Dame Maggie Smith is Dead to Me

One of the best. She's one I'll miss.

So young.

Oh wow, this one hurts. But what a life! And what a legacy!

RIP. I adore her in everything.

So sad to hear. She will be missed.

I saw her live in London for Lettice and Lovage (Peter Shaffer play) back in 1987 and will never forget how good she was! Maggie played a National Trust museum tour guide who was also a pathological liar.

Very few actresses get to inhabit such a delicious Older Woman role as Maggie did during Downton Abbey.

Rest in peace Maggie and it was a true pleasure to have you here with us for all these years!

ASSASSIN!

This news hit me hard. I'm devastated. This fucking sucks. She was such a legend.

I am sorry about this in the way you're sorry about the death of somebody you don't actually know. She became such a part of the culture especially because of Potter and Downton.

She was either shy or what you'd call difficult or maybe just tricky... from what I've seen of her being interviewed she suffered no fools, took few prisons and relished being a contrarian. She was almost worse than being bad mannered, because you understood behind her prickliness was an intelligent reason for it. The Downton box set interview:

RIP, Dame Maggie. A legend’s legend.

Bowers!

Have Paul Lynde’s whereabouts been confirmed?

Can I have her stuff?

She was Bubba Higgins' teacher.

Inevitable-hope dump is next.

That's going to be a star studded memorial!

You better hope Dump is next.

The role I immediately identify her with is Dora Charleston in Murder by Death.

I will watch Evil under the Sun in her honor tonight!

For some bizarre reason, I was slightly surprised to read this, even though she was 89. I sort of thought Maggie was one of those celebs who'd make it to 100. RIP.

Like Hugh, she fell on Flanders Field.

I absolutely loved her in everything I saw her in. I will miss her in any future Downton projects if there are any. I'm going to watch several of her movies over this dreadful weather weekend here in Virginia.

But, Jean, Jean, you’re young and alive!!

Great actress.

And run if you will, to the top of the hill,

Come into my arms bonnie Jean

I was just watching an interview with her earlier this week. (Recorded a few years ago)

She was amazing. Very sad to hear of her passing, but what a life. And she essentially worked up till the end.

Unsung Maggie Smith performance as an embittered lesbian sparring with an imperious Bette Davis in Death on the Nile.

Love them both.

[quote] I will miss her in any future Downton projects if there are any.

She could only have appeared in flashbacks or as a ghost, since the character is already dead.

Damn this story caused Datalounge to timeout.

She left Dame Judi in jail!

Loved her. I saw her in Three Tall Women and she was magnificent. She was always at Wimbledon (usually enjoying the women’s final) and when she wasn’t there this year, I wondered if she was ill.

I LOVED her in Lettice and Lovage. Saw it 3 times, laughed my ass off every time. Heaven.

Her Gosford Park character. “ Difficult colour... green.”

Will rewatch Miss Jean Brodie this weekend and remember her genius.

Poor Charlotte!

Really? What star studs will be there?

I know she would have never suffered me gladly and when a little boy went up to her and asked if she could really turn herself into a cat she replied 'Oh pull yourself together!' it does make me as sad as one can be for someone you don't know. A very gifted individual who has brought me as well as so many others great joy. I saw her on Broadway in Lettice as well. And if you haven't seen it yet there is a snippet of her in Hay Fever on you tube. She is perfection. If only that famous production had been taped in its entirety.

[quote]Her Gosford Park character. “Difficult colour... green.”

Bought marmalade? Oh dear, I call that very feeble.

A class act, truly.

Naturally beautiful, elegant, witty, cunning, and talented.

"It must be hard to know when to throw in the towel."

I'm sorry to read this. I hope TCM shows some of older movies. I loved her in The First Wives' Club as Gunilla. I only know her from that movie and Downton Abbey.

All my retired friends love to quote her famous Downton line: "What is a 'weekend'?"

Has the auction of her things been announced by the family, yet?

RIP. I’ll miss her a lot. There goes the Downton Abbey franchise!

Rest In Peace. You were great.

Wobbert has spoken!

This thread seems to be the one with the most replies so far. Of course we have like 10 different ones out there.

"Tea With The Dames" looks quite funny and I had no idea it existed until I saw the obituary posts on twitter. Might watch it tonight in memory of her.

She was in her Prime!

Well, shit. This is rotten news.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for her happiness with her second husband Beverly Cross. He wrote Half a Sixpence the film of which I loved as a boy. Though very uneven today it contains some very beautiful scenes. And he wrote the English version of Boeing Boeing which I saw 3 times with Mark Ryland. Who thought a 60s sex farce could be done so wonderfully today?

I could have taken a suite at the Ritz!

Maggie singing and dancing.

The stress of Brexit killed her. And that little Lolita Assassin Sandy!

"Family" sketch from The Carol Burnett Show featuring Maggie:

Maggie Smith Remembered By ‘Harry Potter’ Star Daniel Radcliffe: “One Of The Most Talented Women To Ever Live”:

Oh man, this sucks.

