Margaret Natalie Smith was born on 28 December 1934 inIlford, Essex.[9][10][11][12] Her mother, Margaret Hutton (née Little), was a Scottish secretary fromGlasgow, and her father, Nathaniel Smith, was a public-healthpathologist fromNewcastle upon Tyne, who worked at theUniversity of Oxford.[13][14][15] The family moved toOxford when Smith was four years old. She had older twin brothers, Alistair and Ian. The latter went to architecture school. Smith was educated atOxford High School until the age of 16, when she left to study acting at theOxford Playhouse.[16]
In 1962 Smith won the first of a record six Best ActressEvening Standard Awards for her roles inPeter Shaffer's playsThe Private Ear andThe Public Eye, again opposite Kenneth Williams. She caught the eye ofLaurence Olivier, who, after seeing her inThe Double Dealer atThe Old Vic, invited her to become part of his newNational Theatre Company soon after it was formed at The Old Vic in 1962. AlongsideDerek Jacobi andMichael Gambon, she soon became a fixture at theNational Theatre in the 1960s. The theatre criticMichael Coveney wrote that during her eight years in the company, Smith developed a fierce rivalry with Olivier writing, "He knew immediately he'd met his match – that she was extraordinary. He said that anyone who can play comedy that well can also play tragedy and he offered her the likes ofDesdemona inShakespeare'sOthello. But having got her into the company they became not enemies, but professional rivals. Never before had anyone on stage been quicker than him and now, it seemed, there was a contest."[20]
Smith won theAcademy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the title role of the 1969 filmThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.[33]Vanessa Redgrave had originated the role on stage in London,[34] andZoe Caldwell won theTony Award for Best Actress in a Play, when she played the role in New York City. Smith was singled out for her performance in the film.Dave Kehr ofChicago Reader said that Smith gives "one of those technically stunning, emotionally distant performances that the British are so damn good at."[35] Greg Ferrara wrote that the film "is one of the best British films of the decade. It is as captivating today as it was upon its release and its two central performances by Maggie Smith andPamela Franklin are both stirring and mesmerizing.The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is the crème de la crème."[36] The role also won Smith her first BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress.[3]
Smith in 1973
In 1970 Smith played the title role inIngmar Bergman's London production of theHenrik Ibsen playHedda Gabler, winning her secondEvening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress. In 1975 Smith starred as Amanda Prynne in theNoël Coward comedyPrivate Lives at the46th Street Theatre onBroadway. The play, directed byJohn Gielgud, received positive reviews.[37]The New York Times theatre critic praised Smith's physical comedic skills writing, "Miss Smith's body spins, lurches, misses yards at a time before another foot comes down, ends in a paralysis that will require hypnosis to undo. The effect, because Noel Coward's situation is funny and because Miss Smith sends off that one little extra signal that spells extravagance, is hilarious, explosively so."[38] Smith received her firstTony Award nomination and aDrama Desk Award nomination. In the mid-1970s, she made several guest appearances onThe Carol Burnett Show.[39]
From 1976 to 1980 Smith appeared to acclaim in numerous productions at theStratford Shakespeare Festival inStratford, Ontario;[45] her roles included: Cleopatra inAnthony and Cleopatra (1976),[46] Titania and Hippolyta inA Midsummer Night's Dream (1977), Queen Elizabeth inRichard III (1977),[47][45] Rosalind inAs You Like It andLady Macbeth inMacbeth (1978).[48] Smith would return to Broadway inTom Stoppard's original playNight and Day as Ruth Carson in 1979.[49] The play concerns a confrontation between British diplomat and an African leader over a local uprising that has attracted much media coverage. The diplomat's wife observes everyone else's behaviour throughout. The play received mixed reviews withWalter Kerr ofThe New York Times praising Smith's performance while critiquing the characters writing, "Which leaves us, theatrically and dramatically, where we began, with Miss Smith. The actress can, and does, do wonders. But she can't single‐handedly turn night into day."[50] Smith received her secondTony Award for Best Actress in a Play nomination.[51]
