People
Maggie Smith
Acting · follow into films and chains
Biography
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith CH DBE (December 28, 1934 − September 27, 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in comedic roles, she had an extensive career on stage and screen over seven decades and was one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses. She received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award as well as nominations for six Laurence Olivier Awards. Smith was one of the few performers to earn the Triple Crown of Acting. Smith began her stage career as a student, performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952, and made her professional debut on Broadway in New Faces of '56. Over the following decades Smith established herself alongside Judi Dench as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. On Broadway, she received Tony Award nominations for Noël Coward's Private Lives (1975) and Tom Stoppard's Night and Day (1979), and won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage (1990). She won Academy Awards for Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and Best Supporting Actress for California Suite (1978). She was Oscar-nominated for Othello (1965), Travels with My Aunt (1972), A Room with a View (1985) and Gosford Park (2001). She portrayed Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011). She also acted in Death on the Nile (1978), Hook (1991), Sister Act (1992), The Secret Garden (1993), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), Quartet (2012) and The Lady in the Van (2015). Smith received newfound attention and international fame for her role as Violet Crawley in the British period drama Downton Abbey (2010–2015). The role earned her three Primetime Emmy Awards; she had previously won one for the HBO film My House in Umbria (2003). Over the course of her career she was the recipient of numerous honorary awards including the British Film Institute Fellowship in 1993, the BAFTA Fellowship in 1996 and the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 2010. Smith was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. Description above from the Wikipedia article Maggie Smith, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Notable films
Where to start
Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
As Professor McGonagall
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
As Minerva McGonagall
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
As Minerva McGonagall
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
As Minerva McGonagall
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
As Minerva McGonagall
The Lady in the Van
Appears in a KinoChain journey
A Room with a View
Appears in a KinoChain journey
Murder by Death
Appears in a KinoChain journey
Chains
KinoChain journeys
Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.
The Quiet Art of the British Character Actor
Eight films that celebrate the scene-stealers, the scene-setters, and the soul of British cinema: the character actors who make every frame richer.
8 films
It was Miss Scarlet, in the cinema...
Celebrating Lesley Ann Warren's 80th birthday with a journey through board game adaptations, from the witty whodunit of Clue to the explosive naval warfare of B...
8 films
The Classroom Without Walls
From a London schoolroom to a Parisian banlieue, a journey through films where teaching becomes an act of defiance and connection.
8 films
Topics
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Related people
Collaborators & neighbours
Acted
Dame Maggie Smith - A Celebration
2024 · Self / Various Roles (archive footage)
Downton Abbey: A New Era
2022 · Violet Crawley
Downton Abbey
2019 · Violet Crawley
Sherlock Gnomes
2018 · Lady Bluebury (voice)
The Lady in the Van
2015 · Miss Shepherd
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2015 · Muriel Donnelly
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
2012 · Muriel Donnelly
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
2011 · Minerva McGonagall
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
2010 · Agatha Rose Doherty
From Time to Time
2009 · Linnet
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2009 · Minerva McGonagall
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007 · Minerva McGonagall
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2005 · Minerva McGonagall
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2004 · Minerva McGonagall
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2002 · Minerva McGonagall
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
2002 · Caro
Gosford Park
2001 · Constance Trentham
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
2001 · Professor McGonagall
The First Wives Club
1996 · Gunilla Garson Goldberg
Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit
1993 · Mother Superior
The Secret Garden
1993 · Mrs. Medlock
Sister Act
1992 · Mother Superior
Hook
1991 · Granny Wendy
A Room with a View
1986 · Charlotte Bartlett
A Private Function
1984 · Joyce Chilvers
The Missionary
1982 · Lady Isabel Ames
Evil Under the Sun
1982 · Daphne Castle
Death on the Nile
1978 · Miss Bowers
California Suite
1978 · Diana Barrie
Murder by Death
1976 · Dora Charleston
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
1969 · Jean Brodie
Othello
1965 · Desdemona