Awww loved her in movies.

It’s gonna hurt when Judi Dench goes

I saw The Miracle Club a few weeks ago. A mild film, but she was great as ever.

Does she get the opening or the close in the Oscars' dead march?

They haven't put the most famous person at the close in years, r60.

Miss Jean Brodie better get the last word at the Oscars or I riot.

They wrote her lines in DA, but she delivered them like no other, I liked seeing her.

"Harry Potter" isn't even mentioned until the ninth paragraph in her NY Times obituary. That's an impressive feat in itself—and speaks to breadth and depth of her career.

She'll get last place in TCM Remembers 2024.

Divine in Gosford Park.

"Now THAT you can keep to yourself."

The shot is of her hand and Kelly Macdonald's face but you can feel her force.

She's hilarious as herself in "Tea with the Dames"/"Nothing Like a Dame." Spoken with her usual flawless timing:

Eileen Atkins:“I think actors who play Antony always feel it’s Cleopatra’s play because it’s a better part. At least that’s what Alan Bates told me.”

Maggie Smith:“That’s because he wanted to play Cleopatra.”

RIP

I just watched Tea With the Dames about 2 weeks ago; I think it’s on Prime.

What, no mention of her role as Rod Taylor’s long-suffering secretary in the schlockfest “The VIPs”? A true bad movie we love.

Dames is a great documentary.

It's (a little) interesting that in the headlines, Downton seems to be main reference point more frequently than Potter or Oscar winner.

Remembering Maggie Smith: A Career In Photos:

[quote] It’s gonna hurt when Judi Dench goes

Nah, Tracey Ullman will just take her place.

[quote]What, no mention of her role as Rod Taylor’s long-suffering secretary in the schlockfest “The VIPs”?

The BBC instant obituary makes a point of Richard Burton admitting she stole most scenes, and in scenes with him it was 'grand larceny.'

Is there a silver lining in this for dear little Imelda Staunton?

[quote]Is there a silver lining in this for dear little Imelda Staunton?

That's Dame Imelda, if you please...

“For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.”

They'll all start dropping like flies, this lot.

Off topic but at r53, can anybody confirm my guess that Smith and Burnett are wearing Bob Mackie?

God, I miss 60s and 70s style weekly variety shows.

She'll always be Mother Superior from Sister Act to me. That's the role I associate with her.

Second place- old Wendy from Hook.

RIP to an acting legend.

‘Downton Abbey’ Cast, Creators Pay Tribute to Maggie Smith: “One of the Greatest Actors of Our Time”:

Will she be cgi in the downton Abbey reboot?

She was wonderful in The Pumpkin Eater 1964 with Anne Bancroft

[quote] loved her in The First Wives' Club as Gunilla.

"Fork!"

Her son played Flint in Black Sails!

She was always fun on talk shows as well

Noooo!

I was just watching her a few days ago. Another great one, gone.

Susan Dey?

r88 Crickets, as usual

She was wonderful in Private Lives.

I'll always cherish the withering look I got from her.

She had a hot ass but she couldn't live forever.

Her karaoke to Hall & Oates "Private Eyes" was hilarious

The Guardsman

Has TCM remembered her yet? I was hoping she would be on the cruise and I could see her bikini bod. Alas, ‘twas not to be.

She is legitimately iconic. I can't think of a television character as beloved for being haughty, and occasionally wicked, as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham. And this followed her star turn as the Dowager Countless of Trentham in "Gosford Park." Brilliant!

RIP, Dame Maggie Smith

Oh Maggie you couldn't have tried anymore.

“Maggie Smith was a great woman and a brilliant actress. I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to work with the ‘one-of-a-kind,’” the 68-year-old wrote on Instagram. “My heartfelt condolences go out to the family … RIP.”

Went to the shop earlier and they were playing Harry Potter music. Sad to think all four of these actors are gone now. The early 00s really does feel like a long time ago.

I bet she dropped dead just so she wouldn't have to do Sister Act 3.

[Quote] She is legitimately iconic.

Much better than being illegitimately iconic.

Oh, no! What did she die of?

[quote]Oh, no! What did she die of?

She was taken out by a Zamboni...

R101 Autoerotic asphyxiation.

Always loved her work.

I love this story that Sir Ian McKellen told on The Graham Norton show about her:

Titania

[quote] Much better than being illegitimately iconic.

The illegitimately iconic take just as legitimate icons under the laws of intestate succession. Still, it is more socially desirable to be legitimately iconic.

The Millionairess

Part 1

Predictions for the next two celebrity deaths- Stockard Channing and Michael Caine

R101 Put a poisoned sugar cube in her tea, sent to her by Judi Dench.

R101, she finally cracked the Downton box set.

Private Lives

Loved in the 1st Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, too.

r108 I actually just heard that Stockard Channing is not doing well.