She won her second Best ActressBAFTA Film Awards for her role as Joyce Chilvers in the 1984black comedyA Private Function withMichael Palin. Three pigs were used in the filming ofA Private Function all named Betty. ProducerMark Shivas was advised by Intellectual Animals UK that the pigs used should be female and six months old, so as to not be too large or aggressive. However, the pigs were "unpredictable and often quite dangerous". During the filming of one of the kitchen scenes, Smith was hemmed in by one of the pigs, and needed to vault over the back of it in order to escape.[55] She also starred in the 1984 Hungarian–American filmLily in Love withChristopher Plummer.[56]
According to Smith's biographer, she referred to the film as "the ghoulash" and admitted to not understanding the Hungarian director's direction. She also called her co-star "Christopher Bummer".[57] She won her third and fourthEvening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress, for her role asVirginia Woolf inEdna O'Brien's play,Virginia (1981) and as Millament inThe Way of the World (1984). She starred in the 1987 London production ofLettice and Lovage alongsideMargaret Tyzack, receiving anOlivier Award nomination. She reprised the role in 1990, when it transferred toBroadway, and won theTony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The play was written specifically for her by the playwrightPeter Shaffer. In hisNew York Times review,Frank Rich wrote, "There is only one Maggie Smith, but audiences get at least three of her inLettice and Lovage, the Peter Shaffer comedy that has brought this spellbinding actress back to Broadway after an indecently long absence and that has the shrewd sense to keep her glued to center stage."[58]
In 2016 while promotingThe Lady in the Van, Smith shared her experiences working on theHarry Potter films and working withAlan Rickman. "He [Rickman] was such a terrific actor, and that was such a terrific character that he played, and it was a joy to be with him. We used to laugh together because we ran out of reaction shots. They were always – when everything had been done and the children were finished, they would turn the camera around and we'd have to do various reaction shots of amazement or sadness and things. And we used to say we'd got to about number 200-and-something and we'd run out of knowing what to do when the camera came around on us. But he was a joy."[69]
In 2018 Smith starred in a British documentary titledNothing Like a Dame, directed byRoger Michell, which documents conversations between actresses Smith,Judi Dench,Eileen Atkins andJoan Plowright, which were interspersed with scenes from their careers on film and stage.[89][90] The film was released in the United States asTea with the Dames.Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian gave the film a five out of five star rating, declaring it an "outrageously funny film".[91] Guy Lodge ofVariety called the film a "richly enjoyable gabfest" but that the film was "hardly vital cinema".[92] That same year, Smith reprised her role as Professor Minerva McGonagall by voicing the character inHarry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery, arole-playing video game.[93] In September 2019, a continuation of theDownton Abbey series in form of a feature-length film was in theatres entitled simply,Downton Abbey. The film was a financial success and earned $194.3 million at the box office.[94] She reprised her role as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham inSimon Curtis's 2022 historical-dramaDownton Abbey: A New Era alongsideHugh Bonneville,Elizabeth McGovern andMichelle Dockery.[95]
In April 2019, after an eleven-year absence from theatre, Smith returned to the stage inA German Life asBrunhilde Pomsel at theBridge Theatre in London. The new work, byChristopher Hampton, is a one-woman solo play. In its inaugural incarnation Smith gave an extended monologue as Pomsel, an elderly German woman who, in her youth, wound up working as a secretary forJoseph Goebbels at theMinistry of Propaganda.Jonathan Kent took the directorial role.Variety magazine's theatre critic praised Smith's performance, writing, "It's a performance that combines the knowingness of hindsight with the naivety of youth, blasé enough to catch you off-guard when the magnitude of events suddenly cuts through".[96] Matt Wolf ofThe New York Times wrote, "[Smith's performance] represents a new high in a six-decade career with no shortage of peaks", and added "The audience knows it is witnessing something special".[97] Her performance won her a record sixth Best ActressEvening Standard award.[98][99]
