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|harrypotterrole=[[Minerva McGonagall]]
 
|harrypotterrole=[[Minerva McGonagall]]
 
|notableroles=
 
|notableroles=
|academyawards=*'''The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'' ([[1960s}1969]])
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|academyawards=*''The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'' ([[1960s|1969]])
 
*''California Suite'' (1978)
 
*''California Suite'' (1978)
 
|emmyawards=*"My House in Umbria" (2003)
 
|emmyawards=*"My House in Umbria" (2003)

Revision as of 03:38, 13 December 2009

Maggie Smith (born Margaret Natalie Smith on December 28, 1934; also known as Dame Maggie Smith) is the actress who plays Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films.

In her career, she has won two Academy Awards. She won Best Actress in a Leading Role in 1970 for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role in 1978 for California Suite and an Emmy award for acting in David Copperfield. She is one of a select few who have won the Supporting Role award after winning Leading Role.

One of the world's most famous and distinguished actress, Dame Maggie Smith, born as Margaret Natalie Smith, was born on the 29th of December in 1934 in Essex. Her father was a teacher at Oxford University and her mother worked as a secretary. Smith has been married twice; first with actor Robert Stephens and then with playwright Beverley Cross. Her marriage with Stephens ended in 1974 on divorce and the marriage between her and Cross was finished in 1999, when he died. With Stephens Smith has two sons, Chris and Toby, who are also actors.

Maggie Smith's career began at the Oxford Playhouse in the 50s. She made her film debut in 1956 as one of the party guests in a movie called Child in the House (1956). After that she has been acting with the most prominent actors and actresses in the world in over sixty films and TV-series, which include Othello (1965) with Laurence Olivier, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), California Suite (1978) with Michael Caine and Jane Fonda, A Room with a View (1985), Richard III (1995) with Ian McKellen and Jim Broadbent, Franco Zeffirelli's Tea with Mussolini (1999) with Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Cher and Gosford Park (2001) with Kristin Scott Thomas and Clive Owen, directed by Robert Altman. Maggie Smith has also been nominated for an Oscar six times and won twice, for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and California Suite (1978).

Lately Maggie Smith has appeared in very popular Harry Potter movie series as formidable Professor McGonagall. She has also been in the headlines presently because of her breast cancer, but now she has been reported to be recovering from that and soon continuing to film the last two Harry Potters and Julian Fellowes' film From Time to Time (2009) with Timothy Spall, Anne Reid and Hugh Bonneville.

Early Life

Smith was born in Ilford, Essex on December 28, 1934 to Margaret and Nathaniel Smith. She made her screen debut in 1958 with the role as Bridget Howard in Nowhere to Go.

Personal Life

Smith has been married two times. First on June 29, 1967 to actor Robert Stephens and had two sons with him, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, both actors. She and Stephens divorced on May 6, 1974. On August 23, 1975 she married playwright Beverly Cross and the marriage ended with his death on March 20, 1998. Smith was, at the time, appearing in the play A Delicate Balance, but she continued until the end of the run.

In 2008 she was diagnosed with breast cancer but made a full recovery.

External links

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