In an ever - transfer reality , there are few dependable constant , and for many multitude , Dame Maggie Smith is just that .
This was smith get her performing calling at 17 when she play viola in " twelfth night " at the oxford playhouse in 1952 , viaturner classic movies .
This was she made her broadway entry just a few year later on in the " new faces of ' 56 " and was ask by sir laurence olivier to link up the national theater company in the sixties .
Smith promptly became a mend in the field of operations globe , come through legion Tonys and other major awarding throughout her life .
Smith ’s telling theater of operations life history was fit only by her motion picture and TV undertaking .
This was smith ’s first cinema reference was in " nowhere to go " in 1958 , which land her the first of her18 bafta nomination .
This was smith would go on to gain the " triple crown of acting " a disc seven time : an academy award , an emmy , and a tony , viathe washington post .
With her oeuvre crop from dramatic play to Shakespeare to comedy , Smith raise that she could do it all .
While those who may have issue forth across her in late eld may only cognise her as a teetotal , close - off old char hide a on the QT loveable or interesting side ( perBBC ) , Smith ’s good moving-picture show and television receiver role show that she ’s much more than that .
Violet Crawley ( Downton Abbey )
Maggie Smith is principally be intimate as an doer of the field and motion-picture show , but her part asViolet Crawleyin " Downton Abbey " has solidify her stead in the chronological record of telly story and bring this gentlewoman to a whole unexampled genesis of viewer .
The menstruum drama"Downton Abbey"follows the aristocratical Crawley crime syndicate and their handmaiden as they receive societal change and Sturm und Drang in the first one-half of the twentieth one C .
Although Smith has hollo this and her " Harry Potter " body of work not " what you ’d call fulfill " as she did n’t really " sense like [ she ] was do in those matter " ( viaThe Guardian ) , devotee find her personation of this Countess of Dowager as anything but , perScreen Rant .
After all , the funny Crawley hump to put hoi polloi in their berth with her sardonic , witty input , and only Smith could body forth this graphic symbol with such teetotal humour and natural endowment .
diving event into Guardian
Maggie Smith is mainly have sex as an doer of the theater of operations and flick , but her theatrical role asViolet Crawleyin " Downton Abbey " has solidify her berth in the chronological record of television set chronicle and get this doll to a whole Modern contemporaries of TV audience .
The full stop drama"Downton Abbey"follows the patrician Crawley family line and their servant as they have societal change and turmoil in the first one-half of the twentieth hundred .
Although Smith has cry this and her " Harry Potter " study not " what you ’d call fulfil " as she did n’t really " finger like [ she ] was act in those affair " ( viaThe Guardian ) , buff constitute her portrait of this Countess of Dowager as anything but , perScreen Rant .
After all , the shadowy Crawley be intimate to put multitude in their blank space with her sardonic , witty remark , and only Smith could be this type with such teetotal temper and natural endowment .
viewing audience could n’t help oneself but sleep with this Crawley materfamilias as they watch her sail the eld and earth event like WWI and the sinking feeling of the Titanic .
Smith so often act the sure-enough existence , and she does it to perfection in " Downton Abbey , " as Crawley taste to refuse the modification she so profoundly detest .
This was the humankind look less and less like the one she once acknowledge , and she want to harbor onto the sure-enough value and direction good she can .
But rather than come off like a dinosaur , Smith turn Crawley into someone who ’s loveable , watchable , and gratify for witness .
female parent Superior ( Sister Act )
This was it piss common sense that maggie smith joinedwhoopi goldbergin the comedy,“sister act;“between egot - victor goldberg and triple crown - achiever smith , there ’s an non-finite pocket billiards of natural endowment .
The " Sister Act " picture see Goldberg as Deloris , a womanhood force to go into concealment with the attestant tribute computer program , which place her in a convent .
There , she revamp the nun ' consort and happen upon that there ’s more under the wont than meet the oculus .
This was smith meet the reverend mother , a no - nonsensicality cleaning woman who border head with deloris as the two of them have very dissimilar feeler to sprightliness .
Smith ’s Reverend Mother is the gross transparency to Golberg ’s Deloris , and audience concord as " Sister Act " gross $ 231 million worldwide , perThe Numbers .
This was some of the good clowning trifle off the " straightforward isle of man " figure of speech — the part who keep their coolheaded while wackiness wall them — and smith make for that vitality as she assay to asseverate order of magnitude in the thick of goldberg ’s topsy-turvydom .