She's not looking well either

[quote] Oh, no! What did she die of?

Sickle cell anemia, Rose.

One perfect moment...

Her appearance really changed dramatically in the era after Lettice and Lovage. That must have been the onset of her eye issue. (Graves syndrome?)

In clips from the 1990 Tonys she looks relatively young and normal.

A few years later, in Sister Act, she looks considerably older and different.

I saw her at the Ahmanson in L.A. in 1971 in Noel Coward's [italic]Design for Living[/italic], with Robert Stephens and Denholm Elliott, a thoroughly enjoyable production. There's a pic of the production among the several at the link.

Oh no- one of the greatest ever. Deaths of the famous usually don’t get to me very much obviously because I never knew them. But from time to time, yes. This is one of those times- on stage and on film utterly brilliant, real, and always on the mark whether comedy or drama. And off- on chat shows and interviews, humble, down to earth, fiercely intelligent without a hint of vanity.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit"

"What is a Weekend"

Thank You Dowager Countess, you were totally cool.

Hay Fever

Smith in one of best performances in 1987s The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

The movie directed by Jack Clayton is a phenomenal piece of work . . .Maggie Smith and Wendy Hiller are magnificent together-Pauline Kael

R79, they’re definitely both wearing Mackie. And I’ve seen his sketches for two other Maggie costumes on the Burnett show (including her hilarious appearance as a British tart at a boat christening, with Carol as QEII.)

Great legs and rack...

RIP

Channel 5 in the UK cancelled its planned programmes to run with a 90 minute ready made tribute.

[quote]Bought marmalade? Oh dear, I call that very feeble.

Julian Fellowes was one of the talking heads and said Maggie asked him about this line as she didn't understand it. Fellowes explained that an aunt had told him you could tell a poorly run household if they ran out of home made jams and preserves. Maggie replied "Oh I've got it" and delivered the line.

[quote]Her Gosford Park character. “ Difficult colour... green.”

Fellowes said this was improvised by Maggie after the scripted dialogue with Claudie Blakley.

I won bitch.

Maggie has a lead Oscar alongside 4 Emmys

She also has a Supporting, r129.

Sorry R130 I was writing that in response to R128 before I realized I was being silly.

R123. Thank you for remembering Judith Hearne. I recorded off cable on VHS decades ago then transferred it to DVD. Maggie was brilliant and heartbreaking.

I highly recommend a very entertaining documentary titled 'Tea With The Dames' which stars Eileen Atkins, Judy Dench, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith. Just the 4 of them discussing their careers and such.

I watched it on IFC a few years ago. Loved it.

Anyway, here is a clip:

Truly one of a kind. And we'll never see her likes again.

I’m amazed I’ve seen as many of her films when looking at her IMDb today. I haven’t seen Quartet with Alan Bates yet, which is on Tubi, which I will this weekend. What a career. Seven decades. Two Oscars, four Emmys, one Tony. The Mount Rushmore of acting. Such a phenomenal actress and presence in every medium. Thank you Dame Maggie for the hours and hours of your genius you gave us all.

The magic of theatre...

Another vote for JUDITH HEARNE. Plus she's lovely in the 1974 film LOVE AND PAIN AND THE WHOLE DAMN THING, though you have to put up with Timothy Bottoms' annoying character.

A body is kinda 'done' around age 87. You can live past that, but it's on borrowed time and not very pretty.

Some 20 years ago, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench appeared in a play called The Breath of Life, by David Hare. A friend asked me...."Do you want to go to London to see Maggie Smith and Judi Dench in the new Hare?" What I heard was...."Do you want to go to London to see Maggie Smith and Judi Dench in the new Hair?". I still smile when thinking about the two of them singing that score, especially the idea of Maggie Smith singing Black Boys Are Delicious. God rest ye, Maggie Smith, and thank you for the years and years of brilliant performances.

Of course she had to die but I never really thought it would happen.

Watch Maggie Smith’s Best Acting Performance in ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

[quote]Seven decades. Two Oscars, four Emmys, one Tony. The Mount Rushmore of acting.

She won 5 movie BAFTAs but never a TV BAFTA or an Olivier.

Even the King and his Tart have left condolences!

That’s a shame

2002 Nominee Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role Gosford Park

1987 Nominee Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role A Room with a View

1979 Winner Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role California Suite

1973 Nominee Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role Travels with My Aunt

1970 Winner Oscar Best Actress in a Leading Role The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

1966 Nominee Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role Othello

Maggie’s TPOMJB Oscar win as the audience cries out in a bit of shock. Smith was working on the London stage as her name was read. Released in the winter of early 1969, the film wasn’t a box office champ, but Smith defied the odds that usually goes against early in the year films, and went on to win her first Oscar more than a year later. Also helping her win was the fact she performed on stage in Los Angeles during the voting period, and LA based voters loved her to death. Still one of the top five wins in the lead actress category.

