Getting to know your Dowager Countess, a.k.a. Dame Maggie Smith
As Planet Earth prepares for the final series of Downton Abbey which begins on Sunday (3 January) on PBS’ Masterpiece series, if, like the Dowager Countess herself, you haven’t seen the series, it’s quite possible that you’d be surprised to know that the Dowager Countess was not Dame Maggie Smith’s first role. When it comes to acting, let’s just say that this isn’t her first rodeo. Nor will it be her last…thankfully.
CBS Sunday Morning‘s Mo Rocca sat down recently with the veteran of stage and screen to talk all-things Downton, her new film, The Lady in the Van and all things in-between. From her 1969 Academy Award winning portrayal of Miss Jean Brodie in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie to her upcoming role in the real-life story of a woman who lives in a van parked in front of playwright Alan Bennett’s home, Dame Maggie Smith is probably most widely recognized by today’s generation of movie-goers as Professor Minerva McGonagoll in the Harry Potter franchise.
While I would personally love to have a 7th series of Downton Abbey on the horizon and the opportunity to hear the Dowager Countess, once again, question Isobel Crawley as to whether or not “..it’s cold on the moral high ground?”, it’s going to be fun to see what she has in store for us next.
