Margaret Natalie Smith was born on December 28, 1934, in Ilford, Essex, England. Her parents were Margaret and Nathaniel Smith. When she was four, the family moved to Essex, where her father worked as a pathologist at Oxford University. After graduating from high school, Maggie attended Oxford Playhouse School (1951-53). She made her professional stage debut in 1952, where she played Viola in the Oxford University Dramatics Society production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
After a brief stint on Broadway, where she performed in New Faces of 1956, she began acting in films. Her first role was a short, uncredited appearance in the 1956 film, Child in the House; followed by a larger role in the crime drama, Nowhere to Go (1959). In the 1960's, Maggie was active in the National Theatre of Great Britain, where she starred in Othello (1964), alongside Laurence Olivier.
She has received two Academy Awards, her first was for Best Actress for her role in, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969). The second was for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in California Suite (1978). Maggie also has won a number of British Academy Film Awards for her work, including roles in, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, A Private Function (1984), A Room with a View (1985) & The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987). Her role in the 2001 film, Gosford Park, where she played a snobbish noblewoman, earned her particular positive attention. The same year, she starred as Minerva McGonagall, a no-nonsense witchcraft teacher in Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone, needless to say the film was a massive success and Maggie reprised her role as Professor McGonagall for 6 of the 7 Harry Potter sequels. She is also known for her role in the period drama, Downton Abbey (2010-15), where she plays the irrepressible matriarch, Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham: she received 3 Emmy's for her role in 2011, 2012 & 2016. Maggie was also nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the comedy-drama, Lady in the Van (2015).
Maggie has been married twice. Her first marriage was to actor, Robert Stephens in 1967, which ended in divorce 1974. She had two sons with Robert, Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin, who both became actors. In 1975, she married writer, Beverly Cross, who died of cancer in 1998. Maggie was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, in 1990. In 2008, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent extensive treatment including chemotherapy, that coincided with the filming of the 6th Harry Potter film, Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince but she pulled through continuing her chemotherapy as she filmed the Half-Blood Prince.
https://www.biography.com/people/maggie-smith-9487030
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Actresses & Artists
Non-FictionWomen who went against the grain, defied expectations and make a mark in art history.
