Maggie Smith won two Oscars and numerous other awards. Photo: Reuters Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings in 'The Lady In The Van'. Photo: Getty Maggie Smith, Laurence Olivier and Queen Elizabeth in 1966.
Photo: PA Maggie Smith in the 'Harry Potter' series Maggie Smith in 'Downton Abbey'. Maggie Smith in 'Death on the Nile' Dame Maggie Smith, who has died at the age of 89, was a great actress — a stylist and a wit whose cool, lacquered voice, suffer-no-fools personality and sophisticated manners gave all her stage and screen work the highest distinction. She won two Oscars, five Baftas (including four for Best Actress, a record), four Emmys, three Golden Globes, and numerous other awards, including an honorary Olivier in 2010.
She was widely admired by the public as well as within her profession. She was regarded as an embodiment of poise and eccentricity as well as human complexity. She could wear a look of imperiousness like a mask, but her wide blue eyes could signal a haunted vulnerability as effortlessly as a reproving disdain.
Tall and elegant, she had a formidable technique, and in later years a formidable bearing, which she capitalised on often without forfeiting her status as a national treasure. From the earliest days, her baleful gaze was on the lookout for satirical opportunity, while her vocal approach was so angled and self-conscious that she was sometimes charged with imitating the cadences of her former associate in revue, Kenneth Williams. Though she did tragedy.