Dame Maggie Smith was an English actor known for her extensive roles on stage and screen.

[1] Smith is one of only 14 actresses to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting winning the highest accolades for film, television and theatre.

[2] For her roles on film she won two Academy Awards, her first for the Best Actress for playing the title role in the British drama film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and her second for the Best Supporting Actress portraying an Oscar loser in the anthology comedy California Suite (1978).

Smith gained renewed attention and popularity for her role as Violet Crawley, The Dowager Countess of Grantham in the PBS historical drama series Downton Abbey from 2010 to 2015.

She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for playing an eccentric novelist in the HBO film My House in Umbria (2003).