The Best of Maggie Smith

1934-2024

                            Old people are scary. And I have to face it. I am old and I am scary

1)   Travels With My Aunt                 George Cukor                                    1972

2)   California Suite                            Herbert Ross                                     1978

3)   The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie   Ronald Neame                                 1969

4)   Young Cassidy                              Jack Cardiff                                      1964

5)   The Honey Pot                             Joseph L. Mankiewicz                       1967

6)   The Secret Garden                      Agnieszka Holland                            1993

7)   The Missionary                            Richard Loncraine                             1982

8)   Gosford Park                               Robert Altman                                    2001

9)   Quartet                                         James Ivory                                        1981

10) A Private Function                      Malcolm Mowbray                              1984  

Maggie Smith has been a schoolmistress, chaperone, spinster or dowager too many times to count. Her success in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie gave her a schoolmarm image, but early features such as Young Cassidy, The Honey Pot, and Love and Pain and The Whole Damn Thing all benefitted from her warm sensuality. She was a titan on the stage, ranging from Shakespeare to Noel Coward. Ingmar Bergman directed her in a London production of Hedda Gabler in 1970. The stage was her true home, but the grind of its routine caused her to limit her live appearances this century. Thus, she became, finally, a mass market video star through her performances playing Minerva McGonagall and Violet Crawley. I also adore her film performances in Othello, A Room With A View, Clash of the Titans, The V.I.P.s, The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne, Sister Act, Richard III, Washington Square, and the 2012 Quartet.