Mother-in-law of actress Anna-Louise Plowman.
Not only does she frequently work with Judi Dench, but they have also both worked with each other's children. Maggie worked with Finty Williams in Gosford Park (2001), while Dench worked with Toby Stephens in Die Another Day (2002).
One of the first people to have a star on the Avenue of Stars - a British version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Seven other "Harry Potter" actors also have one.
Portrayed by Ian McKellen on ""Saturday Night Live" (1975)".
She and her first husband, Robert Stephens, appeared together in "Much Ado About Nothing". In 1993, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, who were also married at the time, played the same roles. Smith later worked with both Branagh and Thompson in the "Harry Potter" films.
She appeared in "The Master Builder" with Michael Redgrave and Celia Johnson (who had replaced the recently deceased Diana Wynyard') as part of the new National Theatre Company in 1964. She and Johnson would later appear together in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969).
She ranked tenth in the 2001 Orange Film Survey of greatest British film actresses.
She was awarded the 1981 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".
She was awarded the 1984 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "The Way of the World".
She was awarded the 1994 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Three Tall Women".
She was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of her outstanding contribution to film culture.
She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 (1999 season) for Best Actress for her performance in "The Lady in the Van" at the Queen's Theatre.
She was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress of the 1997 season for her performance in "A Delicate Balance" at the Haymarket Theatre.
Was a good friend of "Carry On" star Kenneth Williams.
Was a member of the Old Vic Company from 1959 to 1963, when the company was dissolved. It served as the basis for the new National Theatre being organized by Laurence Olivier, whom invited her to join. She gave a memorable performance as Desdemona opposite Olivier's Othello at The National Theatre's temporary home at the Old Vic theater building in 1964. Repeating the performance in the 1965 film made of that production, she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination, her first of six Oscar nods.
Was the first of 4 consecutive winners of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to have the initials 'M.S.', the others being: Meryl Streep - Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Mary Steenburgen - Melvin and Howard (1980), and Maureen Stapleton - Reds (1981).
While filming Death on the Nile (1978), aboard ship, no one was allowed his or her own dressing room, so she shared a dressing room with Bette Davis and Angela Lansbury.
Won Broadway's 1990 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for "Lettice and Lovage." She was also nominated twice before in the same category: for a revival of Noel Coward's "Private Lives" in 1975, and for "Night and Day" in 1980.
Worked with Laurence Olivier in the 1960s at the National Theatre.