In 2021 Smith starred in theNetflix adaptation of the children's book byMatt Haig of the same name,A Boy Called Christmas. The film was directed byGil Kenan and also starredSally Hawkins,Kristen Wiig,Jim Broadbent andToby Jones.[100][101] In 2023 Smith starred as Lily Fox in an Irish drama film,The Miracle Club, withKathy Bates andLaura Linney. The film's plot is being described as a "joyful and hilarious" journey of a group of riotous working-class women from Dublin, whose pilgrimage toLourdes in France leads them to discover each other's friendship and their own personal miracles."[102][103] Smith was announced as starring in the film version ofChristopher Hampton'sA German Life, reprising the role she originated onstage in 2019 in London.[104]
In October 2023 Smith was revealed as one of the faces for theLoewe's SS24 pre-collection.[105]
Smith married actorRobert Stephens on 29 June 1967. They had two sons, actorsChris Larkin (b. 1967) andToby Stephens (b. 1969),[129] and were divorced on 6 April 1975.[130] She married playwrightBeverley Cross on 23 June 1975, at theGuildford Register Office,[130] and they remained married until his death on 20 March 1998. When asked in 2013 if she was lonely, she replied, "it seems a bit pointless, going on on one's own, and not having someone to share it with".[131] Smith had five grandchildren.[132][133][134]
In January 1988, Smith was diagnosed withGraves' disease, for which she underwentradiotherapy and optical surgery.[135] In 2007The Sunday Telegraph disclosed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2009 she was reported to have made a full recovery.[136]
In 2016, Smith toldNPR that as acharacter actor, rather than a "dish", she was able to age into roles as mothers and grandmothers while still developing her talents instead of losing them. The interviewer noted that Smith had, in fact, been called "an undeniable dish" by a reviewer while starring on Broadway in the 1960s.[137]
In September 2011, Smith offered her support for raising the NZ$4.6million needed to help rebuild theCourt Theatre in Christchurch, New Zealand, after theearthquake in 2011 that caused severe damage to the area.[138] In July 2012, she became a patron of the International Glaucoma Association (now known as Glaucoma UK),[139] hoping to support the organisation and raise the profile ofglaucoma.[140] She was also a patron of theOxford Playhouse, where she first began her career.[141] Smith was a vice-president of theChichester Cinema at New Park[142] and a vice-president of the Royal Theatrical Fund, which provides support for members of the entertainment profession who are unable to work due to illness, injury or infirmity.[143][144]
On 27 November 2012, Smith contributed a drawing of her own hand to the 2012 Celebrity Paw Auction, to raise funds forCats Protection.[145] In May 2013, Smith contributed agnome which she had decorated, for an auction to raise money for theRoyal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening.[146]
In November 2020, Smith joinedKenneth Branagh,Judi Dench,Derek Jacobi andIan McKellen for a conversation onZoom entitledFor One Knight Only, for the charity Acting for Others. Branagh described the group as "the greatest quartet ofShakespearean actors on the planet" as they talked about the highs and lows of their careers.[147] In April 2021, Smith appeared in a streaming event alongsideKathleen Turner. The event was in support of The Royal Theatrical Fund.[148]
Smith died at theChelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, on 27 September 2024, aged 89.[149]King Charles III released a statement: "As the curtain comes down on a national treasure, we join all those around the world in remembering with the fondest admiration and affection her many great performances, and her warmth and wit that shone through both on and off the stage."[150] She was praised by the UK's prime minister,Sir Keir Starmer, who likewise described Smith as a "national treasure".[151]
Figures in the entertainment industry who paid tribute to Smith included herSister Act co-starWhoopi Goldberg, who described her as "a great woman and a brilliant actress. I still can't believe I was lucky enough to work with the 'one-of-a-kind'."[152] HerHarry Potter co-starDaniel Radcliffe, released a statement reading, in part: "I will always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her ... the word legend is overused but if it applies to anyone in our industry then it applies to her."[153] AnotherHarry Potter co-star,Emma Watson, released a statement reading, in part: "She was real, honest, funny and self-honouring ... Thank you for all of your kindness. I'll miss you."[154] HerGosford Park co-starDame Helen Mirren compared Smith toQueen Elizabeth II, saying: "Like the Queen she has been a part of my life since I was a student and she was an icon even then", adding that "she was one of the greatest actresses of the past century".[155]
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