Miscast Mame — Angela Lansbury vs. Lucille Ball

Rosalind's Mame will always be my favorite. Her poise and comedic background made her the ideal Mame in my mind.

I’ve only known Rosalind Russell as Mame. She’s amazing! It’s one of mu favorite movies of all time 💖

This is such a better argument than I would make... which is really just "If you get a chance to cast Angela Lansbury... You cast Angela Goddamn Lansbury!"

April 1973, when "Mame" was being filmed, Angela Lansbury opened the Academy Awards with a spectacular musical number. You can find it on YouTube.

My parents saw Angela Landsbury 1966 opening week 7th row center and she blew the doors off! They never forgot it!

I saw Lucy in Mame when it opened at Radio City Music Hall in 1974, and also had the pleasure of seeing the 80’s revival with Angela Lansbury,. Both ladies brought their own style to the role of Mame and I loved them both!!

"Mame" will always be Rosiland Russell for me. No one ever performed the role better. After the Russell film version, it should have simply been left alone. No remakes. She was marvelous!

I’m surprised Bedknobs and Broomsticks didn’t prove Angela could carry a musical!

Isn’t it just interesting that Angela Lansbury was deemed too “unknown” for film audiences ... the three-time Oscar-nominated actress.

Angela is hands-down TOO CUTE FOR THIS PLANET 😍🌎 what did humanity ever do to deserve her? 😚💋

Lucy was queen of comedy in our household in the 60s. I only saw her I Love Lucy episodes when they went into reruns along with her other sitcoms. Every episode we watched cracked me and my Mom up. Having said that it was 1974 and I was in the Navy stationed in Alexandria Virginia as a Radioman. My girlfriend lived in PA. She asked me if I wanted to go to New York to see Mame starring Lucille Ball at Radio City Music Hall with her mom and a number of other people. Of course I jumped all over that invite seeing how Lucy was my favorite comedienne, with Carol Burnett being a close second. Now this is where I was either misinformed or I completely 'misheard' what I was about to see. All the way on the bus trip from PA to NY City, to Radio City right up until the lights went down in the hall, I actually thought I was getting ready to see a live play starring Lucille Ball. I was very excited and about to see Lucy in person! Now I'm waiting for the actors to come out then all of a sudden Mame the movie comes on. 'What?!' Talk about being disappointed. Anyway looking back on it the film was pretty good to me. The audience was laughing and applauding and everyone seemed to be enjoying it. I've watched it on TV a few times and still like it. Though Mame didn't do well at the box office and wasn't a hit with the critics it does not define Lucy's career. For my money she was and always will be one of entertainments funniest comics ever (as well as the "All Time" funniest female comic). When she passed I shed a few tears.

Thanks for confirming my thought that the film version of "Mame" was not only an obscene waste of film, but also an insult to the viewer. My eyes and ears are still bleeding decades after watching Lucille Ball in that horrific train-wreck of a movie musical. Lucille Ball was a smoked-out, arthritic, old-hag-voice who couldn't hold an on-key note for longer than 2 seconds. Be careful, this megabomb is still radioactive! Hollywood owes Angela Lansbury an apology.

Lucille is a fantastic comedienne, but Angela is a great singer, an amazing actress, and a lovely lady. I love both ladies, but Angela wins here. :)

The best Mame was Rosalind Russell...and she was 51-years-old when she played the role.

The 41st Tony awards was the first time Bea and Angela were on the stage together since "Mame".

The thing is, Angela was in many great and good movies, "Gaslight," "The Harvey Girls," and many others, including TV guest spots.

I actually had no problem with Lucy's comedic actions.  She is the queen of comedy, doing what she does best.  She failed the role for 2 reasons, neither of which she could possibly overcome: 1) Mame Dennis would have been in her 40s for most of the story.  Her brother dies shortly before the story begins, leaving her a boy of 8 to care for.  That would likely put her in her early 40s at the oldest.  Rosalind Russell was 51 when the 1958 film was made.  Angela Lansbury was 49 in 1974.  Lucille Ball was 63, old enough to play Mame's mother and Patrick's grandmother.  She was not a feisty middle aged woman, but someone at the twilight of her long career ready to retire.  No wealthy oil tycoon was going to beat her door down in the Depression. 2) Angela Lansbury has a beatiful voice.  Her "We need a Little Christmas" is a holiday classic.  She has won 5 Tonies, mostly for musicals.  Meanwhile, as you mentioned, Lucy was a chainsmoker.  She croaked the notes and made Bea Arthur sound like Barbara Streisand.  Lansbury's Mame soundtrack still sells well; no one has ever asked for Ball's soundtrack to anything without a laughtrack.

... I had the OBC recording of MAME on 7.5 IPS 4-Track 7" Stereo Reel-To-Reel Tape, and the sound quality was BREATHTAKING at the time ... and would still be considered so today. Angela Lansbury's voice was the perfect combination of exquisitely subtle character vocalizations, and gutsy, all-out, gloriously lyrical singing. Heard through full size headphones, she danced so effortlessly through my imagination that I could envision her every move, and expression onstage. From her, I learned the universal difference between Talent and Skill.

Lucille was a comedy Goddess. There’s no doubt there. But Miss Angela needs a theatre named after her on Broadway! She is a musical Goddess!🥰

You can't blame everything on Lucy's acting or singing. There has to be discussion of directing and editing and who adapted the script from the musical to the movie.