Smith, Maggie

   b. 1934, Ilford

   Actress

   Maggie Smith is a film actress (though with a commitment to the theatre), who has offered a range of interesting performances in her diverse screen appearances. A supporting role in the starstudded The VIPs (1963) established her screen potential, and in 1969 Smith won the Best Actress Oscar for her forceful portrayal of the deluded girls’ school teacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Smith’s distinctive balance of intensity and humour in her performances secured scene-stealing roles in her later movies such as California Suite (1978) —for which she won a further Oscar—and Sister Act (1992), as well as British films A Private Function (1984) and A Room With a View (1985). Her screen work beyond comedy includes The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1988) and Richard III (1995).

   See also: actors /female

   ALICE E. SANGER