During childhood, her parents told Smith the romantic story of how they had met on a train from Glasgow to London via Newcastle. She moved with her family to Oxford when she was four years old. She had older twin brothers, Alistair (died 1981) and Ian. The latter went to architecture school. Smith was educated at Oxford High School until the age of 16, when she left to study acting at the Oxford Playhouse.[20]
In 1962, Smith won the first of a record six Best Actress Evening Standard Awards for her roles in Peter Shaffer's plays The Private Ear and The Public Eye, again opposite Kenneth Williams. After seeing Smith in The Double-Dealer at The Old Vic, she caught the eye of Laurence Olivier, who invited her to become part of his new National Theatre Company soon after it was formed at The Old Vic in 1962. She soon became a fixture at the Royal National Theatre in the 1960s. British theatre critic Michael 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 of Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello. 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."[25]
Smith won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the title role of the 1969 film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.[28]Vanessa Redgrave had originated the role on stage in London,[29] and Zoe Caldwell won the Tony 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 of Chicago Reader said that Smith gives "one of those technically stunning, emotionally distant performances that the British are so damn good at."[30] 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 and Pamela Franklin are both stirring and mesmerizing. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is the crème de la crème."[31] The role also won Smith her first BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress.[6]
Press photo of Smith in 1973
In 1970, Smith played the title role in Ingmar Bergman's London production of the Henrik Ibsen play Hedda Gabler, winning her second Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress. In 1975, Smith starred in the Noël Coward comedy Private Lives as Amanda Prynne on Broadway at the 46th Street Theatre. The play directed by John Gielgud received positive reviews.[32]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."[33] Smith received her first Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk Award nomination. In the mid-1970s, she made several guest appearances on The Carol Burnett Show.[34]
From 1976 to 1980, Smith appeared in numerous productions at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, to acclaim; her roles included: Cleopatra in Anthony and Cleopatra (1976), Queen Elizabeth in Richard III (1977), and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (1978). A few years later, Smith would return to Broadway in Tom Stoppard original play Night and Day as Ruth Carson in 1979. 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 with Walter Kerr of The 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."[39] Smith received her second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play nomination.
She won her second Best Actress BAFTA Film Awards for her role as Joyce Chilvers in the 1984 black comedyA Private Function with Michael Palin. Three pigs were used in the filming of A Private Function all named Betty. Producer Mark 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.[44] She also starred in the 1984 Hungarian–American film Lily in Love with Christopher Plummer.
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".[45] She won her third and fourth Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress, for her role as Virginia Woolf in Virginia (1981) and as Millament in The Way of the World (1984). She starred in the 1987 London production of Lettice and Lovage alongside Margaret Tyzack, receiving an Olivier Award nomination. She reprised the role in 1990, when it transferred to Broadway, and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The play was written specifically for her by the playwright Peter Shaffer. In his New York Times review, Frank Rich wrote, "There is only one Maggie Smith, but audiences get at least three of her in Lettice 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."[46]
In the early 1990s, Smith appeared in various box-office comedies. In 1991, Smith appeared as Granny Wendy in Steven Spielberg's 1991 hit movie Hook, a fantasy adventure film based on the Peter Pan character. The film starred Robin Williams as Pan, Dustin Hoffman as Hook, and Julia Roberts as Tinker Bell. The film was a financial success making $300 million at the box office.[48] In 1992, Smith starred as Mother Superior in the Whoopi Goldberg comedy film Sister Act and its sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993).[49] Smith also received a third British Academy Television Award nomination for her role as Mrs. Mabel Pettigrew in the 1992 TV film Memento Mori,[6] and her first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her role as Violet Venable in the 1993 PBS television film Suddenly, Last Summer. In 1993, she portrayed Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's comic play The Importance of Being Earnest at the Aldwych Theatre in the West End, receiving her fourth Olivier Award nomination. The following year she starred in Edward Albee's Three Tall Women for which she garnered critical acclaim. Theatre critic Paul Taylor for The Independent wrote, "Maggie Smith has to be seen to be believed. The sudden subsidings into wretched senile tears; the frustrated, dismissive flappings of her arm as her mind gropes impotently for a mislaid fact; the comic cunning with which she tries to cover over her patches of blankness; the beadily aggressive suspicion and the moments of alert cackling triumph – Smith's performance which, at the moment, is firmly on the right side of caricature, captures all this and more."[50] She received her record fifth Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance.[51]
In 1996, Smith appeared in the comedy film The First Wives Club alongside Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Bette Midler. In 1997 Smith starred in another Albee play, A Delicate Balance, opposite Eileen Atkins. She received her fifth Olivier Award nomination for her performance as the witty, alcoholic Claire. Matt Wolf of Variety wrote, "This actress [Smith] continues to get laughs where no one else ever would ... but she can be as revealing when quiet: admitting, sad-eyed, that 'time happens' or sending the audience out for the first intermission on a note of doomy suspense."[55] In 1999 she gained critical acclaim for her performance as Miss Mary Shepherd in Alan Bennett's drama The Lady in the Van. For her performance, she received her sixth Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress nomination. That same year, Smith starred in the BBC television adaptation of the Charles Dickens' novel David Copperfield alongside Daniel Radcliffe. Smith portrayed Betsey Trotwood for which she received a British Academy Television Awards and her second Primetime Emmy Award nominations.[6]
In 2016, while promoting The Lady in the Van, Smith shared her experiences working on the Harry Potter films and working with Alan 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."[58]
In 2007 she starred in a revival of Edward Albee's stage play The Lady from Dubuque which ran at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the West End.[66] David Benedict of Variety criticised the production but praised Smith, writing, "The exception is Maggie Smith, who arrives in the last minute of the first act and then dominates the second. Yet even the magnetically watchable Smith cannot save the evening as a whole."[66] In 2007 she also starred in another HBO television movie, Capturing Mary alongside Ruth Wilson for which she was nominated for her fourth Primetime Emmy Award.[67] She appeared in Julian Fellowes's fantasy drama film From Time to Time in 2009.[68] In 2010, she played Mrs. Docherty in period fantasy comedy film Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang opposite Emma Thompson.[69]
2010–2015: Downton Abbey and other roles
Smith starred as the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey from 2010 to 2015.
