Maggie Smith
Latest News on Maggie Smith
Date of Birth:
December 28, 1934 (87)
Birth Place: Ilford, Essex, ENGLAND
Bio:
Smith began her career on stage as a student, performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952, and made her professional debut on Broadway in New Faces of '56. For her work on the London stage, she has won a record six Best Actress Evening Standard Awards for The Private Ear and The Public Eye (both ...
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Latest News on Maggie Smith
Stage Credits
Photos

Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley, Dame Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, The Dowager Countess of Grantham; Hugh Bonneville as Robert Crawley, Allen Leech as Tom Branson, Elizabeth McGovern as Cora Crawley

Dame Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, The Dowager Countess of Grantham; Hugh Bonneville as Robert Crawley, Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Talbot

Dame Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley, The Dowager Countess of Grantham; Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Talbot
Stage
PerformancesMaggie Smith Biography
Smith began her career on stage as a student, performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952, and made her professional debut on Broadway in New Faces of '56. For her work on the London stage, she has won a record six Best Actress Evening Standard Awards for The Private Ear and The Public Eye (both 1962), Hedda Gabler (1970), Virginia (1981), The Way of the World (1984), Three Tall Women (1994), and A German Life (2019). She received Tony Award nominations for Private Lives (1975) and Night and Day (1979), before winning the 1990 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage. She appeared in Stratford Shakespeare Festival productions of Antony and Cleopatra (1976) and Macbeth (1978), and West End productions of A Delicate Balance (1997) and The Breath of Life (2002). She received the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 2010.On screen, Smith first drew praise for the crime film Nowhere to Go (1958), for which she received her first nomination for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award. She has won two Academy Awards, winning Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite (1978). She is one of only seven actresses to have won in both categories. She has won a record four BAFTA Awards for Best Actress, including for A Private Function (1984) and The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1988), a BAFTA Best Supporting Actress for Tea with Mussolini (1999), and three Golden Globe Awards. She received four other Oscar nominations for Othello (1965), Travels with My Aunt (1972), A Room with a View (1986), and Gosford Park (2001).
Smith played Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011). Her other films include Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing (1973), Death on the Nile (1978), Clash of the Titans (1981), Evil Under the Sun (1982), Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992), Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), The Secret Garden (1993), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), and The Lady in the Van (2015). She won an Emmy Award in 2003 for My House in Umbria, to become one of the few actresses to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting, and starred as Lady Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, on Downton Abbey (2010–2015), for which she won three Emmys, her first non-ensemble Screen Actors Guild Award, and her third Golden Globe. Her honorary film awards include the BAFTA Special Award in 1993 and the BAFTA Fellowship in 1996. She received the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Legacy Award in 2012, and the Bodley Medal by the University of Oxford's Bodleian Libraries in 2016
Maggie Smith Awards and Nominations
Evening Standard Awards - 2013 - Theatre Icon Award ![]() |
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Maggie Smith | ||
Olivier Awards - 2000 - Best Actress | ||
Maggie SmithThe Lady In The Van | ||
Olivier Awards - 1998 - Best Actress | ||
Maggie SmithA Delicate Balance | ||
Evening Standard Awards - 1994 - Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress ![]() |
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Maggie Smith Three Tall Women | ||
Olivier Awards - 1994 - Best Comedy Performance | ||
Maggie SmithThe Importance Of Being Earnest | ||
Outer Critics Circle Awards - 1990 - Best Actress - Play ![]() |
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Maggie SmithLettice & Lovage | ||
Outer Critics Circle Awards - 1990 - Best Actress - Play ![]() |
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Maggie Smith, Lettice and Lovage | ||
Tony Awards - 1990 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical ![]() |
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Maggie Smith, Lettice and Lovage | ||
Olivier Awards - 1987 - Actress of the Year | ||
Maggie SmithLettice And Lovage | ||
Olivier Awards - 1985 - Comedy Performance of the Year | ||
Maggie SmithThe Way Of The World | ||
Evening Standard Awards - 1984 - Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress ![]() |
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Maggie SmithThe Way of the World | ||
Evening Standard Awards - 1981 - Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress ![]() |
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Maggie SmithVirginia | ||
Olivier Awards - 1981 - Actress of the Year in a New Play | ||
Maggie SmithVirginia | ||
Tony Awards - 1980 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | ||
Maggie Smith, Night and Day | ||
Drama Desk Awards - 1975 - Outstanding Actress - Play | ||
Maggie Smith, Private Lives | ||
Outer Critics Circle Awards - 1975 - Best Performance ![]() |
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Maggie Smith, Private Lives | ||
Tony Awards - 1975 - Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | ||
Maggie Smith , Private Lives | ||
Evening Standard Awards - 1970 - Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress ![]() |
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Maggie SmithHedda Gabler | ||
Evening Standard Awards - 1962 - Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress ![]() |
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Maggie SmithThe Private Ear | ||
Evening Standard Awards - 1962 - Natasha Richardson Award for Best Actress ![]() |
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Maggie SmithThe Public Eye |
Maggie Smith News

by Stephi Wild - Aug 8, 2022
The full cast has been announced for Deborah Moggach's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which opens at Richmond Theatre on Monday 5th September 2022.

