Dame Maggie Smith, DBE, 89, actress

[Mig.Rhodes]

Dame Maggie Smith, the great award-winning actress, whose work ranged
from Downton Abbey to Harry Potter, has died aged 89..

Dame Maggie died in hospital on Friday 27 September, 2024, her sons
Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said in a statement.

‘It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie
Smith,’ they said.

‘She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th
September.

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).[6] 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).

https://metro.co.uk/2024/09/27/dame-maggie-smith-dies-aged-89-21691812/?ito=push-notification&ci=Ow2bALCOP9&cri=vRZUKZwuxJ&si=62cSSsXlCfLX&xi=672703e0-75a9-4b51-9e37-a3d340d7a4cc&ai=21691812


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. Maggie Smith
was appointed DBE in 1990.
-=-

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Mig.Rhodes
Dame Maggie Smith, the great award-winning actress, whose work ranged
from Downton Abbey to Harry Potter, has died aged 89..

Oh. That's sad. I'll have to watch The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie again.

Post by Mig.Rhodes
. . .

[bryan_styble]

Amen to that, Adam...and after your additional run-through of Miss
Brodie's Prime, you might also take another look at the late Dame
Smith's measured lampooning of Myrna Loy's Nora Charles (opposite David
Nivens's send-up of William Powell's hubby Nick Charles) in the
consistently-amusing "Murder by Death".

(Doing so will also offer the enjoyment of Peter Sellers doing his
Charlie Chan and Peter Falk somehow keeping a straight face while doing
his Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade.)

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

[Mig.Rhodes]

Maggie married the great actor Robert Stephens on 29 June 1967. They had
two sons, actors Chris Larkin, and Toby Stephens, and were divorced in
1975. She then married playwright Alan Beverly Cross on 23 June 1975, at
the Guildford Register Office, and they remained married until his death
on 20 March 1998. When asked in 2013 if she was lonely, she replied, "it
seems a bit pointless, going on on one's own, and not having someone to
share it with".

Dame Maggie was appointed Companion of Honour a decade ago.

I have the impression that she didn't particularly like Downton Abbey or
playing the Dowager Countess ...

[bryan_styble]

So glad to see cited above the woefully-underrated Robert Stephens, who
was Dame Smith's third-of-four wives.

The late Stephens's turn as the fictive Brit sleuth in Billy Wilder's
directed-and-co-written "The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes" was
magnificent. In my always inconsequential view, it might even have
eclipsed the almost-definitive-by-default* frequent portrayals by Basil
Rathbone.

And for a TOTAL switch on the legendary character, there's always the
hilarious (with a brilliantly-premised script) alternate-universe
flipping of the storied Holmes & Watson team in "Without a
Clue"...wherein Ben Kingsley's Dr. Watson is secretly the brains of the
team while the ever-versatile Michael Cain--at his comic best--plays a
dullard actor PRETENDING to be Holmes for the gullible- London-public's
consumption.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
-----------------------
* That is, I wonder if Rathbone would have been, by the '50s and '60s,
so widely lauded as the "definitive" cinematic Holmes had he not been in
SO many Doyle-inspired films--14 in all, as WELL as playing him in a
series on my favorite medium, radio.
=================
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stephens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Rathbone

[unsubscribe]

Mr. B S states......" In my always inconsequential view...". It's like
saying "I know it's rot, but I'm starved for attention and I'll post it
anyway".You left out egomaniacal, narcissistic, and schizophrenic.
Breaking news: This isn't your former radio audience. Get over it. The
video that someone posted on the defunct Google group of Mr. B S sitting
in his room in front of his microphone, babbling and sucking on his vape
explains a lot. PLEASE repost. It explains a lot.

[Bob Martin]

Post by bryan_styble
So glad to see cited above the woefully-underrated Robert Stephens, who
was Dame Smith's third-of-four wives.

FGS, it's Dame Maggie, NEVER Dame <surname> (or Sir <surname>).

Post by bryan_styble
The late Stephens's turn as the fictive Brit sleuth in Billy Wilder's
directed-and-co-written "The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes" was
magnificent. In my always inconsequential view, it might even have
eclipsed the almost-definitive-by-default* frequent portrayals by Basil
Rathbone.
And for a TOTAL switch on the legendary character, there's always the
hilarious (with a brilliantly-premised script) alternate-universe
flipping of the storied Holmes & Watson team in "Without a
Clue"...wherein Ben Kingsley's Dr. Watson is secretly the brains of the
team while the ever-versatile Michael Cain--at his comic best--plays a
dullard actor PRETENDING to be Holmes for the gullible- London-public's
consumption.
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
-----------------------
* That is, I wonder if Rathbone would have been, by the '50s and '60s,
so widely lauded as the "definitive" cinematic Holmes had he not been in
SO many Doyle-inspired films--14 in all, as WELL as playing him in a
series on my favorite medium, radio.
================https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stephens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Rathbone
.

[bryan_styble]

An important textual distinction indeed; appreciate your setting me
straight, Bob.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

[unsubscribe]

All these mistakes by Mr. B S. Don't you read your brilliant posts at
least 60 times, admiring how amazing you are? You'd think that you would
catch these frequent blunders. Maybe you need to concentrate on accuracy
instead of how "ingenious" your posts are.