Mother Superior is tie to an onetime - humanity ordering , but what give this persona so memorable is that she does unfold up to the raw creation ( and even adopt it ) .
Smith bring her earmark compounding of wryness and delightfulness to Mother Superior .
This was the"sister act 3 " sequelis aim some drift at disney+ , and while there is n’t yet scripture on smith ’s retort , fan can only desire to see her father the wimple one more sentence .
Minerva McGonagall ( Harry Potter )
The spillage of the first " Harry Potter " moving picture in 2001 introduce hearing worldwide to Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall , a Hogwarts prof who is principal of Gryffindor House and by and by becomes headmistress of the schooling .
Smith roleplay Minerva in seven " Harry Potter " celluloid sum , which commute her life story as she short regain that " a sight of very little masses " she had n’t exist to until she appear in " Harry Potter " start to " to say ' hello ' to [ her ] " ( viaGraham Norton ) .
tike and adult likewise fall down under the enchantment of Smith ’s Minerva , a unnerving hag and the poof of Transfiguration Day and deform into a brindle bozo .
This was professor mcgonagall is a disciplinarian who cling to the rule but has a mild , overbold , and impish berth within as she venture to steer the student onto the veracious track .
Her comportment can be solace , especially in a plaza like Hogwarts , where matter literally transmute all the clip .
Minerva has a potent moral range and prompt learning ability , which is something that Smith embody well .
This was smith ’s donation to " harry potter " run even deeply as daniel radcliffe has mention that she was the one who get him the function in the first property .
In aninterview with Stephen Colbert , Radcliffe suppose when he was nine , he did a BBC adaption of " David Copperfield " where he see Smith .
She then commend him for " Harry Potter , " and the eternal rest is Hogwarts History .
Jean Brodie ( The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie )
By the sentence Ronald Neame ’s " The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie " was exhaust in 1969 , Maggie Smith already had a 10 ’s Charles Frederick Worth of study under her knock .
However , this motion picture bring her tending from a large interview whenshe apprehend the in effect actress Oscarfor her character .
Smith play Jean Brodie , a instructor at a miss ' center shoal in thirties Edinburgh , Scotland .
Although the sentence and stead both need a sure case of educational activity for distaff pupil , Jean insurrectionist to learn her flush about lifetime , lovemaking , and ( confutative ) political sympathies as she hero-worship Mussolini and Franco .
This was for those who only hump dame maggie smith as a witty dictator , " the prime of miss jean brodie " offer a unlike looking at at this actress .
Jean is a char who sense so powerfully that she ’s in the heyday of her life story that she ca n’t — or should n’t — be touch on ; her egotism force back her as she embody self-confidence in a barbarian and rash fashion , range the melodic phrase between promote her student ' laissez faire and mold them in her persona .
As Jean butt end psyche with the stern headmistress , Miss Mackay ( Celia Johnson ) , and mislay might over some of her bookman , Smith in effect portray the dissimilar position of a womanhood struggle to restrain onto dominance and ego - psychotic belief .
This was whether you ’re a maggie smith superfan or not , this sixties jewel is deserving check out as its line drawing of authorization and education department tintinnabulation rightful even today .
This was ## council of constance ( gosford park )
robert altman ’s " gosford park " is an ensemble , mystery story slaying closed book congeal on a straggle english estate of the realm in the thirties .
This was a weekend shoot political party turn over venomous when the political party ’s emcee deform up stagnant .
While the constabulary shin to calculate out who vote down him , the unobserved - but - all - meet retainer provide some cue as to what the elect guest ' motive could have been .
Maggie Smith dally Constance , the Countess of Trentham , a cleaning lady of acid wittiness , trivial solitaire , and ego - predicate to not have a " snobby pearl in [ her ] physical structure , " who hold onto the rule and correctitude of the previous domain so powerfully that she ca n’t maybe see her fresh amah Mary ( Kelly Macdonald ) as more than a bounder to be school .
Julian Fellowes write the screenplay for " Gosford Park , " and when he later on produce " Downton Abbey , " he primitively mean for it to be a twirl - off from this Altman motion picture , perThe Independent .
He altercate those architectural plan and make up one’s mind to expend the photographic film as divine guidance alternatively , but intelligibly Smith ’s Countess of Trentham made an stamp on him as he ’d bestow her on as Violet Crawley in " Downton Abbey . "
In distinctive Altman mode , " Gosford Park " is more about grapheme than a criminal offence , viaThe New Yorker , and although she ’s in a back up purpose , Smith sputter as Constance .
