Actress and philanthropist Maggie Smith has been a force within the British and American film worlds since the early 1950s. The Essex-born talent is best known for her timing and wit, helping her to win over the hearts of movie lovers everywhere. For Millennials, the 89-year-old is easily recognizable for her role in the Harry Potter series as Professor Minerva McGonagall and from the Downton Abbey series where she played Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham. Whether it’s a comedy or a drama, sharing and reciting the best Downton Abbey, Maggie Smith quotes are some of the many ways that fans of her work continue to celebrate her.
Who Is (Dame) Maggie Smith?
John Phillips/Getty Images for BFI
The multi-talent was born in Ilford, Essex, and was a toddler when she and her family moved to Oxford. She left high school at the age of 16 to study at the Oxford Playhouse and had her Broadway debut just four years later. Throughout her career, she won two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award, as well as 18 British Academy Film Award nominations and six Olivier Awards. The triple-crowned actress played Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter series from 2001-2011. She also played Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham from 2010-2015, a role from which came some of her most notable quotes.
How Did the Beloved Actress Die?
The cause of death for Maggie Smith has not yet known. In 1988, she was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, a disorder in which the immune system attacks the thyroid gland, causing tremors, fatigue, heart palpitations and a change in eye shape. Years later, while filming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Smith was battling breast cancer. Between 2007 and 2009, she was in recovery and determined to be cancer-free. The foreign starlet would also endure a hip replacement and singular-eye, glaucoma diagnosis in her later years, though this certainly didn’t deter her philanthropic efforts.
Our Favorite ‘Downton Abbey’ Maggie Smith Quotes
As Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, Smith kept a toll of the toxicity displayed by the Granthams, often responding with witty wisdom.
“What is a weekend?”
“Don’t be defeatist, dear, it’s very middle class.”
“Is this an instrument of communication, or torture?”
“I’m not a romantic, but even I concede that the heart does not exist solely for the purpose to pump blood.”
“Life is a game, where the player must appear ridiculous.”
“You know me: never complain, never explain.”
“The presence of strangers is our only guarantee of good behavior.”
“An unlucky friend is tiresome enough, an unlucky acquaintance is intolerable.”
“Vulgarity is no substitute for wit.”
“All life is a series of problems which we must try and solve. First one and then the next and then the next, until at last we die.”
A host of one-liners and zingers exist within the Downton Abbey fan world. Although Smith is known for taking on this particular element of the Downton Abbey role in other work, we will miss her presence in cinema overall. We wish watchers of her work a reminiscent stroll down memory lane.
The post In Remembrance: ‘Downton Abbey’ Maggie Smith Quotes appeared first on Blavity.
