Mary Altaffer/Associated Press Angela Lansbury will be interviewed by Turner Classic Movies' Robert Osborne on "Private Screenings" at 8 p.m. tomorrow. Click photo for larger image. Listen In Listen to an excerpt of Patricia Sheridan's interview with Angela Lansbury This is a large file, approximately 7.8MB. To download the file to your computer, right click on the above link and select "Save Target As ..." After the file has finished downloading, double-click on the file to listen to the audio.

She was married to Peter Shaw for 53 years until he died in 2003. They have two children and three grandchildren.

Lansbury will be the featured guest on Turner Classic Movies' "Private Screenings" hosted by Robert Osborne. The hourlong interview will premiere at 8 p.m. tomorrow on TCM.

Q: Was giving up your career to raise your family ever an option?

A: Well, it certainly was. At the time that I went to Ireland [in the middle of her acting career in 1971], I certainly put my career behind me at that moment. I wouldn't have taken a job for anything in the world because the need for me to take care of business, as it were, and the crisis situation that I was facing with my children [some reported drug issues] -- there was no alternative. I wouldn't have dreamt of not doing what I did at that moment because, as I say, it was very, very necessary.

Q: You did that after your Malibu house burned during a wildfire season in California?

A: Yes. In other words we really started a whole new life in Ireland. It was very simple, down to earth -- basics. It certainly helped the kids to get on their feet, so it was very worthwhile. Once they were on their feet, then I was able to consider going back to work again.

Q: You often played older than you were. In "Blue Hawaii" [1961] you played Elvis Presley's mother, and you were nearly the same age! Did it bother you at any point?

A: Well, it did. And I took exception to it certainly at MGM. Now I didn't have to take the job of playing Elvis' mother because that was a Paramount picture, and I wasn't under contract to Paramount, but it was offered to me. I thought, "Gee, what a gas to do this, and why not?"

Q: You have said your mother gave you a lot of confidence in your talent growing up. I was wondering, did anything ever shake that confidence?

A: When I came to Hollywood in 1942, I remember doing this act as an audition for a possible contract, you know? I remember on that occasion, the man who was in charge, and I wish I could remember his name, because he later became a friend, he said, "That girl is mad." You know, because I was doing stuff that was strictly out of British cabaret, and they just didn't get it. They didn't get me at all. Well, I was momentarily discouraged, you bet. I was, let's say, a little abashed by that response.

Q: So, it didn't actually shake that confidence?

A: Oh, no, no.

Q: You started in Hollywood as a nubile teenager. Were you ever maneuvered near the casting couch?

A: Oh, I never was, I was so British and so uptight. They didn't dare hit me with that. Absolutely not. Listen, I knew what it was all about. I was very worldly. I am not going to say I wasn't. I was just very reserved by Hollywood standards.

Q: When "Mame" [the Broadway musical] came along, you really went after it.

A: Oh absolutely. I mean, you couldn't have asked for a more marvelous opportunity to use every bit of skill that I trained -- I trained as a kid taking singing and dancing -- I was ready. I had also done a musical prior to that, which was "Anyone Can Whistle," with [Stephen] Sondheim. Therefore, I knew I had the ability, if I could bring it off, you know? Working with the best like Jerry Herman and the great director Gene Saks, both of them, helped me enormously to bring that off in the best possible way.

Q: It seems Broadway appreciates you the most, with your having won four Tonys.

A: I love Broadway. I just bought a new apartment in New York. I just want to be there. If I'll work in the theater again, I don't know. That depends on what is forthcoming. I want to be able to go to the theater every night of the week if I feel like it.

Q: Were you ever star-struck by anyone you worked with -- Katharine Hepburn, Elvis, Ingrid Bergman? There were so many.

A: I think I would call it awed. I was awed by Katharine; I was awed by Spencer Tracy. Yes indeed. I was awed by Randolph Scott. Isn't that interesting? He was such a gent. Also ... William Powell. Because as a kid I had seen him in the "Thin Man" series and to be playing his lover (laughing) in a movie when I was about 19 or 20, I was awed by that, you bet. All these people, they turn out to be so real when you are sitting on the set and talking to them and listening to them. You realize that all of this stuff ... in the movie magazines was made up.

Q: Well, possibly with the exception of Judy Garland?

A: Well, Judy was closer to me in age, so I wasn't awed by her so much -- no we were just kind of working actresses together. That was the way she was, impossible and late and kept everybody waiting ...

Q: That's what I meant. The movie magazines talked about that, and she was sort of like that.

A: Oh, yes, she definitely was. That was the hand she played every step of the way. The reason for it was that she was so, in a way, unsure of herself. She had so much emotional baggage in connection with her growing up that it colored her entire life, as we all now know. But it never, never interfered with her jewel-like talent.