By the late 1960s, Angela Lansbury had been a working actress for more than twenty years. She had earned her first Oscar nomination in 1944 at the age of 19 for Gaslight. Two more nominations followed. A Tony Award for Mame on Broadway. A steady, respected career as one of the finest character actresses of her generation. She was married to MGM executive Peter Shaw. They lived in a beautiful home in Malibu. They had two teenage children, Anthony and Deidre. Her son Anthony had started using drugs. What began with marijuana moved into LSD, then into heroin. Two of his closest friends had already died of overdoses. Her daughter Deidre, a year younger, had begun drifting into the same world. Lansbury later admitted she and Peter had no idea what they were looking at. They were parents from a different generation. They did not even know what a pipe in a drawer meant when they found one. Then came the name she would not speak publicly for decades. Charles Manson. This was before most of the world knew who Charles Manson was. He was not yet a household horror. He was one of many charismatic drifters living in the hills above Los Angeles, gathering young followers around him with a guitar, talk of love, and easy access to drugs. According to Lansbury's stepson David Shaw, Manson was a "frequent caller" at the Lansbury family home — asking for Deidre. Manson biographer Jeff Guinn later told People magazine that Lansbury's daughter never became a full member of Manson's cult — but that Manson exploited Deidre's access to her parents' credit cards before they cut her off. Lansbury said that Deidre was one of the "many youngsters who knew him and they were fascinated." She described Manson as "an extraordinary character" who was "charismatic in many ways." The pull was real. The danger was real. Angela Lansbury saw what was happening — and she acted.