In 2018, Smith starred in a British documentary titled Nothing Like a Dame, directed by Roger Michell, which documents conversations between actresses Smith, Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, and Joan Plowright, which were interspersed with scenes from their careers on film and stage.[83][84] The film was released in the United States as Tea with the Dames. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film a five out of five star rating, declaring it an "outrageously funny film".[85] Guy Lodge of Variety called the film a "richly enjoyable gabfest" but that the film was "hardly vital cinema".[86] In September 2019, a continuation of the Downton Abbey series in form of a feature-length film was in theaters entitled simply, Downton Abbey. The film was a financial success, and earned $194.3 million at the box office.[87] She reprised her role as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess Of Grantham in Simon Curtis's 2022 historical-drama Downton Abbey: A New Era alongside Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern and Michelle Dockery.[88]
In April 2019, after an eleven-year absence from theatre, Smith returned to the stage in Christopher Hampton's play A German Life as Brunhilde Pomsel at the Bridge Theatre in London. The new play by Christopher Hampton is a one-woman solo play consisting of Smith giving an extended monologue as Pomsel, an elderly German woman who, in her youth, wound up working as a secretary for Joseph Goebbels at the Ministry of Propaganda. Jonathan Kent took the directorial role.[89]Variety 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".[90] Matt Wolf of The 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".[91] Her performance won her a record sixth Best Actress Evening Standard award.[92][93]
In 2021, Smith starred in the Netflix adaptation of the children's book by Matt Haig of the same name, A Boy Called Christmas. The film was directed by Gil Kenan and also starred Sally Hawkins, Kristen Wiig, Jim Broadbent, and Toby Jones.[94][95] In 2023, Smith starred as Lily Fox in an Irish drama film, The Miracle Club, with Kathy Bates and Laura 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 to Lourdes in France leads them to discover each other's friendship and their own personal miracles."[96][97] Smith was announced as starring in the film version of Christopher Hampton's A German Life, reprising the role she originated onstage in 2019 in London.[98]
In October 2023, Smith was revealed as one of the faces for the Loewe's SS24 pre-collection.[99]
Smith married actor Robert Stephens on 29 June 1967. They had two sons, actors Chris Larkin (b. 1967) and Toby Stephens (b. 1969),[121] and were divorced on 6 April 1975.[122] Smith married playwright Alan Beverly Cross on 23 June 1975, at the Guildford Register Office,[122] 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".[123] Smith has five grandchildren.[124][125][126]
Health
In January 1988, Smith was diagnosed with Graves' disease, for which she underwent radiotherapy and optical surgery.[127]
In September 2011, Smith offered her support for raising the NZ$4.6million needed to help rebuild the Court Theatre in Christchurch, New Zealand, after the earthquake in 2011 that caused severe damage to the area.[129] In July 2012, she became a patron of the International Glaucoma Association (now known as Glaucoma UK),[130] hoping to support the organisation and raise the profile of glaucoma.[131] She is also a patron of the Oxford Playhouse, where she first began her illustrious career.[132] Smith is a vice-president of the Chichester Cinema at New Park[133] and a vice-president of the Royal Theatrical Fund which provides support for members of the entertainment profession that are unable to work due to illness, injury or infirmity.[134][135]
On 27 November 2012, she contributed a drawing of her own hand to the 2012 Celebrity Paw Auction, to raise funds for Cats Protection.[136] In May 2013, Smith contributed a gnome which had been personally decorated by her, for an auction to raise money for the Royal Horticultural Society Campaign for School Gardening.[137]
In November 2020, Smith joined Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi, and Ian McKellen for a conversation on Zoom entitled For One Knight Only, for the charity Acting for Others. Branagh described the group as "the greatest quartet of Shakespearean actors on the planet" as they talked about the highs and lows of their careers.[138] In April 2021, Smith appeared in a streaming event alongside Kathleen Turner. The event was in support of The Royal Theatrical Fund, which provides support to those who have worked in the industry.[139]