Actor of the Week (National Treasure No.4): MAGGIE SMITH
Age: 85
Birthday: 28th December
Dame Maggie Smith is an English actress. She has had an extensive career on stage, film, and television which began in the mid-1950s. Smith has appeared in more than 60 films and over 70 plays, and is one of Britain's most recognisable actresses.
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).
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 for Best Supporting Actress for Tea with Mussolini (1999), and three Golden Globe Awards. She received four other Oscar nominations that were 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 starred as Lady Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, on Downton Abbey (2010–2015).
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS: 6 WINS: 2
2002 - Best Supporting Actress: GOSFORD PARK
1987 - Best Supporting Actress: A ROOM WITH A VIEW
1979 - WIN: Best Supporting Actress: CALIFORNIA SUITE
1973 - Best Leading Actress: TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT
1970 - WIN: Best Leading Actress: THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE
1966 - Best Supporting Actress: OTHELLO
BAFTA NOMINATIONS: 18 WINS: 5
2016 - Best Leading Actress: THE LADY IN THE VAN
2012 - Best Supporting TV Actress: DOWNTON ABBEY
2002 - Best Supporting Actress: GOSFORD PARK
2000 - WIN: Best Supporting Actress: TEA WITH MUSSOLINI
2000 - Best Leading TV Actress: DAVID COPPERFIELD
1994 - Best Supporting Actress: THE SECRET GARDEN
1993 - Best Leading TV Actress: SCREEN TWO
1989 - WIN: Best Leading Actress: THE LONELY PASSION OF JUDITH HEARNE
1989 - Best Leading TV Actress: TALKING HEADS
1987 - WIN: Best Supporting Actress: A ROOM WITH A VIEW
1985 - WIN: Best Leading Actress: A PRIVATE FUNCTION
1984 - Best Leading TV Actress: ALL FOR LOVE
1982 - Best Leading Actress: QUARTET
1980 - Best Supporting Actress: CALIFORNIA SUITE
1979 - Best Supporting Actress: DEATH ON THE NILE
1970 - WIN: Best Leading Actress: THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE
1966 - Best Leading Actress: YOUNG CASSIDY
1959 - Best Leading Actress: NOWHERE TO GO
GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS: 12 WIN: 3
2016 - Best Leading Actress: THE LADY IN THE VAN
2013 - WIN: Best Supporting TV Actress: DOWNTON ABBEY
2013 - Best Leading Actress: QUARTET
2012 - Best Supporting TV Actress: DOWNTON ABBEY
2004 - Best Leading TV Actress: MY HOUSE IN UMBRIA
2002 - Best Supporting Actress: GOSFORD PARK
1987 - WIN: Best Supporting Actress: A ROOM WITH A VIEW
1980 - WIN: Best Supporting Actress: CALIFORNIA SUITE
1973 - Best Leading Actress: TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT
1979 - Best Supporting Actress: DEATH ON THE NILE
1970 - Best Leading Actress: THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE
1966 - Best Leading Actress: OTHELLO
1964 - Best Leading Actress: THE V.I.P.'s
How do you rate Dame Maggie Smith's movies?
WATCH MAGGIE SMITH THIS WEEK
ON TV:
FILM: Downton Abbey (2019)
Friday 26th June, Sky Premiere, 11:05am / 8:00pm
You can catch the TV Series on Amazon Prime and Season 4 is currently running on ITV3 on weekdays. But here is the movie with Smith stealing scenes as always.
FILM: The Lady in the Van (2015) (Age 12)
Friday 26th June, BBC1, 11:45pm
Smith is fantastic in this true story based on a memoir by Talking Heads writer Alan Bennett.
ON NETFLIX:
FILM: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)
Smith and her good friend, Dame Judi Dench, returned for the sequel to the popular oldies in India romantic comedy drama.
What's your favourite Maggie Smith performance / film?
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