Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith Facts
| Sign | Capricorn |
| Born |
Dec 28, 1934 Ilford, England |
| Age | 91 |
| Total Facts | 39 |
Appeared with Laurence Olivier in "Rhinoceros" in the English Stage Company's 1960 London production. Olivier pronounced her acting "Marvelous.".
Appointed a CBE in 1970 and a DBE (Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1990.
At the Oscars in 2002, Whoopi Goldberg introduced her, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith as "The Smith Family".
Created an honorary D.Litt of the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge in 1971 and 1995 respectively.
Director Agnieszka Holland admired Maggie Smith for years before making The Secret Garden (1993). She knew of Smith's talents and immediately offered her the role of Mrs. Medlock.
Educated at the High School for Girls in Oxford, she started out in the theater as a prompt girl and understudy at the Oxford Repertory. She claims she never went on as no one ever fell ill.
Had to change her stage name to "Maggie Smith" as there already was an actress named "Margaret Smith" at the time she started in the profession.
Has been in three films that have the word "secret" in their titles: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), The Secret Garden (1993) and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002).
Has played fictional fascists twice: first Jean Brodie in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and then Lady Hester Random in Tea with Mussolini (1999).
Her father Nathaniel was a Geordie and a pathologist. Her mother Margaret was a Glaswegian and a secretary.
Her twin brothers Ian and Alistair are six years older than she is. They are both architects.
In 2003, she became the seventeenth performer to win the Triple Crown of acting. Oscars: Best Actress, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) & Best Supporting Actress, California Suite (1978), Tony: Best Actress - Play, "Lettice and Lovage" (1990), and Emmy: Best Actress - Miniseries/Movie, My House in Umbria (2003) (TV).
In 2008, it was reported that she was fighting breast cancer. She has had a tumor removed and undergone chemotherapy.
Is a good friend of Judi Dench.
Is a patron of the Jane Austen Society, devoted to author Jane Austen and her work.
Is a vice-president of Chichester Cinema at New Park. Anita Roddick and Kenneth Branagh are also vice-presidents.
Is one of only a few actresses to win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar after winning a Best Actress Oscar.
Is one of twelve actresses to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony); the others in chronological order are Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Shirley Booth, Liza Minnelli, Rita Moreno, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Audrey Hepburn, Anne Bancroft, Vanessa Redgrave and Ellen Burstyn.
Made her stage debut with the Oxford University Dramatic Society as Viola in Shakespare's "Twelfth Night." Bird-dogged by an American theatrical impresario, the part led to her being cast in her Broadway debut in "New Faces of 1956."
Mother of actor Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens.
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.