She worked with Rod Taylor twice — in “The V.I.P.s” and “Young Cassidy,” and they had an affair which she remembered wistfully with great fondness for the rest of her life.

Maybe Julian Fellowes will finally stop with the Downton Abbey movies.

Her character is DEAD, R148. and Maggie was unlikely to play a young version in a prequel.

r139 I saw them in that play too. Dench was unwilling to do the Broadway transfer as she felt her part was not as well received as Smith’s. It was a very slight play though I’d have happily paid to see both ladies read the phone book.

It was an absolute treat to see them on stage together.

Desdemona

[quote] Maybe Julian Fellowes will finally stop with the Downton Abbey movies.

They're already well into the process of making the third one.

Apparently her Hedda didn't quite work out well...

She never sucked MY cock!

She learned how to do black comedy from Kenneth Williams. They were close friends.

I'm going to watch a Maggie Smith movie tonight. It's a nice thing, if you have to die, to die such that most people think it's a shame and remember you well.

She was wonderful, she embodied the cliché that she elevated everything she was in. I love Murder by Death, but her delivery in the scene of the dead naked body (above) is something else and an example what she could do. In Death on the Nile she had a minor role and against Bette Davis, and again it is remarkable how she does so much with so little.

I find a bit sad that she was now mostly known by Harry Potter and Downton (she says as much in the Graham Norton interview where she admits never seeing Downton) but it is good younger generations at least had contact with her and that she consistently worked till the end.

Goodbye Daphne!

Will there be a GoFundMe page for her funeral ?

I quite liked Quartet, R135. Billy Connolly in particular gives a great performance in that film.

A note from the His Majesty The King.

Kinda surprised Joan Plowright outlived her.

Did they though, r162?

Critic’s Appreciation: Maggie Smith, Mistress of Scintillating Wit and Withering Disdain:

So young...

Great article, r164, tks, i particularly like his “a balance of decorum with mischief “. Also., the writer is gay, isn’t he.

The British papers are mostly using photos from Harry Potter and Downton for their front pages. No Miss Jean Brodie.

She had a haughty ass, but she couldn’t live forever.

Has Carol Burnett commented ? She and Smith adored each other.

Was Carol in her snatch too, like she was in Julie's?

I’m more interested if Judi Dench has commented since she and Maggie were besties.

Alice Ghostley and Maggie Smith were very close friends for years. Maggie even asked Alice to accept her Jean Brodie oscar.

[quote]The British papers are mostly using photos from Harry Potter and Downton for their front pages

No different than Alec Guiness being reduced largely Star Wars, when his career was so much more.

Their bodies of work aren't going to disappear. Of course they're going to be remembered by their more recent successes by people of a certain age.

How did she die?

[quote] How did she die?

Raising hands.

Statement from Emma Watson

Alice Ghostley and Maggie Smith weren't just close friends, they were roommates when both were starring in the ensemble cast of the Broadway musical revue Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1956, a yearly revue that featured young unknown talent. I believe Paul Lynde was also in the cast and you can plainly see and hear how the three of them adopted each other's take and timing in their comic voices and approach.

Eartha Kitt, Carol Lawrence, Jane Connell, Virginia Martin, Tiger Haynes, Ronny Graham and Robert Clary were also alumni of the revue in various years.

[quote]Apparently her Hedda didn't quite work out well...

The director, Ingmar Bergman, was very unhappy with the production, but Smith won her second Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, and the NYT reviewer who went to London to see it gave the production and Smith an unqualified rave review.

Just finished watching Evil Under the Sun, and now it's rolling right into Death On the Nile. She's so fucking funny.

Travels...

Assassin!!!!!!

Is there anyone here who doesn't believe she ad libbed: "Difficult color, green."???

Wasn't there some level of improv on Altman's films, r184?

Harold Clurman, the Group Theatre and Broadway director who later became a critic, wrote that Smith's Hedda was "the most vivid I can remember. Her Hedda is an exposed nerve."

Maggie mentions Mackie and "those crazy clothes", Della/ R79, R124.

“Assassin…!!!”

Very sad news. I just re-watched "California Suite." She is excellent in it.

I cried this morning when I saw the news. I fee so fortunate to have seen her onstage as well as in films. Absolutely one of the all-time greats. Her presence was palpable. I loved how she could be completely over the top during a speech and then respond to the next line with a simple raise of an eyebrow -and top herself. She really knew her craft.

In honor of this being Datalounge, I will close by saying how absolutely fucking hot her son Toby Stephens is.

One of my favorite scenes of hers, outside Murder By Death. She was a powerful and fully equal character.

Maggie, OH, MAGGIE!!

Thank you, r187

I was fortunate enough to see her in Private Lives and Lettice and Lovage.

Empress of timing and delivery. RIP Dame Maggie ❤️

I guess I'd have to see the whole of Lettice and Lovage to understand the fuss.

(I trust those who shared a rave but didn't quite get the gist from the Tony clip.)

