipe I might try later this week. Her clothes suited her age, but they were something that older women’s clothes hadn’t been for decades: they were becoming.

But there's actually a lot of good advice to behold here no matter your age, and the notion of an older star promoting her fitness routine and lifestyle advice to women of her age range was ahead of its time in the 1980s. But I love that she explains that this is what she does, and not necessarily what everyone should do, because that means that she is sensible enough to know that what works for one person won't work for another. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) bestowed upon her a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. Some moments are amusing, such as when Lansbury introduces us to "land swimming", an exercise move she came up with herself, and "moving freely", where she manages to keep a straight face while dancing in a peach-colored jumpsuit to the tape's synthesizer background music. If you’re too young to remember, it was a perfect storm of spandex and leg warmers, brought on by Jane Fonda’s Workout Book and Olivia Newton John’s “Physical,” and culminating in every single famous person ever putting out a workout video.For some, she’s a film noir femme fatale, and for others, the voice of the teapot in Beauty and the Beast, with starring roles in Broadway’s Mame and Sweeney Todd somewhere in the middle. All written content, unless otherwise noted as being quotes, has been written and copyrighted by me. When I was growing up, women over 60 wore flowered house dresses or polyester twin sets — with a fat string of Barbara Bush beads, if they were being fancy. When Positive Moves came out, Lansbury was most recognizable as the star of Murder, She Wrote, which was in the fifth of its twelve seasons. It was so well-liked by senior citizens that it pretty much single-handedly changed the way older women dress.

Lansbury did exactly what she said she would do in this book - she answered fans who asked her "What do you do. Right from a childhood of dancing across Regents Park in a toga, Lansbury had a positive, practical approach to life.

One star lost for typical anti-fatness to be expected from a “fitness book”, particularly of its era. She left us without writing a full memoir, so we must be grateful for the few stories about growing up in England, balancing professional successes with personal struggles, etc. Read all Angela Lansbury, successful film and television actress, stars in this documentary about her personal program for fitness and well-being.