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->''"There is a kind of invisible thread between the actor and the audience, and when it's there it's stunning, and there is nothing to match that."''

[[UsefulNotes/KnightFever Dame]] Margaret Natalie "Maggie" Smith, [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever CH, DBE]] (born 28 December 1934 in Ilford, England) is a very prolific English actress.

She has had an extensive, varied career in stage, film and television spanning over sixty years. She has appeared in over 50 films and is one of Britain's most recognizable and respected actresses. In 1990, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the performing arts.

Smith began her career on stage at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952 and made her Broadway debut in New Faces of 56. For her work on the London stage, she has won a record five Best Actress Evening Standard Awards, for ''The Private Ear and the Public Eye'' (1962), ''Theatre/HeddaGabler'' (1970), ''Virginia'' (1981), ''The Way of the World'' (1984) and ''Theatre/ThreeTallWomen'' (1994). In UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, she received three Tony Award nominations, for ''Theatre/PrivateLives'' (1975), ''Night and Day'' (1979) and ''Lettice and Lovage'' (1990). For the latter, she won the Tony for Best Actress in a Play.

On screen, she first drew praise for the 1958 crime film ''Nowhere To Go'', for which she received her first UsefulNotes/{{BAFTA}} Award nomination. Her 1965 film role as Desdemona, in Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'', earned her an MediaNotes/AcademyAward nomination (the first of her six) and a UsefulNotes/GoldenGlobe nomination. Since then, Smith has worked consistently in film, television and stage.

Smith has won two MediaNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, winning for [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestActressInALeadingRole Best Actress]] for ''Film/ThePrimeOfMissJeanBrodie'' and for [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestActressInASupportingRole Best Supporting Actress]] for ''Film/CaliforniaSuite''; she is one of only six actors to win an Oscar in both actress categories.

Other notable films include ''Film/TravelsWithMyAunt'' (1972), ''Film/{{Death on the Nile|1978}}'' (1978), ''Literature/EvilUnderTheSun'' (1982), ''A Private Function'' (1984), ''Literature/ARoomWithAView'' (1986), ''The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne'' (1987), ''Film/GosfordPark'' (2001) and ''Film/TheBestExoticMarigoldHotel'' (2012). She appeared in such films as ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}'' (1981), ''Film/{{Hook}}'' (1991), both ''Film/SisterAct films'' (1992-93), ''Film/TheFirstWivesClub'' (1996), and as Professor Minerva [=McGonagall=] in the highly successful ''Film/HarryPotter film series'' (2001-2011). She starred as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham on ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', for which she has won a Golden Globe, two Screen Actors Guild awards and two consecutive UsefulNotes/{{Emmy Award}}s.

Smith has won numerous awards for her acting in theatre, film and television; including seven UsefulNotes/{{BAFTA}} Awards (five competitive awards and two special awards including the BAFTA Fellowship in 1996), two MediaNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, three Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Tony Award, and an Honorary Olivier Award. Smith is one of the few actors to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting. In September 2012, she was awarded the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Legacy Award, which she accepted from Creator/ChristopherPlummer, who presented it to her in a ceremony at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

She is the mother of actors Creator/TobyStephens and Chris Larkin.

She is also an exceptionally close friend of Creator/MiriamMargolyes, Joan Plowright, and Dame Creator/JudiDench.
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!!Maggie Smith on TV Tropes:

* ''Film/TheVIPs'' (1963)
* ''Theatre/{{Black Comedy|1965}}'' (1965)
* ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' (1965)
* ''Film/YoungCassidy'' (1965)
* ''Film/OhWhatALovelyWar'' (1969)
* ''Literature/ThePrimeOfMissJeanBrodie'' (1969)
* ''Film/TravelsWithMyAunt'' (1972)
* ''Film/MurderByDeath'' (1976)
* ''Film/CaliforniaSuite'' (1978)
* ''Film/{{Death on the Nile|1978}}'' (1978)
* ''Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}}'' (1981)
* ''Literature/EvilUnderTheSun'' (1982)
* ''Literature/ARoomWithAView'' (1985)
* ''Film/{{Hook}}'' (1991)
* ''Film/SisterAct'' (1992)
* ''Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit'' (1993)
* ''Film/{{The Secret Garden|1993}}'' (1993)
* ''Film/RichardIII'' (1995)
* ''Film/TheFirstWivesClub'' (1996)
* ''Film/GosfordPark'' (2001)
* Seven of eight ''Film/HarryPotter'' movies (2001-2011)(she does not appear in ''Deathly Hallows Part I'')
* ''Film/KeepingMum'' (2005)
* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' (TV series)(2010-2015)
* ''Film/TheBestExoticMarigoldHotel'' (2011)
* ''Film/{{Quartet}}'' (2012)
* ''Film/MyOldLady'' (2014)
* ''Film/DowntonAbbey'', TheMovie (2019)
* ''Film/DowntonAbbeyANewEra'' (2022)

!!Tropes associated with her work
* CreatorBacklash: She was not subtle about her dislike of ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', saying she's never watched it and is uncomfortable being mobbed by fans in public.
* FakeScot:
** She puts on an upper class Edinburgh dialect to play Jean Brodie.
** A more standard Scottish accent for Minerva [=McGonagall=]. Uniquely her nationality wasn't revealed in the books (Jim Dale's audio books gave her a Scottish accent, whereas Stephen Fry's gave her an English one) - but WordOfGod later confirmed her to be Scottish.
* FunnyCharacterBoringActor: Known for being a DeadpanSnarker on-screen, she's quite quiet and reserved off.
* LeslieNielsenSyndrome: She got her start doing Shakespeare and other dramatic roles. In her older years, she carved out a niche as a DeadpanSnarker. Even if the works themselves weren't comedies, she usually provided comic relief.
--> "I tend to head for what's amusing because a lot of things aren't happy. But you can usually find a funny side to practically everything."
* MoneyDearBoy: She usually prefers stage work but films pay more. She joked that "''Film/HarryPotter'' is my pension."
* OddFriendship: With the late ''Film/CarryOn'' alumni Creator/KennethWilliams. They worked together many times during Smith's early televised acting years and were close. Kenneth called their friendship a knot that he didn't want to untie and talked fondly about her a lot in his diaries.
* PlayingAgainstType:
** As the sweet Granny Wendy in ''{{Film/Hook}}''.
** As a humourless vengeful sea goddess in ''Film/ClashOfTheTitans1981''.
* PlayingWithCharacterType: In ''Film/TheBestExoticMarigoldHotel'' she plays her usual snarky type - but this time as a working class cockney.
* ReclusiveArtist: Hates being interviewed and rarely appears on talk shows. Her 2015 appearance on ''Series/TheGrahamNortonShow'' was her first time doing a talk show in decades. As such she was quite alarmed when she started to get mobbed by fans after the popularity of ''Series/{{Downton|Abbey}}''.
* StarMakingRole: With regards to film work, she was catapulted to stardom with ''Literature/ThePrimeOfMissJeanBrodie'' and the subsequent Oscar nomination.
* TypeCasting: In her later years, usually it's as [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior mean]] [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] old ladies -- sometimes upper class.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: She was the first choice for Jean Brodie when the stage version was produced. She was unavailable and Vanessa Redgrave played the role. When the film was greenlit, Vanessa was presumed to play Jean again. However she was then unavailable, and Maggie stepped in.