[Louis Epstein]

Post by bryan_styble
So glad to see cited above the woefully-underrated Robert Stephens, who
was Dame Smith's third-of-four wives.

Sir Robert,as he later became,was the first of Dame Margaret's
two husbands,while she (likewise yet to receive her accolade,
so they were (like Chrissy Teigen and John Legend) legally
Mr. And Mrs. Stephens) was the third of his four wives.

Post by bryan_styble
The late Stephens's turn as the fictive Brit sleuth in Billy Wilder's
directed-and-co-written "The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes" was
magnificent. In my always inconsequential view, it might even have
eclipsed the almost-definitive-by-default* frequent portrayals by Basil
Rathbone.
And for a TOTAL switch on the legendary character, there's always the
hilarious (with a brilliantly-premised script) alternate-universe
flipping of the storied Holmes & Watson team in "Without a
Clue"...wherein Ben Kingsley's Dr. Watson is secretly the brains of the
team while the ever-versatile Michael Cain--at his comic best--plays a
dullard actor PRETENDING to be Holmes for the gullible- London-public's
consumption.

Are you familiar with Esther Friesner's novel where an actor
(Sherbourne Rath)
known for playing Holmes on the stage crosses the Atlantic to
pretend to be him in real life?

Post by bryan_styble
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
-----------------------
* That is, I wonder if Rathbone would have been, by the '50s and '60s,
so widely lauded as the "definitive" cinematic Holmes had he not been in
SO many Doyle-inspired films--14 in all, as WELL as playing him in a
series on my favorite medium, radio.
=================
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stephens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Rathbone

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Mig.Rhodes
Maggie married the great actor Robert Stephens on 29 June 1967. They had
two sons, actors Chris Larkin, and Toby Stephens, and were divorced in
1975. She then married playwright Alan Beverly Cross on 23 June 1975, at
the Guildford Register Office, and they remained married until his death
on 20 March 1998. When asked in 2013 if she was lonely, she replied, "it
seems a bit pointless, going on on one's own, and not having someone to
share it with".
Dame Maggie was appointed Companion of Honour a decade ago.
I have the impression that she didn't particularly like Downton Abbey or
playing the Dowager Countess ...

It wasn't my favorite show -- the men were all so dumb and the various
Lord Granthams over the centuries had lost fortune upon fortune -- but
the most cutting lines of dialogue were reserved for her character. I
figured she ate it up.

[Big Mongo]

Post by Adam H. Kerman
It wasn't my favorite show -- the men were all so dumb and the various
Lord Granthams over the centuries had lost fortune upon fortune -- but
the most cutting lines of dialogue were reserved for her character. I
figured she ate it up.

In all the media coverage nobody's mentioned her scence from "Oh! What A
Lovely War"

She certainly made a man outta me when I first watched that as a young
nipper!!!! I've adored her ever since then...

[Louis Epstein]

Post by Mig.Rhodes
Maggie married the great actor Robert Stephens on 29 June 1967. They had
two sons, actors Chris Larkin, and Toby Stephens, and were divorced in
1975.

She was his third wife,his fourth being Patricia Quinn of
Rocky Horror fame.

Post by Mig.Rhodes
She then married playwright Alan Beverly Cross on 23 June 1975, at
the Guildford Register Office, and they remained married until his death
on 20 March 1998. When asked in 2013 if she was lonely, she replied, "it
seems a bit pointless, going on on one's own, and not having someone to
share it with".
Dame Maggie was appointed Companion of Honour a decade ago.
I have the impression that she didn't particularly like Downton Abbey or
playing the Dowager Countess ...

She was annoyed by the fans,at least.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

[Meteorite Debris]

Post by Mig.Rhodes
Dame Maggie Smith, the great award-winning actress, whose work ranged
from Downton Abbey to Harry Potter, has died aged 89..
Dame Maggie died in hospital on Friday 27 September, 2024, her sons
Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said in a statement.
‘It is with great sadness we have to announce the death of Dame Maggie
Smith,’ they said.
‘She passed away peacefully in hospital early this morning, Friday 27th
September.
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).[6] 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).
https://metro.co.uk/2024/09/27/dame-maggie-smith-dies-aged-89-21691812/?ito=push-notification&ci=Ow2bALCOP9&cri=vRZUKZwuxJ&si=62cSSsXlCfLX&xi=672703e0-75a9-4b51-9e37-a3d340d7a4cc&ai=21691812
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. Maggie Smith
was appointed DBE in 1990.
-=-

[Meteorite Debris]

Post by Mig.Rhodes
Dame Maggie Smith, the great award-winning actress, whose work ranged
from Downton Abbey to Harry Potter, has died aged 89..
Dame Maggie died in hospital on Friday 27 September, 2024, her sons
Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens said in a statement.

I remember Maggie Smith as the tart tongued hotel over in "Evil under
the sun", loosely based to put it politely, on the novel of the same
name by Agatha Christie, with Peter Ustinov starring as Poirot. In it I
remember the memorable she uttered about the hapless flighty flirty
Elena Stewart (played by the wonderful Diana Rigg) and the two were once
was in a musical together. Smith's Character said "Even then she could
throw her legs higher than anyone else, and wider".

[Lenona]

From "The Illustrated Who's Who of the Cinema," by Lloyd, Fuller and
Desser:

"With delicious irony she played an English actress failing to win an
Oscar in 'California Suite' - and won one herself for the role."