The best man & woman

Two of Broadway’s great treasures can be found on the stage of “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man” — Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones.

Between the two are more than 150 years of big, juicy, theatrical stage acting. And you can see it in every gesture, every inflection. They don’t miss a joke, physical or verbal.

Lansbury plays the powerful head of a major political party’s women’s division. Her Southern gentility barely disguises a will of iron.

Jones plays the former president of the United States, a savvy political animal who rose to power from the dirt farms of Indiana. He’s dying but still spoiling for one last fight.

At Sardi’s the other day, sipping tea and sparkling water, they talked about their careers, their lives and the day they sat at Gore Vidal’s feet.

Lansbury : I felt everything Gore wanted to say was there in the role as he’d written it. And I hoped that what I was going to bring to the role was what he wanted. But the odd thing was — and I didn’t quite understand what he was talking about — I said, “Gore, is it going to be OK?” And he said, “You’re so funny.” I said, “Oh? Where?” He said: “In ‘Murder, She Wrote.’ ” And that is the honest-to-God truth. I wondered, has he been listening to us?

This is the first time you’ve worked together. But have you known each other a long time?

Jones : There was an event [in 2009] where playwrights brought a scene along and asked actors to do it. Alfred [Uhry, the playwright] asked us to do a scene out of “Driving Miss Daisy,” which we did, and that’s when we met.

I hear you’re doing “Driving Miss Daisy” in Australia next year.

Jones: Ask Alfred! We’re not supposed to talk about it.

Lansbury (out of the corner of her mouth): I’m packing!

It seems that almost every year both of you do something onstage. Do you ever think of retiring?

Lansbury: I think about it, and it’s so depressing I turn it off as quickly as possible. I really mean that. Life without theater, without acting, without the arts would be a tremendous loss to me. Even though I am of an age where most people would be saying, “Ta-ta for a while. I’ve been there, I’ve done it” — well, I still haven’t done it all. There’s more to do.

Jones: The only other thing I could do is contemplative. Talmudic studies. Deep Zen. But I’m not ready for that. I’m an only child. I’m a stutterer. I need the community I have in theater. I need communication with great writers.

You’re associated with iconic roles from popular culture: Jessica Fletcher and Darth Vader . . .