Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury, DBE (born 16 October 1925) is a British-American actress and singer who has appeared in theatre, television and film. Her career has spanned seven decades, much of it based in the United States, and her work has attracted international attention.
Lansbury was born to an upper-middle-class family in central London, the daughter of Northern Irish actress Moyna Macgill and English politician Edgar Lansbury. To escape the Blitz, in 1940 she moved to the United States, there studying acting in New York City. Proceeding to Hollywood in 1942, she signed to MGM and obtained her first film roles, in Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), earning her two Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe Award. She appeared in eleven further MGM films, mostly in minor roles, and after her contract ended in 1952 she began supplementing her cinematic work with theatrical appearances. Although largely seen as a B-list star during this period, her appearance in the film The Manchurian Candidate (1962) received widespread acclaim and is cited as being one of her finest performances. Moving into musical theatre, Lansbury finally gained stardom for playing the leading role in the Broadway musical Mame (1966), which earned her a range of awards and established her as a gay icon.
Journey into Imagination with Figment is the third and latest incarnation of a dark ride attraction located within the Imagination! pavilion at the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World. Originally opened on March 5, 1983, its original and current version feature the small purple dragon named Figment as well as the song "One Little Spark", composed by the Sherman Brothers.
The original attraction opened on March 5, 1983. It began with the omnimover vehicles “floating” in the clouds and seeing the silhouette of a strange blimp mixed with a vacuum cleaner and hearing the humming and singing of its pilot. In the next scene the riders come right next to this vessel and the pilot, an old man with a red beard dressed in a blue suit and top hat, introduces himself as the Dreamfinder (Chuck McCann) and saying that he uses his vehicle (called the Dream Mobile or Dream Catcher by some fans) to collect dreams and ideas to create all sorts of new things. Soon he creates a figment of his imagination: "two tiny wings, eyes big and yellow, horns of a steer, but a loveable fellow! From head to tail, he's royal purple pigment, and there, voilà! You've got a Figment!" Both Dreamfinder and the dragon Figment (Billy Barty) imagine things to fill the "idea bag". When the idea bag is full, Dreamfinder declares that the ideas need to be emptied in the "Dreamport" which, as he says, is "never far away when you use your imagination".
Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly
Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast
Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
Ever just as sure
As the sun will rise
Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme