Smith, Maggie (1934-…), is an English actress known for playing eccentric comic characters. She became known for her classical roles on the stage in both England and North America and for her motion-picture performances. Smith won the 1969 Academy Award as best actress for her performance in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She won the 1978 Academy Award as best supporting actress for her performance in California Suite. Smith won a Tony Award in 1990 as best actress for her performance in Lettice and Lovage on Broadway. In 2003, Smith won an Emmy Award as best lead actress for her performance in the cable television movie My House in Umbria. She also won Emmy Awards in 2011, 2012, and 2016 for her portrayal of Violet Crawley, the dowager-countess of Grantham, in the popular British television series “Downton Abbey” (2010-2015).
Margaret Natalie Smith was born on Dec. 28, 1934, in Ilford, England, near London. She made her stage debut in 1952 with the University of Oxford Dramatic Society. Smith joined the National Theatre (now known as the Royal National Theatre) and gained praise for her acting in plays by such dramatists as Noël Coward, Anton Chekhov, and William Shakespeare.
Smith made her first significant motion-picture appearance in Nowhere to Go (1958). Her other films include The VIPs (1963); The Pumpkin Eater (1964); Othello (1965); Travels with My Aunt (1972); A Private Function (1984); A Room with a View (1986); The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987); Sister Act (1992); The Secret Garden (1993); The First Wives Club (1996); Washington Square (1997); Tea with Mussolini (1999); Gosford Park (2001); Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002); The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and its sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015); Quartet (2012); My Old Lady (2014); and The Lady in the Van (2015). Smith also played Professor Minerva McGonagall in the “Harry Potter” fantasy films, beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001).
In 1990, Queen Elizabeth II made Smith a dame commander in the Order of the British Empire, and the actress became known as Dame Maggie Smith.