Here's a clip from the opening of the play -gives you a much better sense of it.

[quote]Alice Ghostley and Maggie Smith weren't just close friends, they were roommates when both were starring in the ensemble cast of the Broadway musical revue Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1956, a yearly revue that featured young unknown talent. I believe Paul Lynde was also in the cast and you can plainly see and hear how the three of them adopted each other's take and timing in their comic voices and approach.

Damn it, with those connections, you'd think the producers of "Bewitched" would've thought to invite Maggie on to play Endora and Arthur's sister, Espirita (who had absolutely no patience for either one of them). Talk about a lost opportunity!

She would have been way too young for their sister. I would love to have seen her as cousin Serena!

She had great successes in three of Peter Schaffer's early one act comedies in the 1960s, but Schaffer didn't write another comedy until "Lettice & Lovage," almost 25 years later. When that play was published, Schaffer dedicated it, "For Maggie, who incarnates comedy with love."

Love this story Shirley Maclaine told about Maggie and the Oscars.

She’s a better actress than Judi Dench, I reckon.

Saw her in London in "Private Lives" (twice in a two-week stay), "The Way of the World" (with Joan Plowright), "A Delicate Balance" (with Eileen Atkins), "Lady in the Van," and "Hedda Gabler" (she was brilliant). And by sheer luck I found I had booked a Christmas trip to London in the '70s which just happened to coincide with a large-scale holiday production of Maggie as "Peter Pan." In the latter, she played it straight, as written, and only once injected a taste of the adult, campy humor she was so brilliant with. Also caught her on Broadway in "Night and Day" and "Lettice and Lovage." Her performance in the "Jean Brodie" film deserves an annual Oscar. She was the greatest.

By the way, Alice Ghostley was in "New Faces of '52" (with Paul Lynde) and Maggie was in "New Faces of '56." I recall that they were both part of a Merv Griffin tribute to "New Faces" along with Lynde and Eartha Kitt. On that show Maggie mentioned what a huge impression the little-seen film version of "New Faces" (of '52) had made on her and other London performers.

R162, I'm surprised, too. When I watched "Tea With the Dames" several years ago, I assumed Plowright would be the first of those 4 Dames to go, given that she was several years older than the others. And yet, Plowright is on track to hit 95 in a few weeks.

R147 I thought Rod Taylor was gay. Did she write/talk about their affair?

R107, it's interesting to see Maggie Smith in that production from 1972 with Tom Baker, just before he became arguably the best Doctor Who of all time.

From director Mike Newall's Guardian article

[quote]he will for ever be Miss Jean Brodie and in that role perfectly revealed what was impressive about teachers for young people, but what was also secret about them. But she was a far bigger and more important figure in British culture than that. In Downton Abbey she showed how much could be revealed about a character in the smallest of details, like noticing when her breakfast tray was brought into this magnificent bedroom that the marmalade had been shop-bought. The wonderful barbed aside, she was brilliant at those.

NO, NO, NO.

Honestly, can't these people distinguish between two different characters?

[quote]Kinda surprised Joan Plowright outlived her.

I'm surprised that Liza outlived her.

The breakfast tray was in Gosford. The Grauniad strikes again.

There were at least a few consecutive years in the late 1970s when Dame Maggie became a resident actor with Canada's Stratford Theatre Festival, preforming in an enormous range of characters in rep in each of those seasons. Shakespeare's Titania, Rosalind, Cleopatra, Chekhov's Masha, The Guardsman, The Way of the World, etc.

Hard to imagine but I wonder if the better film and London stage offers had dried up for a while or if it was a move to raise her young sons in a more placid environment. Or maybe she saw the opportunity as a last chance to play those classic leads before she outgrew them. I never saw her there but the photos of her that exist of some of those performances are magnificent.

Stratford was very fortunate to get her.

Smith’s first husband Robert Stephens terrorised a generation of British kids as the creepy Abner Brown in The Box Of Delights

Stratford is an internationally respected Shakespearean Festival but it was establishing itself in the seventies.

"Smith foundered a bit in the early 1970s, making choices that were too big and doing triple takes when a double take would have sufficed; she always had a weakness for comic slapstick. But she renewed herself on stage in seasons at Stratford in Canada from 1976 to 1980, playing Rosalind and Cleopatra and many other roles she didn’t quite have the nerve to try for London audiences and critics."

On returning to Canada to receive an award in conjunction with the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012:

“Is it very, very, very sort of grand?” she queries.

“I mean, is there time for me not to go if I find it all too intimidating?”

Assured that it’s not too big, that she can’t back out and that everyone there will be celebrating the four glorious years in the 1970s when she sprinkled her particular brand of stardust on Stratford, she gulps some wine and reconciles herself to going.

“But it’s terrifying,” she says in a little-girl whisper. “Why? Because it was such a vivid and clear time in my head and probably the most important years of my whole career.”

