Maggie Smith

Dame Maggie Smith CH DBE
Smith in 1973
Born	Margaret Natalie Smith (1934-12-28)28 December 1934 Ilford, Essex, England, UK
Died	27 September 2024(2024-09-27) (aged 89) London, England, UK
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1952–2024
Spouses	Robert Stephens ​ ​ (m. 1967; div. 1974)​ Beverley Cross ​ ​ (m. 1975; died 1998)​
Children	Chris Larkin Toby Stephens

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith CH DBE (28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024) was a British actress. She made her stage debut in 1952 and her career lasted for over 70 years. She won many awards for acting, both for the stage and for movies, including seven BAFTA Awards (five competitive awards and two special awards including the Bafta Fellowship in 1996), two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, two Emmy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, two SAG Awards and a Tony Award.

Her award-winning movies include Othello (1965), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), Travels with My Aunt (1972), California Suite (1978), Clash of the Titans (1981), A Room with a View (1985) and Gosford Park (2001).

She has also been in a number of widely-popular movies, including Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992) and as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter movie series. Smith said that acting in the Harry Potter movies was not fully satisfying.^[1] However, she said she enjoyed being a part of the franchise because it allowed her to bond with her grandchildren.^[2] Smith underwent intensive chemotherapy for breast cancer while filming Half-Blood Prince. The treatment left her feeling "horribly sick", but she eventually made a full recovery.^[3]

She had a role in the drama Downton Abbey as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, for which she has won an Emmy.

Smith was born in Ilford, Essex. She moved to Oxford at age four and went to Oxford High School.

Smith has been married twice. She married actor Robert Stephens on 29 June 1967 at Greenwich. The couple had two sons: actors Chris Larkin (born in 1967) and Toby Stephens (born in 1969).^[4] They divorced on 6 May 1974.^[4][5]

She married playwright Beverley Cross on 23 August 1975 at Guildford. He died on 20 March 1998.

In 2007, The Sunday Telegraph reported that she had breast cancer. She has made a full recovery.^[6]

Smith died on 27 September 2024 at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, at the age of 89.^[7]

• Twelfth Night, Oxford Playhouse, 1952
• He Who Gets Slapped, Clarendon Press Institute, 1952
• Cinderella, Oxford Playhouse, 1952
• Rookery Nook, Oxford Playhouse, 1953
• The Housemaster, Oxford Playhouse, 1953
• Cakes and Ale (revue), Edinburgh Festival, 1953
• The Love of Four Colonels, Oxford Playhouse, 1953
• The Ortolan, Maxton Hall, 1954
• Don’t Listen Ladies, Oxford Playhouse, 1954
• The Government Inspector, Oxford Playhouse, 1954
• The Letter, Oxford Playhouse, 1954
• A Man About The House, Oxford Playhouse, 1954
• On the Mile (revue), Edinburgh Festival, 1954
• Oxford Accents, New Watergate Theatre, London, 1954
• Theatre 1900, Oxford Playhouse, 1954
• Listen to the Wind, Oxford Playhouse, 1954
• The Magistrate, Oxford Playhouse, 1955
• The School For Scandal, Oxford Playhouse, 1955
• New Faces (revue), Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York, 1956
• Share My Lettuce (revue), Lyric Hammersmith and Comedy Theatre, 1957
• The Stepmother, St. Martin's Theatre, 1958
• The Double Dealer, Old Vic, 1959
• As You Like It, Old Vic, 1959
• Richard II, Old Vic, 1959
• The Merry Wives of Windsor, Old Vic, 1959
• What Every Woman Knows, Old Vic, 1960
• Rhinoceros, Strand Theatre, 1960
• Strip the Willow, UK Tour, 1960
• The Rehearsal, Bristol Old Vic and Globe Theatre, 1961
• The Private Ear and The Public Eye, Globe Theatre, 1962
• Mary, Mary, Queen's Theatre, 1963
• The Recruiting Officer, National Theatre/Old Vic, 1963
• Othello, National Theatre/Old Vic, 1964
• The Master Builder, National Theatre/Old Vic, 1964
• Hay Fever, National Theatre/Old Vic, 1964
• Much Ado About Nothing, National Theatre/Old Vic, 1965
• Trelawney of the Wells, National Theatre/Old Vic, 1965
• Miss Julie, National Theatre/Old Vic, 1966
• Black Comedy, National Theatre/Old Vic, 1966
• A Bond Honoured, National Theatre/Old Vic, 1966
• The Country Wife, Chichester Festival Theatre, 1969
• The Beaux Stratagem, National Theatre/Old Vic and Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, 1970
• Hedda Gabler, National Theatre/Cambridge Theatre, 1970
• Design For Living, Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, 1971
• Private Lives, Queen's Theatre, 1972
• Peter Pan, London Coliseum, 1973
• Snap, Vaudeville Theatre, 1974
• Private Lives, US tour and 46th Street Theatre, New York, 1975 [Tony nomination]
• The Way of the World, Stratford, Canada, 1976
• Antony and Cleopatra, Stratford, Canada, 1976
• Three Sisters, Stratford, Canada, 1976
• The Guardsman, Stratford, Canada and Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, 1976
• A Midsummer Night's Dream, Stratford, Canada and Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, 1977
• Richard III, Stratford, Canada, 1977
• As You Like It, Stratford, Canada, 1977
• Hay Fever, Stratford, Canada, 1977
• Macbeth, Stratford, Canada, 1978
• Private Lives, Stratford, Canada, 1978
• Night and Day, Phoenix Theatre, Washington D.C. and ANTA Playhouse, New York, 1979 [Tony nomination]
• Much Ado About Nothing, Stratford, Canada, 1980
• The Seagull, Stratford, Canada, 1980
• Virginia, Stratford, Canada, 1980 and Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1981
• The Way of the World, Chichester Festival Theatre and Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1984
• The Interpreters, Queen's Theatre, 1985
• The Infernal Machine, Lyric Hammersmith, 1986
• Coming Into Land, National Theatre/Lyttelton, 1987
• Lettice and Lovage, Globe Theatre, 1987
• Lettice and Lovage, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York, 1990 [Tony win]
• The Importance of Being Earnest, Aldwych Theatre, 1993
• Three Tall Women, Wyndham's Theatre, 1994 and 1995
• Talking Heads, Chichester Festival Theatre and Comedy Theatre, 1996
• A Delicate Balance, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 1997
• The Lady in the Van, Queen's Theatre, 1999
• The Breath of Life, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2002
• Talking Heads, Australian tour, 2004
• The Lady From Dubuque, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2007

• Maggie Smith on IMDb

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