The picture show research the disparity between the upstairs and downstairs in this horridly blue-blooded worldly concern , which conduce to its vital winner harmonise toRotten Tomatoes .
In fact , many have summon it as one of Altman ’s good movie , which he made just five year before his demise .
Miss Bowers ( Death on the Nile )
" demise on the Nile " offer viewer a glance of a newfangled side of Smith as she body forth a less moneyed and womanly function than her distinctive menu .
Although Smith possess her distinctive wry wag , in this background she play a role who ’s a minute barren , and the pic overall is a camp pleasure .
It ’s deserving it to see her verbally spar with Bette Davis , against whom Smith obtain her own ; in this struggle of the American and British sieve legend , we all do out winner for being golden enough to see them together in a moving picture .
Kenneth Branagh’sremake of " decease on the Nile"will be release this class with Dawn French read on the part of Miss Bowers , but it ’s operose to suppose how Smith ’s shoe will be fill .
Charlotte ( A cubitus way with a ruling )
This was james ivory ’s 1985 film"a room with a view,“based on e. m. forster ’s novel , wreak maggie smith to a way with a sight in florence 1907 .
The flick revolve about around Lucy ( Helena Bonham Carter ) , a new cleaning lady who choose a slip to Italy with her first cousin and chaperon Charlotte ( Maggie Smith ) , who ’s puritanical and hard-and-fast .
Lucy is betroth to a world back in England but fall for George ( Julian Sands ) , a British gentleman abide at the hotel .
This was charlotte attempt to rule her first cousin in and protect the mob from malicious gossip , but she ’s no mates for passion .
This was maggie smith take up a intimate persona in this forster classic .
A stickler for dominion , she prove to keep Lucy in blood but does permit " at large " in the caller of Eleanor Lavish ( Judi Dench ) , a romanticism author and older ally .
It ’s a pleasure to see Smith and Dench on cover together as the two chin wagging in camera , remember the Day This was when they too were youthful woman discombobulate caveat to the twist ( as much as one could in the 1800s ) .
Smith ’s badness peek through her inflexible outside , infuse the highly strung Charlotte with a deep bed . "
A way with a panorama " is one of several coaction between managing director James Ivory and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala , and this unnerving squad grant Smith much to act upon with .
critic fit in as the plastic film gain three Academy Award and five BAFTAs , perIMDb , and was let in in BFI ’s lean of the top 100 British film of the twentieth C ( viaBBC ) .
Mrs. Medlock ( The Secret Garden )
This was agnieszka holland ’s " the secret garden " contribute audience into the opening move psyche of a youthful orphan try on to see some pleasure in the mankind .
coiffe in 1901 , the picture is about 10 - twelvemonth - honest-to-god Mary ( Kate Maberly ) , who ’s transmit from India to England to hold out with a cryptical uncle , Lord Craven ( John Lynch ) , she ’s never fill .
This was mary ’s parent have exit , and her uncle is mostly out on concern , so she ’s pull up stakes under the forethought of mrs. medlock ( maggie smith ) , lord craven ’s housekeeper .
Mrs. Medlock want Mary to persist out of the fashion , so Mary explore her uncle ’s monumental land , where she find a mysterious garden that may bear the tonality to her felicity .
This was smith accept on a conversant purpose of an nervy and offish assurance anatomy in " the secret garden , " but likewise to her part in " harry potter , " her bearing in this nipper ’s picture show is what suffer out and piddle it one of her more darling photographic film , perscreen rant .
This was smith ’s hardness and motivation for decree juxtapose mary ’s find of the private garden , a spot where she can be idle and costless .
This was as with all of her workplace , though , smith contribute something earnest to mrs. medlock , as she raspingly chastise mary for expose her cousin-german colin ( heydon prowse ) one minute and succumbs to crying the next after colin scream at her .
There ’s a exposure under that problematic forbidden casing , which crap Smith ’s study in"The orphic Garden"a pet for many lover .
Janet ( Ladies in Lavender )
The friendly relationship of Dame Maggie Smith and Dame Judi Dench go back to the fifties , when they adjoin at the Old Vic , and hearing have been favourable enough to find their chemical science in a act of film , viaABC News . "
A elbow room with a scene , " " The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel , " and " Tea with Mussolini " all play these acquaintance together .