That’s no idle boast. Back in 1975, Robin Phillips, the newly appointed artistic director of Stratford, swept Smith away from the Royal Alexandra Theatre, where she was appearing in Private Lives, for a weekend of snow, solitude and creative suggestion on the shores of Lake Huron.

“It was wonderful,” she recalls. “I’d never seen such snow. I’d never known such peace. I didn’t want to leave.”

At that point, Smith was a highly regarded comedienne onstage and screen, but some critics felt she was starting to fall into certain patterns of sameness. She thought so too.

Phillips offered the antidote: classical repertory at Stratford. With comic roles you’d expect her to play, like Millimant in The Way of theWorld, balanced by parts she never thought she’d do in her lifetime, like Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra.

“I thought it was absurd, ridiculous and I told Robin so. But of course, I had said the same thing when Larry (Olivier) asked me to play Desdemona to his Othello. In both cases, I came around.”

And everyone was glad she did. The work was stunning, the world’s critics lined up to pay their respects and the Church Restaurant was packed every night with the likes of Lauren Bacall and Rudolf Nureyev.

“I’m glad all that happened for the festival’s sake, but for me it was the work, always the work, that came first,” insists Smith.

And by those standards, many Stratford-watchers feel 1977 was the finest of the quartet of years Smith spent there (1976, ’77, ’79 and ’80).

Her Virgin Queen Hippolyta paired superbly with her gossamer Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but that only set the stage for her radiant Rosalind in As You Like It, a production still remembered with awe by anyone who saw it.

Smith bounds back into the past, remembering humourous stories from her Stratford years, like the time when “poor Brian (Bedford) had so many understudies onstage with him in Richard III that he couldn’t tell who was who and finally screamed out, ‘Who’s Surrey now?’”

And one of her happiest tales is told at her own expense regarding the role she can now admit was her least beloved at Stratford: Lady Macbeth.

“Opening night of the Scottish play, my letter was handed to me the wrong way around. The props were always fantastic there and it was written in this kind of medieval mad Germanic writing.

“There wasn’t a prayer you could have read it upside down. Mercifully, I knew it. If I hadn’t, I would have had to turn it right side up, which would have truly brought the house down in quite the wrong way.”

And this gem, unrelated: "But Smith isn’t quite sure what she feels about the issue of a higher power at this point in her existence. “I know there is something out there and like most people, I tend to believe in it more when things go bad. But I’m not like Shirley MacLaine, who probably believes we were past lovers in another life.”

I must say, Smith is probably the only actress who never came up on Andrew Lloyd Webber's "lists" of actresses he offered the role of 'Norma Desmond' to in the 1990s. Who knows - she may have been very good in the role at the age of 60.

She got out just in time-Trump will in able Putin to take Europe.

Maybe she couldn't sing? Then again, that wasn't an issue in New York.

I was told this story by a wonderful production stage manager named Mitch Erickson who did several plays with Smith:

Mitch was PSM on Lettice and Lovage on Broadway. The theater next door was housing a raucous all-Black jukebox musical which not only could be heard at the theater where Lettice and Lovage was playing (the Ethel Barrymore) but it was causing it to vibrate. Mitch and his team, at Smith’s urging, sought to address this situation and found the solution would be hanging thick black drapes to cushion the sound. Smith was at her dressing room table when Mitch arrived with her half-hour call and added “By the way it’s OK, now, Maggie, we’ve dealt with the sound issue by hanging some blacks.” And without skipping a beat Smith cooed “Oh, thank you, my darling, but did you really need to have gone quite THAT far?”

Lots of Stratford productions in full on YouTube, and they're very much worth your time.

R205 / I used to wonder if Taylor was gay too based on his spotty marital record, but I gather he was very much not. To my knowledge, neither actor wrote or spoke publicly about the affair, which evidently lasted for some time.

I heard about it from two separate sources who heard about it from the Dame’s own lips. Always put a smile on her face, so I gather it was quite passionate.

Of all the tributes I’m certain r178 that the one coming from Emma Watson will cheer Maggie the most. It’s always gratifying when one acting talent recognises a peer.

I saw her do Lady Bracknell in London. That production also had Richard E Grant in the cast who for reasons he could not fathom was always referred to by Smith as Richard He Can’t. The guy seemed a bit hurt when I saw him interviewed at the time.

I also knew someone who was her make up artist on the film The Secret Garden and he got on very well with her but he did say woe betide anyone she took against.

[quote]Of all the tributes I’m certain [R178] that the one coming from Emma Watson will cheer Maggie the most.

Maggie is beyond being 'cheered'. She's dead, Dame Judi.

[quote]The intensity of Rod and Maggie’s on-screen relationship led several people who worked on the film to conclude that they were really falling in love.

Last night, in tribute, I finally caught up to A PRIVATE FUNCTION, which is a delightful movie, and in which she is sensational.

I was looking at a list of her body of work. Good lord, she seemed to have worked with EVERYBODY.

