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EspañolMAGGIE SMITH
'Dame Margaret Natalie Smith', DBE (born 28 December 1934), better known as 'Dame Maggie Smith', is a two-time Academy Award, and Emmy-winning English film, stage, and television actress.
| Contents |
| Biography |
| Early life |
| Career |
| Personal life |
| Awards and nominations |
| Academy Awards |
| BAFTA Awards |
| Stage awards |
| Filmography |
| References |
| External links |
Biography
Early life
Smith was born in Ilford in Essex, the daughter of Nathaniel Smith, a Newcastle-born[1] public health pathologist[2] who worked at Oxford University, and Margaret Hutton Little, who was Scottish.[3] She has two older twin brothers, Alistair and Ian. Smith studied at Oxford High School, although she has been quoted as not having enjoyed the experience, at a time when Lady Antonia Fraser would have been amongst her peers.
Career
Smith has had an extensive career both on screen and in live theatre, and is known as one of Britain's pre-eminent actresses. She began her career at the Oxford Playhouse with Frank Shelley, and made her first film in 1956. She became a fixture at the Royal National Theatre in the 1960s, most notably for playing Desdemona in ''Othello'' opposite Laurence Olivier, and winning her first Oscar nomination when she immortalized her performance in the 1965 film version. In 1969 she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as an unorthodox Scottish schoolteacher in ''The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'', a role originally created on stage by Vanessa Redgrave in 1966. She was also awarded the 1978 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the brittle actress, Diana Barrie, in ''California Suite'' acting opposite Michael Caine. Afterwards, Caine is supposed to have humorously telephoned Michael Palin on hearing that Palin was about to embark on a film (''The Missionary'') with Smith, warning him she would steal the film .
Smith appeared in ''Sister Act'' in 1992, and had a major role in the 1999 film ''Tea With Mussolini'', where she appeared as the formidable Lady Hester. Indeed, many of her more mature roles have centred on what Smith refers to as her "gallery of grotesques", playing waspish, sarcastic or plain rude characters. Recent examples of this would include the judgemental sister in ''Ladies in Lavender'' and the cantankerous snob in ''Gosford Park'' for which she received yet another Oscar nomination.
Other notable roles include the querulous Charlotte Bartlett in the Merchant-Ivory production of ''A Room with a View'' and a vivid supporting turn as the aged Duchess of York in Ian McKellen's film of ''Richard III''. Given the international success of the ''Harry Potter'' movies, she is widely known in the role of Professor Minerva McGonagall. She most recently appeared in ''Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix'', released in July 2007.
In the 1970s Smith moved to Canada to find a new direction in both her career and in her personal life, as she had recently divorced.
On stage, her many roles include the title character in the stage production of Alan Bennett's ''Lady in the Van'' and starring as Peter Pan in J. M. Barrie's fairytale story ''Peter Pan''. She later played Wendy in the Peter Pan adaption ''Hook''. She won a Tony Award in 1990 for Best Actress in a Play for ''Lettice and Lovage'', starring as an eccentric tour guide in an English stately home. She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1970, and was raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1990.
Personal life
Smith has been married twice. She married Robert Stephens on 29 June 1967, at the Greenwich Registry office and had two sons with him: actors Chris Larkin (born 1967) and Toby Stephens (born 1969). They divorced on 6 May 1974.
She married Beverly Cross (on 23 August 1975 at Guildford Registry Office) and the marriage ended with his death on 20 March 1998. At the time of his death she was appearing in ''A Delicate Balance'' at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket but continued to the end of the run.
Awards and nominations
Academy Awards
Smith has been nominated twice for Best Actress in a Leading Role, winning once:
★ 1969: Won in ''The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie''
★ 1972: Nominated in ''Travels With My Aunt''
Smith has been nominated four times for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, winning once:
★ 1965: Nominated in ''Othello''
★ 1978: Won in ''California Suite''
★ 1986: Nominated in ''A Room with a View''
★ 2001: Nominated in ''Gosford Park''
BAFTA Awards
Smith has won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role four times:
★ 1969: ''The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie''
★ 1984: ''A Private Function''
★ 1986: ''A Room with a View''
★ 1988: ''The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne''.
Stage awards
★ 1984: London Evening Standard Award for Best Actress, for ''The Way of the World''
★ 1990: Tony Award for Leading Actress in a Play, for ''Lettice and Lovage''
Filmography
References
1. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/maggie_smith_biog.html
2. http://www.filmreference.com/film/65/Maggie-Smith.html
3. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019451/bio
External links
★
★
★ ''You have to laugh'' - The Guardian, November 20, 2004, in-depth interview and profile.
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