Maggie Smith Overview:

Legendary actress, Maggie Smith, was born Margaret Natalie Smith on Dec 28, 1934 in Ilford, England. As of December 2024, Maggie Smith was 90 years old.

MINI BIO:

Red-haired, sharply-spoken, extremely dominant British actress, mostly seen in the theatre. For a while her film roles were softer than the parts she played on the stage, until she began to go in for acidulous spinsters. Married/divorced actor Robert Stephens (1931-1995). Actor Toby Stephens is their son. Academy Awards for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and California Suite. Also nominated for Oscars on Othello, Travels with My Aunt, and A Room with a View. Created Dame in 1989.

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Film Stars).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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Maggie Smith was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning two for Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (as Miss Jean Brodie) in 1969 for Best Supporting Actress for California Suite (as Diana Barrie) in 1978.

Academy Awards

YearAwardFilm nameRoleResult
1965Best Supporting ActressOthello (1965)DesdemonaNominated
1969Best ActressThe Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)Miss Jean BrodieWon
1972Best ActressTravels with My Aunt (1972)Aunt AugustaNominated
1978Best Supporting ActressCalifornia Suite (1978)Diana BarrieWon
1986Best Supporting ActressA Room with a View (1986)Charlotte BartlettNominated
2001Best Supporting ActressGosford Park (2001)N/ANominated
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Maggie Smith BlogHub Articles:

Day 22: Maggie Smith

By Jill Blake on Aug 22, 2013 From Sittin' on a Backyard Fence

Thanks to everyone who contributed to yesterday’s tribute to William Holden. Please make sure you check out all the great contributions dedicated to Holden.? For the next 24 hours we honor a living legend: Maggie Smith. Actually, it’s Dame Maggie Smith to you. Trivia on Maggie Smith: ... Read full article


Classic Movie Legend Tribute: Maggie Smith

By minooallen on Dec 28, 2012 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Happy Birthday to Classic Movie Legend, Maggie Smith, Born December 29, 1934! Although I adore the woman to no end, I must admit, I would not necessarily consider Maggie Smith a classic movie legend. Now, please, don’t get me wrong. Maggie Smith is a legend. The woman is a Dame for heaven̵... Read full article


Hollywood?s Greatest: Then and Now ? Maggie Smith Part 3

By Josh Kaye on Apr 22, 2012 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Where Is She Now? From 1966 to 2000, Maggie Smith had won two Oscars and had been nominated five times in total. She appeared in comedies, romances, even epics (Clash of the Titans). But within a span of three days in the year 2001, Maggie Smith had truly proven to the world that she hasn’t re... Read full article


Hollywood?s Greatest: Then and Now ? Maggie Smith Part 2

By Josh Kaye on Apr 21, 2012 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

One of England’s most prominent stars, Dame Maggie Smith has been gracing the stage and the theaters with her presence since the early 1950′s. Born on the 28th of December in 1934, Smith is the youngest child to Margaret and Nathaniel Smith. She would go on to study at Oxford High School... Read full article


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Maggie Smith Quotes:

Jean Brodie: Deep in most of us is the potential for greatness or the potential to inspire greatness.


Jean Brodie: [after Miss Mackay has read a supposedly incriminating letter, written by Sandy and Jenny] There's very little for me to say, Miss Mackay in the face of your extraordinary prejudice and hostility.
Miss Mackay: Miss Brodie, I am not asking you to say anything. I am asking... demanding... that you put your signature, your own signature, on a letter of resignation which I have prepared for you.
Jean Brodie: I will not resign.
Miss Mackay: If you will not resign, you will force me to dismiss you.
Jean Brodie: I will not resign and you will not dismiss me, Miss Mackay. You will not use the excuse of that pathetic, that humorous document to blackmail me! Mr. Lowther, you are a witness to this. Miss Mackay has made totally unsupported accusations against my name and yours. If she has one authentic shred of evidence, just one, let her bring it forth! Otherwise, if one more word of this outrageous calumny reaches my ears, I shall sue! I shall take Miss Mackay to the public courts and I shall sue the trustees of Marcia Blaine, if they support her. I will not stand quietly by and allow myself to be crucified by a woman whose fetid frustration has overcome her judgment! If scandal is to your taste, Miss Mackay, I shall give you a feast!
Miss Mackay: Miss Brodie!
Jean Brodie: I am a teacher! I am a teacher, first, last, always! Do you imagine that for one instant I will let that be taken from me without a fight? I have dedicated, sacrificed my life to this profession. And I will not stand by like an inky little slacker and watch you rob me of it and for what? For what reason? For jealousy! Because I have the gift of claiming girls for my own. It is true I am a strong influence on my girls. I am proud of it! I influence them to be aware of all the possibilities of life... of beauty, honor, courage. I do not, Miss Mackay, influence them to look for slime where it does not exist! I am going. When my class convenes, my pupils will find me composed and prepared to reveal to them the succession of the Stuarts. And on Sunday, I will go to Cramond to visit Mr. Lowther. We are accustomed, bachelor and spinster, to spend our Sundays together in sailing and walking the beaches and in the pursuit of music. Mr. Lowther is teaching me to play the mandolin. Good day, Miss Mackay.


Jean Brodie: Little girls! I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders, and all my pupils are the creme de la creme. Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life.


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Maggie Smith Facts
Educated at the High School for Girls in Oxford, she started out in the theater as a prompt girl and understudy at the Oxford Repertory. She claims she never went on as no one ever fell ill.

Mother of actor Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens.

Director Agnieszka Holland admired Maggie Smith for years before making The Secret Garden (1993). She knew of Smith's talents and immediately offered her the role of Mrs. Medlock.

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