What an astonishing career.

I am definitely going to binge watch some of her films this weekend.

Cleopatra

and...

[quote]Maybe she couldn't sing?

You be the judge.

60 Minutes profile

Watched Gosford Park to celebrate her life this morning. It not my favorite movie but she is, of course, fabulous in it.

R221 - Richard E Grant in his own words

[quote]This was my worst acting experience of all time, because I was tortured by (co-star) Maggie Smith the entire time. We’d worked together previously on film Suddenly Last Summer, a Tennessee Williams play, with Rob Lowe and Natasha Richardson, and we all got on well. But Maggie was unhappy with the production, and I became the scapegoat, her victim. I’m still amazed that anyone can be so inventive in the ways they can demolish you, but she did. She’s a brilliant actress, but she has a history of doing this. I was told by someone that every single job she’s ever done, she’s done it to someone. And I suffered six months of it. I couldn’t resign because then I’d regard it as a terrible failure, and that she had won, but I often wished that they’d fire me. After the first three months, I no longer gave a fuck, and finally started to enjoy myself. But before that, well, it was just horrible. Urgh!

Richard Grant was also in Gosford Park as a nasty footman.

89 is a good run. Amazing she lived that long, she smoked like a chimney for decades.

I read that Richard E. Grant and Maggie feuded again when he was on Downton Abbey.

I didn't know Maggie smoked. I knew Glenda did and she lived to 87

The Stratford years...

I fucking hate R13 and his flaccidity. R13, I’d tell you to go fuck yourself but we both know you’re too fat and lazy to do so.

I thought Geraldine McEwan was actually better cast than her in Lettice and Lovage in London. When Smith played Lettice there would be no doubt at the end iof Act 1 that she’d be alright. With the birdlike, vulnerable and meek portrayal by McEwan you weren’t as sure. I far preferred McEwan in that role. And in A Delicate Balance Elaine Stritch OWNED that role in that production on Broadway. In the West End version Smith was very good but she just wasn’t that woman. Stritch was.

The reason Plowright is “still alive” is because Satan doesn’t want the competition.

R239 is that you, Vivien? Loved you in Streetcar!

And she was also very good in Three Tall Women in London but I thought Marian Seldes had a connection to the material that Smith just didn’t have.

Travels with my Aunt is kinda fun.

[quote]We’d worked together previously on film Suddenly Last Summer, a Tennessee Williams play, with Rob Lowe and Natasha Richardson, and we all got on well. But Maggie was unhappy with the production, and I became the scapegoat, her victim.

Interesting to read Rob Lowe's tweet:

Saddened to hear Dame Maggie Smith has passed. I had the unforgettable experience of working with her; sharing a two-shot was like being paired with a lion. She could eat anyone alive, and often did. But funny, and great company. And suffered no fools. We will never see another. God speed, Ms. Smith!

I loved her work but R231's post does not surprise me.

Emotionally complicated person onscreen is clearly going to be as emotionally complicated off screen.

Really r238 McEwan’s whole career was a Smith rip-off done badly. I too saw her in Lettice and Lovage - missed Smith and Tyzack by a week. I recall McEwan’s Jean Brodie on tv here in the UK back around 1977/78. More of the same Smith-lite - mannerisms and speech.

R245, other than Marple, Geraldine McEwan's most famous roles are Robin Hood, Prince Of Thieves, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit and The Magdalene Sisters.

3 roles that range from unhinged to sadistic, not the kind of thing Smith was known for.

We watched California Suite in her honor last night—she’s very good in a terrible movie. And, curious about the obviously drugged or drunk child actress who played Jane Fonda’s daughter, I discovered DL icon Dana Plato.

Too bad Maggie Smith never played Lucia or Miss Mapp.

r242=Shirley Feeney

Wonder who will get the prime slot in the In Memorium this year at the oscars? Gena Rowlands, Donald Sutherland, Maggie Smith are all worthy contenders.

Depends who dies when. But Sutherland will probably get the prime slot. Sexism.

[quote]In Memorium

Oh, dear.

Wow! First Maggie Thatcher and now Maggie Smith. Since they _do_ come in threes, I hope the baby in the Simpsons is keeping safe.

In memorandum?

R247 CS is hilarious and a great comfort food type film. I even laugh out loud still at the Cosby Pryor segment after many viewings and I loathe Cosby. Obviously the Caine Smith segment was best, and she really deserved that second Oscar.

I'm fascinated by the Richard Grant quote and sincerely wonder what Maggie specifically did to him onstage (or maybe off?) to throw him so badly. Maybe I'm naive.....

The "raucous Black jukebox musical" to which r217 referred was Ain't MIsbehavin'.

Tracey Ullman said that a friend of hers who worked on Downton said that Maggie told the producers to write her a death scene after they asked how they could better accommodate her on the show. Mags had a good sense of humor.

