Maggie Smith : a biography / Michael Coveney.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coveney, Michael, 1948- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Smith, Maggie, 1934-2024.

Smith, Maggie.

Actors--Great Britain--Biography.

Actors.

Great Britain.

Smith, Maggie, 1934-.

Local Subjects:

Smith, Maggie, 1934-.

Great Britain.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xi, 353 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2015.

Summary:

"No one does glamour, severity, girlish charm or tight-lipped witticism better than Dame Maggie Smith, one of Britain's best-loved actors. This new biography shines the stage lights on the life and work of a truly remarkable performer, one whose career spans six decades. From her days as a star of West End comedy and revue, Dame Maggie would cross paths with those of the greatest actors, playwrights, and directors of the era. Whether stealing scenes from Richard Burton (by his own admission), answering back to Laurence Olivier, or impressing Ingmar Bergman, she built a career that can be seen as a 'Who's Who' of British theatre in the twentieth century. This book also covers her success in Hollywood, inaugurated by her first Oscar for her signature film, The prime of Miss Jean Brodie, as well as her subsequent departure to Canada for a prolific four-season run of leading theatre roles. Recently she has been as prominent on our screens as ever, with high-profile roles as Violet Crawley, the formidable Dowager Countess, in the phenomenally successful television series Downton Abbey, and as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter film franchise; what she herself describes as "Miss Jean Brodie in a wizard's hat." Yet paradoxically she remains an enigmatic figure, rarely appearing in public and carefully guarding her considerable talent. Michael Coveney's absorbing biography drawing on personal archives, interviews, and encounters with the actress, as well as conversations with immediate family and dear friends, is therefore as close as it gets to seeing the real Maggie Smith."--Book jacket.

Contents:

Preview: In the company of a secret star

The flight from Ilford

Schooling in Oxford accents

Clown of town and gown

New Revue and Old Vic

West End calling, screen testing

Surprises with Olivier at the National

Romance with the new Lunts

The prime of Miss Maggie Smith

Prickly pain in Private lives

Canada home and dry

Salvation in Stratford, Stoppard and Virginia Woolf

Best of British pork and Palin

Millamant, Poliakoff and Poppy Cocteau

A toast to the Bard with Levin and Lettice

Alone without God

Tales of ageing, innocence and experience

Secrets and lies in Yorkshire and Italy

Onstage with Albee, Bennett and Hare

TV specials for the lady from Dubuque

Goodbye Hollywood, hello British comedy

Harry Potter and Downton Abbey

Late flowering of marigolds around the van

Overview: In old glory and new celebrity.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

9781250081483

1250081483

1474601146

9781474601146

OCLC:

907965936

Online:

Cover image