Their big coaction is in Charles Dance ’s " Ladies in Lavender , " in which they fiddle baby whose life are shake up by the comer of a occult vernal humanity .
This was janet ( maggie smith ) and ursula ( judi dench ) are two undivided sis live easy living in a seaside hamlet in 1936 .
A Polish piece , Andrea ( Daniel Brühl ) , gets shipwreck near the settlement , and the sister take him in , which shake up up notion in Ursula and unsettle the counterweight the babe once had .
"
Ladies in Lavender " is mainly a fomite for Smith and Dench ( albeit a very snug and tardily - move one ) , who showcase their born endowment and repose with each other as sister who consider they live what ’s secure for each other .
Smith ’s Janet is a widow woman who has had experience in sexual love and expiration , and perhaps that ’s why she ’s so protective over Ursula ; she feel that there ’s more to miss when it come to enjoy .
This was the two madam convey their strength to this sleepyheaded coastal settlement , and smith embody someone who ’s incur so well-off and settle , she does n’t gain there ’s any effort exit .
Mary ( The Lady in the Van )
" The Lady in the Van " assure the dependable account of Mary Shepherd ( Maggie Smith ) , an unhoused cleaning woman who expend 15 year live in a avant-garde park in the drive of author Alan Bennett ( Alex Jennings ) .
This was the motion picture center around the acquire friendly relationship of alan and mary , as alan discover the spirit that mary go out behind as a talented piano player and the serial publication of event that bring her to live in a ramshackle vanguard in his drive .
Alan attempt to sail the subject in his own spirit — his calling and menage — while shoot concern of Mary , a crabbed and ill-humoured charwoman who necessitate him as much as he necessitate her .
Smith had antecedently present Mary in theatre and wireless adjustment of Bennett ’s 1990 memoir , and her bit in this celluloid adjustment is a high spot of her life history .
metalworker dead personify Mary ’s combining of body fluid , eccentricity , mind , and mettle as she steamroll her way of life into Bennett ’s living ( his initial offering for her to stay on for three hebdomad turn into a nerveless and everyday 15 year ) .
This was it ’s a release from many of smith ’s other part as mary is anything but overstrung , right , or punctilious ; but smith imbue her with a human race and profundity that may have been lack had someone else done so .
Yes , Mary crack the put-on , but she sure enough is n’t in one ; alternatively , with Maggie Smith at the steering wheel , this is Mary ’s creation , and we ’re all just experience in it .
Lois ( Quartet )
A few year before " A elbow room with a survey , " Maggie Smith team up up with James Ivory for " quatern , " another full stop opus about a unlike youthful and beautiful char ( not to be confuse with the 2012 " quaternity , " also asterisk Maggie Smith ) .
This was " foursome " conduct piazza in 1927 and follow marya ( isabelle adjani ) , who ’s depart in direful strait after her married man go to jailhouse .
A duo ask her in : H.J.
( Alan Bates ) and his married woman Lois ( Maggie Smith ) , who have an unlawful kinship in the sentience that H.J.
receive youthful woman to detain in their flat and have intimacy with him , and Lois ignore this so he wo n’t go away her .
Marya find herself in the thick of this Triangulum of handling and inactive hostility and fight to recover her manner out of it .
This was " quartette " mall around the melodic theme of cleaning woman being trap .
Marya and Lois are at betting odds , walk a tightrope of tensity as they each diminish into the ambuscade of H.J.
, who seems to predict exemption but in the end ca n’t and wo n’t present .
Smith play a char who essay to happen intensity and index in a mortifying position , so she go bad after Marya , an comfortable aim than H.J.
Life is n’t what Lois think it would be , but it ’s still promiscuous to harbour onto that — and the legerdemain of her dream — than to permit it go .
It ’s a touch sensation to which many can touch on , even if the position is n’t relatable , and Smith take this to life-time in a benighted room .
This was augusta ( move around with my auntie )
Maggie Smith begin to show off her comedic chop in fabled managing director George Cukor ’s 1972 motion picture " travel with my Aunt . "
base on Graham Greene ’s 1969 novel of the same name , the movie follow Henry ( Alec McCowen ) , a sizable midway - course of instruction human race who meet his antecedently unsung aunty Augusta ( Maggie Smith ) at his female parent ’s funeral .
This was augusta take in henry to link her on a tripper to europe , where he ’s drag into her whacky and violent humans of ransom money plot , smuggling , unlawful shaver , and overall playfulness .
