Captivating Close-Up: Maggie Smith

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith, DBE (born 28 December 1934), better known as Maggie Smith, is a pre-eminent English film, stage, and television actress who made her stage debut in 1952 and is still performing after 57 years. Considered to be one of world's greatest living actresses, she has won numerous awards for acting, including five BAFTA Awards, two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, an Emmy Award and a Tony Award.

Smith appeared in Sister Act in 1992 and had a major role in the 1999 film Tea With Mussolini, where she appeared as the formidable Lady Hester. Indeed, many of her more mature roles have centred on what Smith refers to as her "gallery of grotesques", playing waspish, sarcastic or plain rude characters. Recent examples of this would include the judgemental sister in Ladies in Lavender and the cantankerous snob Constance, Countess of Trentham in Gosford Park, for which she received another Oscar nomination.

She was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1970, and was raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1990.

Source: Wikipedia