Maggie Smith

British Actress. Smith began her stage career as a student, performing at the Oxford Playhouse in 1952, and made her professional debut on Broadway in "New Faces of '56." Smith established herself alongside Judi Dench as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Smith won Academy Awards for Best Actress for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969) and Best Supporting Actress for "California Suite" (1978). She portrayed Professor Minerva McGonagall in the "Harry Potter" film series (2001 to 2011). She also acted in "Death on the Nile" (1978), "Hook" (1991), "Sister Act" (1992), "The Secret Garden" (1993), "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (2012), "Quartet" (2012) and "The Lady in the Van" (2015). Over the course of her career, she was the recipient of numerous honorary awards, including the British Film Institute Fellowship in 1993, the BAFTA Fellowship in 1996, and the Society of London Theatre Special Award in 2010. Smith was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. From 2010 to 2015, Smith appeared in one of her most famous roles as Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in the British period drama "Downton Abbey." Smith married actor Robert Stephens on June 29, 1967. They had two sons, actors Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, and were divorced on April 6, 1975. She married playwright Alan Beverly Cross on June 23, 1975, and they remained married until his death on March 20, 1998