No matter how demanding she may have been of her colleagues, she was always well-worth it. She literally made every project she appeared in better.

I was wrong. The "raucous Black Broadway jukebox (sic) musical" playing next door to Lettice & Lovage was apparently the short-lived Truly Blessed, a bio of Mahalia Jackson. Nevertheless, the blacks were hung.

"Glenn Close isn't an actress - she's an address."- Maggie

Ouch.

Maggie was right about Glenn

[quote] I'm surprised that Liza outlived her.

YOU’RE shurprished?! I’M shurprished!

I'm surprised Liza outlived Judy's uterus.

The Seagull

Hippolyta

Maggie was never a bankable star like Bette Midler. I'm sure Maggie was jealous that Bette was a leading lady and big box-office star.

Maggie Smith's best line (even better than "What's a weekend?" from Downton Abbey):

From "Tea With Mussolini (1999):" Ahh, the Americans, they've even managed to ruin ice cream."

Also starring Cher...

[quote]I'm sure Maggie was jealous that Bette was a leading lady and big box-office star

Maggie never forgave Bette for stealing Jinxed away from her.

It was just before Christmas, 2007 and I was doing some shopping in Peter Jones, Sloane Square. The lady in front of me at the till was struggling as her debit card would not register. Suddenly she burst into tears. "Are you OK?" I asked. "Maybe I could pay, and you can pay me back," I said. "Oh, thank you, young man. That's very kind," she said. Next attempt, though, her card worked. I paid too and she waited for me. She clearly wanted someone to talk to. "I'm sorry to be so emotional," she said. "But I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer this morning." I asked where she was being treated and she said, The Royal Marsden. I said that my partner (Vikki and I were not married then) was being treated there too, having been diagnosed earlier that year. I told her that the people at the @royalmarsdenNHS were the best. She thanked me for the reassurance, and we both smiled and went on our way, she a little calmer, me buoyed being being called 'young man'. That was my encounter with #DameMaggieSmith. RIP lovely woman and wonderful actor.

I wonder how she and Cher got along on the set of Tea with Mussolini? They seem super friendly with one another in this red carpet pic.

Our Saturday night La Jolla Dinner and a Movie Club watched "The Prime of Miss Jane Brodie& Tea with Mussolini"

I never saw "Miss Jane Brodie movie" but I saw Tea with Mussolini several times (which I loved)

Tomorrow is California Suite, The VIP's and Ladies in Lavender.

It may be "Maggie Smith Week" & my neighbor's son is flying in from NYC, has connections to get us Maggie Smith Broadway& West End plays on film.

[quote] "Glenn Close isn't an actress - she's an address."- Maggie

Huh?

Maggie knows not to fuck with Cher.

Jean Brodie, not Jane Brodie, phillywhore

I really enjoyed “Ladies in Lavender”, r272

I think the first time I saw Maggie Smith was in high school English class in the 1990's when our teacher showed us "Clash of the Titans" as part of our Greek Mythology unit. As a burgeoning gay teen I was more taken with Harry Hamlin's nipples, but I liked the scene when the head of Maggie's statue comes crashing down and threatens Sian Phillips:

Maggie was nominated 5 times for the BAFTA TV award - she lost to Coral Browne, Thora Hird TWICE, Helen Mirren and Monica Dolan

And she was nominated 6 times for the Olivier award - she lost to Elizabeth Quinn, Michael Gambon, Judi Dench, Griff Rhys Jones, Zpe Wanamaker and Janie Dee.

Watching Maggie Smith chew up the scenery in this famous scene, one wonders how this very young actress (Pamela Franklin) keeps right up with her. She must have had balls of steel.

R279 wonderful clip, thanks for the reminder. I always thought Pamela deserved a Supporting nomination for her performance, for that scene alone.

Will her memoirs come out eventually?

WHET Pamela Franklin? I know she made at least a few more films as a young woman but then what? Is she still with us?

R272 see Prime of Miss Jean Brodie first. It’s the most essential Maggie viewing. It’s on YouTube.

[quote]I read that Richard E. Grant and Maggie feuded again when he was on Downton Abbey.

Two co-stars feuding while working on a project together ? Unheard of, in the history of Hollywood. Where did this rumor start ?

So, looked her up and Pamela Franklin is still with us at age 74.

After JEAN BRODIE she made a lot of mediocre to crappy films, often horror movies, as well as lots of US TV guest appearances (including a pilot spin-off of Green Acres!), all of which typecast her as unhireable for quality film projects.

But she married happily and had two sons and owned and ran a bookstore in LA, so...for those who like that sort of thing, that's the sort of thing they like.

[quote]and Janie Dee

Janie was wonderful.

Is Pamela Franklin any relation to that other fine, fine actress Bonnie Franklin ?

Or the Franklin Mint? Also top quality.

[quote]"Glenn Close isn't an actress - she's an address."- Maggie

In the UK, a close is another word for a road. Maybe that's what she meant.