by Aliya Al-Hassan - Aug 4, 2022
New book to chart Cameron Mackintosh’s legacy to save the West End through the revival of eight iconic London theatres.

by Chloe Rabinowitz - Aug 3, 2022
Andy de la Tour (Plenty, Notting Hill), Marlene Sidaway (ITV’s Coronation Street, BBC 1’s Pride and Prejudice) and Rekha John-Cheriyan (Kerbs, Tomb Raider, Dream Horse) will join the cast of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel when it begins its first-ever tour this Autumn, coming to Theatre Royal Brighton from Tuesday 20 to Saturday 24 September 2022.

by Perry Tannenbaum - Jul 22, 2022
We may have underestimated Cheri and Bill Steinkellner's musical adaptation of Paul Rudnick's SISTER ACT screenplay, moving the action from Vegas to Philly and making the show more character-driven. It actually works better on the smaller community theater stage at Matthews Playhouse than the big stage productions we've previously seen.

by Michael Rabice - Jul 14, 2022
A breezy comedy of manners, as only Oscar Wilde could pen, is a welcome way to return to Niagara-on-the Lake's SHAW FESTIVAL. For it's 60th anniversary audiences are in for a familiar treat as THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST returns to the stage in all it's witty charm. Hints of covid still pervade the air as a notice of two understudies stepping into two leading roles greeted us. But fear not, their polished presence assured there was never any cause for concern.

by Michael Major - Jun 27, 2022
'Downton Abbey: A New Era' reunites the original principal cast, including Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, Penelope Wilton. In addition to the original cast, Hugh Dancy, Laura Haddock, Nathalie Baye and Dominic West will join the cast.

by Michael Major - Jun 14, 2022
The film includes Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter, Raquel Cassidy, Brendan Coyle, Michelle Dockery, Kevin Doyle, Michael Fox, Joanne Froggatt, Harry Hadden-Paton, Robert James-Collier, Allen Leech, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Sophie McShera, Tuppence Middleton, Lesley Nichol, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, Penelope Wilton.

by Stephi Wild - Jun 10, 2022
Miep Gies was a 32-year-old secretary in Otto Frank's office when he asked her to help him and his family hide from the Nazis. She immediately said yes.

by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 27, 2022
Another of the UK’s best-loved actors, Rula Lenska, (ITV’s Rock Follies, Coronation Street, Channel 4’s Celebrity Big Brother) is the latest cast member to be confirmed for the upcoming tour of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

by Michael Major - May 25, 2022
For the JUICE, SQUEEZE & PULP tour, the Born Ruffians—Luke Lalonde (guitar/vocals), Mitch DeRosier (bass), and Steve Hamelin (drums)—introduce a new fourth member, Maddy Wilde, to the lineup. The North American tour run resumes May 31, at Lincoln Hall in Chicago
Maggie Smith Videos

by Stage Tube - Oct 2, 2019
On the latest episode of WGBH's Open Studio with Jared Bowen, Jared sits down with Downton Abbey creator, screenwriter, and producer Julian Fellowes on the heels of the Downton Abbey movie's big opening weekend. Watch the interview below!

by Stage Tube - Aug 30, 2019
Former Harry Potter co-stars Maggie Smith and Imelda Stanton have reunited in a clip from the upcoming Downton Abbey film!

by Stage Tube - Aug 20, 2019
Focus Features has released a sneak peek featurette for the highly-anticipated Dowtown Abbey film, only in theaters this September.

by Stage Tube - Dec 14, 2018
The Crawley's return in the first teaser trailer for the Downton Abbey film. This is the first glimpse of them after their departure in 2015 after six award-winning seasons on PBS and ITV.

by Stage Tube - Aug 28, 2018
IFC Films has released the trailer for TEA WITH THE DAMES, which is opening in theaters on September 21st and on demand September 27th.

by Caryn Robbins - Sep 15, 2017
On this week's THE VIEW, host Whoopi Goldberg was joined by Kathy Najimy, Beth Fowler, and composer Marc Shaiman for a special 25th Anniversary celebration of the 1992 musical film SISTER ACT.
by - Dec 2, 2016
On last night's LATE LATE SHOW, after guest Tracey Ullman talked about why Dame Maggie Smith wanted a death scene, Queen Latifah explains why she won't die again on screen.
by Caryn Robbins - Oct 5, 2016
The BBC has shared recently restored footage of Dame Maggie Smith in the role of Beatrice in Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
by TV News Desk - May 17, 2016
For the first time ever, four volumes of the legendary television series 'THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW' are available in a digital format, Time Life announced today. Click below to watch a promo, featuring interviews with Betty White, Amy Poehler and more, for the collection!
by Caryn Robbins - Oct 31, 2015
Maggie Smith stopped by THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW and shared that she is relieved that DOWNTON ABBEY is finally over… and admits she has never seen the show, but she does have a box set!