Maggie Smith

She was awarded the CH (Companion of Honour) in the 2014 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to Drama.

The fight scene between her and Alan Rickman in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011) was almost scrapped during the script process of the film. Her character was to be written out of the scene and replaced by another character. However, author 'J.K Rowling' insisted that the fight should involve the same characters as those in the novel, as she saw it as a key moment for Smith's character. The scene was filmed when Smith was 76 years old.

Currently resting and recovering from ill health, but soon to start work on From Time to Time (2009), which is based on Lucy M. Boston's book "The Children of Green Knowe". [June 2008]

In 2008, it was reported that she was fighting breast cancer. She has had a tumor removed and undergone chemotherapy.

Performing in the London West End production of "The Lady from Dubuque". [March 2007]

Grandmother to Daisy (b. July 2006) and Nathaniel (b. December 2008) via son Chris Larkin, and to Eli (b. May 2007), Tallulah (b. May 2009), and Kura (b. September 2010) via son Toby Stephens.

In 2003, she became the seventeenth performer to win the Triple Crown of acting. Oscars: Best Actress, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) & Best Supporting Actress, California Suite (1978), Tony: Best Actress - Play, "Lettice and Lovage" (1990), and Emmy: Best Actress - Miniseries/Movie, My House in Umbria (2003).

Has been in three films that have the word "secret" in their titles: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), The Secret Garden (1993) and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002).

She ranked tenth in the 2001 Orange Film Survey of greatest British film actresses.

She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 2000 (1999 season) for Best Actress for her performance in "The Lady in the Van" at the Queen's Theatre.

She was married to Cross until his death in 1999. She had two sons with Stephens, Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens who are also actors.

She was nominated for a 1998 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Actress of the 1997 season for her performance in "A Delicate Balance" at the Haymarket Theatre.

She was awarded the 1994 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Three Tall Women".

Director Agnieszka Holland admired Maggie Smith for years before making The Secret Garden (1993). She knew of Smith's talents and immediately offered her the role of Mrs. Medlock.

Won Broadway's 1990 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for "Lettice and Lovage." She was also nominated twice before in the same category: for a revival of Noël Coward's "Private Lives" in 1975, and for "Night and Day" in 1980.

She was awarded the 1984 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "The Way of the World".

She was awarded the 1981 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?".

Was the first of 4 consecutive winners of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to have the initials 'M.S.', the others being: Meryl Streep - Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Mary Steenburgen - Melvin and Howard (1980), and Maureen Stapleton - Reds (1981).

While filming Death on the Nile (1978), aboard ship, no one was allowed his or her own dressing room, so she shared a dressing room with Bette Davis and Angela Lansbury.

Portrayed by Ian McKellen on Saturday Night Live (1975).

One of the world's most famous and distinguished actresses, Dame Maggie Smith was born Margaret Natalie Smith in Essex. Her Scottish mother, Margaret (Hutton), worked as a secretary, and her English father, Nathaniel Smith, was a teacher at Oxford University. Smith has been married twice: to actor Robert Stephens and to playwright Beverley Cross. Her marriage to Stephens ended in divorce in 1974.

Created an honorary D.Litt of the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge in 1971 and 1995 respectively.

She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1970 Queen's New Year Honours List and the DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1990 Queen's New Year Honours List for her services to drama.

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).

Gave birth to her first child at age 32, a son Christopher Stephens (aka Chris Larkin), on June 19, 1967. Child's father is her boyfriend (now late ex-first husband), Robert Stephens.

These 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.

She appeared in "The Master Builder" with Michael Redgrave and Celia Johnson (who had replaced the recently deceased Diana Wynyard) as part of the new National Theatre Company in 1964. She and Johnson would later appear together in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969).

Worked with Laurence Olivier in the 1960s at the National Theatre.

Was a member of the Old Vic Company from 1959 to 1963, when the company was dissolved. It served as the basis for the new National Theatre being organized by Laurence Olivier, whom invited her to join. She gave a memorable performance as Desdemona opposite Olivier's Othello at The National Theatre's temporary home at the Old Vic theater building in 1964. Repeating the performance in the 1965 film made of that production, she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination, her first of six Oscar nods.

She made her film debut in 1956 as one of the party guests in Child In The House (1956). She has since performed in over sixty films and television series with some of the most prominent actors and actresses in the world.

Maggie Smith's career began at the Oxford Playhouse in the 1950s.