Maggie Smith. Actress who plays Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films

Maggie Smith

Trained at the Oxford Playhouse School, she made her stage debut in 1952 and her first film, Nowhere to Go in 1958. American moviegoers first noticed her in The V.I.P.s (1963), and her brilliant turn as Desdemona in Olivier's 1965 movie adaptation of Othello earned Smith an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actress. Another Oscar-winning performance as an eccentric schoolmistress in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) finally established her here as a star. Won her second Oscar playing, oddly enough, an actress who's nominated for an Oscar-and loses-in the funniest episode of Neil Simon's California Suite (1978).

Director Agnieszka Holland admired Maggie Smith for years before making The Secret Garden. She knew of Smith's talents and immediately offered her the role of Mrs. Medlock. Appointed a CBE in 1970 and a DBE (Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1990. Created an honorary D.Litt of the Universities of St Andrews and Cambridge in 1971 and 1995 respectively. She ranked tenth in the 2001 Orange Film Survey of greatest British film