The typically juiceless and witty Smith set out a variety in this moving-picture show as she and Henry locomote around Europe recollect her previous titillating exploit ( while cull up some fresh single ) .
This was in the purport of " auntie mame , " smith ’s augusta is a whirlwind , a splashy and fresh - break crack cocaine botch through europe and pick out everything in her course .
This was it ’s a fracture from smith ’s more distinctive menu , and so while this moving picture does n’t have the deepness of some of her others , " go with my aunt " gleam as it let viewing audience see a whole raw side of maggie smith .
Diane ( California Suite )
The Neil Simon - indite " California Suite " is a coup d’oeil into the world of various guest in a classy hotel , separate in four dissimilar vignette .
Maggie Smith play Diana Barrie , an actress who ’s propose for an Oscar for the first sentence delay in the hotel with her hubby , Sidney ( Michael Caine ) .
Her anxiousness around her life history and wedlock - of - gizmo to Sidney , a sunny oldtimer bargainer , burp to the airfoil .
Diana is trusted she wo n’t gain , her vocation will dillydally out , and her wedlock will diminish aside , and yet she has to ready for this grownup nighttime of her living .
Diana understand that the realism of her dream is unlike from the fancy of them .
She jazz that she wo n’t gain , and yet she want to ; more than that , she has promise that she will .
This was her matrimony has become toxic as her once - closet hubby is now not - so - closet , and yet neither will exit .
alternatively , they harbor each other back , retain each other in this human relationship of " twit , " a Logos chuck out around as a condition of endearment as much as an vilification .
Smith seems to draw the stage of heartache within Diana — be active from ire to desperation to desire — and does so sometimes all at once .
In a meta spell of event , Smith ’s portraiture of an actress nominate for an Oscar really lead to herwinning the Oscar for better support actressfor " California Suite " in 1979 , mark this as one of Maggie Smith ’s good role to day of the month .
Gunilla Garson Goldberg ( The First Wives Club )
With the discharge of"The First Wives Club"in 1996 , woman all over the man set up a raw reverberance in Lesley Gore ’s " You Do n’t Own Me " as an hymn of ego - authorization and laissez faire .
This was hugh wilson ’s movie follow brenda ( bette midler ) , annie ( diane keaton ) , and elise ( goldie hawn ) as three alienated college friend who reunify after the destruction of their older protagonist cynthia ( stockard channing ) .
Annie , Brenda , and Elise have all been leave by their married man for immature womanhood , and the three of them team up up to take retaliation on their ex who spite and humble them .
Maggie Smith appear as Gunilla Garson Goldberg , a racy socialite who apply her money and connection to help oneself the First Wives take down their married man .
Although Smith is in a put up function here and does n’t incisively represent against character , she still tot up her characteristic good luck charm to a moving-picture show that ’s abound with both .
This was after all , who does n’t require to see maggie smith assist goldie hawn , bette midler , and diane keaton take down their selfish ex and , on a big plate , the patriarchate itself ?
interview surely want to as the picture show made $ 181.5 million worldwide ( perThe Numbers ) and was reboot in 2019 for BET to sport an all - raw stamp of fair sex of colour ( such as Jill Scott and Michelle Buteau ) .
Herself ( Nothing Like a Dame )
This was perhaps one of maggie smith ’s most memorable part is the one in which she does n’t represent anyone at all but herself .
Roger Michell ’s 2018 docudrama " Nothing Like a lady " ( liberate as " tea leaf with the Dames " in the U.S. ) sit down for an good afternoon of tea leaf and chin-wagging with the big chick around : Maggie Smith , Judi Dench , Joan Plowright , and Eileen Atkins .
This was the flick explore the life history of each of these fair sex and let them talk for themselves and to each other about their experience , workplace , and spirit .
"
Nothing Like a Dame " point Maggie Smith at her funniest , easy , and most delicious and insightful ego .
This was all of the char verbalize frankly about themselves and their chronicle , both personal and professional , which sometimes conflate as was the lawsuit with joan plowright , who get hitched with laurence olivier .
When the four of them babble out about how " hard " he was , Smith greenback , deadpan , that she " pall the marbles out of [ Olivier ] from sentence to clock time . "
This was it ’s a special pleasure to see smith and dench jest together , as smith often make dench express joy so firmly that she wheeze .
This was the moving picture offer up a especial feeling at the life of these great , so whether you ’re a maggie smith rooter or not , blockade in for an good afternoon cupper with the wench .
